Lifecycle management APIs

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Lifecycle management APIs

    ServiceNow's Lifecycle Management APIs provide a comprehensive set of tools to manage Configuration Item (CI) operational states and actions within the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). These APIs enable customers to programmatically manipulate CI states, enforce business rules around allowed and disallowed actions, and apply bulk changes efficiently. By adhering to predefined restrictions such as Not Allowed CI Actions and Not Allowed Operational Transitions, these APIs help maintain data integrity and operational compliance.

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    Key Features

    • Registration APIs: Support operator registration for state management, including methods to register and unregister operators, validate requestors, check lease expirations on CI actions, and extend lease times for CI action control.
    • Operational State APIs: Enable setting and retrieving operational states for individual or bulk CI records, allowing streamlined state management across multiple CIs.
    • CI Actions APIs: Allow adding, removing, and retrieving CI actions in bulk or individually, facilitating efficient management of CI lifecycle activities.
    • Validation APIs: Include checks to enforce restrictions such as disallowed CI actions based on operational state, prohibited state transitions, and compatibility between CI actions.
    • Bulk Operations: Bulk APIs enable setting operational states and applying CI actions to groups of CIs, improving process efficiency for large-scale changes.

    Practical Use and Benefits

    ServiceNow customers can use these APIs to automate lifecycle management processes, ensuring that only valid state transitions and actions are applied according to organizational policies. The APIs automatically block restricted operations, log errors, and create tasks as needed, helping maintain compliance and reducing manual oversight.

    Typical workflows include registering an operator, updating operational states for multiple CIs (e.g., setting them to "Repair in Progress"), and assigning CI actions (e.g., "Patching") in bulk. This automation supports faster, consistent updates across the CMDB and improves operational efficiency.

    CI Lifecycle Management provides a set of state management APIs for manipulating CI operational states, and applying CI actions.

    State management APIs adhere to restrictions and allowances specified by Not Allowed CI Actions, Compatible CI Actions, and Not Allowed Operational Transitions. If an API attempts to perform a restricted operation, the operation is blocked, an error is logged, and a task is automatically created if appropriate.

    Lifecycle management APIs can set operational states and CI actions to CMDB groups by utilizing lifecycle management bulk APIs.

    Registration APIs

    • registerOperator() - Method to register operator with state management for non-workflow user.
    • unregisterOperator(String requestorId) - Method to unregister operator for non-workflow users.
    • isValidRequestor(String requestorId) - Method to determine if the specified requestor is a valid active workflow user or a registered user.
    • isLeaseExpired(String requestorId, String ciSysId, String ciActionName) - Method to check if registered user lease expired.
    • extendCIActionLease(String requestorId, String ciSysId, String ciActionName, String leaseTime) - Method to extend CI Action Lease time, for registered users. If previous lease already expired, extend lease from now.

    Operational State APIs

    • setBulkCIOperationalState(String requestorId, String sysIdList, String opsLabel, String opsStateListOld) - Method to set Operational State for an array of CIs.
    • getOperationalState(String ciSysId) - Method to get CI Operational State.

    CI Actions APIs

    • addBulkCIAction(String requestorId, String sysIdList, String ciActionName, String ciActionListOld, String leaseTime) - Method to add CI Action for an array of CIs.
    • removeBulkCIAction(String requestorId, String sysIdList, String ciActionName) - Method to remove a CI Action for a list of CIs.
    • getCIActions(String ciSysId) - Method to get CI Actions.

    Not Allowed Action Based on Operational State API

    isNotAllowedAction (String ciType, String opsLabel, String actionName) - Method to check if a specific CI action is not allowed for specific Operational State on a CI Type.

    Not Allowed Operational State Transition API

    isNotAllowedOpsTransition(String ciType, String opsLabel, String transitionOpsLabel) - Method to check if specific operational state transition is not allowed on a CI Type.

    Compatible Action API

    isCompatibleCIAction(String actionName, String otherActionName)- Method to check if two specific actions are compatible with each other.

    Using state management APIs

    // 1. Register Operator with State Mgmt
var output = SNC.StateManagementScriptableApi.registerOperator();
var jsonUntil = new JSON();
var result = jsonUntil.decode(output);
var requestorId = result.requestorId;

// Get list of sys_ids to update
var sys_ids;

// 2. Set list of sys_ids's Operational State to 'Repair in Progress'
output = SNC.StateManagementScriptableApi.setBulkCIOperationalState(requestorId, sys_ids,'Repair in Progress');
gs.print(output);

// 3. Set list of sys_ids's CI Action State to 'Patching'
output = SNC.StateManagementScriptableApi.addBulkCIAction(requestorId, sys_ids, 'Patching');
gs.print(output);