Change Management for ServiceNow

Change Management ensures controlled modifications to IT infrastructure through standardized processes and approvals.

Change Types

Type Approval Risk Example

Standard Pre-approved Low Password reset template

Normal CAB approval Medium Server patching

Emergency Post-implementation High Production outage fix

Change Request Structure

Change Request: CHG0010001 ├── Risk Assessment │ ├── Impact: Medium │ ├── Risk: Low │ └── Conflict Status: Clear ├── Schedule │ ├── Planned Start: 2024-03-15 22:00 │ └── Planned End: 2024-03-15 23:00 ├── Approvals │ ├── Manager Approval: Approved │ └── CAB Approval: Pending ├── Change Tasks │ ├── Task 1: Backup current config │ ├── Task 2: Apply patches │ └── Task 3: Verify functionality └── Affected CIs ├── PROD-WEB-001 └── PROD-DB-001

Creating Changes

Normal Change (ES5)

// Create normal change request var change = new GlideRecord("change_request") change.initialize()

// Basic info change.setValue("short_description", "Apply security patches to web servers") change.setValue("description", "Monthly security patch deployment for production web tier") change.setValue("type", "normal") // normal, standard, emergency

// Classification change.setValue("category", "Software") change.setValue("priority", 3)

// Risk assessment change.setValue("risk", "low") // high, moderate, low change.setValue("impact", 2) // 1-High, 2-Medium, 3-Low

// Schedule var startDate = new GlideDateTime() startDate.addDaysLocalTime(7) startDate.setValue("2024-03-15 22:00:00") change.setValue("start_date", startDate)

var endDate = new GlideDateTime(startDate) endDate.addSeconds(3600) // 1 hour change.setValue("end_date", endDate)

// Assignment change.setValue("assignment_group", getGroupSysId("Change Management")) change.setValue("assigned_to", getOnCallUser())

// Implementation plan change.setValue( "implementation_plan", "1. Take backup of current configuration\n" + "2. Stop web services\n" + "3. Apply security patches\n" + "4. Restart services\n" + "5. Verify functionality", )

change.setValue( "backout_plan", "1. Stop web services\n" + "2. Restore from backup\n" + "3. Restart services\n" + "4. Verify rollback successful", )

change.setValue( "test_plan", "1. Check web server response\n" + "2. Verify all pages load\n" + "3. Run automated health checks", )

var changeSysId = change.insert()

Emergency Change (ES5)

// Create emergency change var emergencyChange = new GlideRecord("change_request") emergencyChange.initialize()

emergencyChange.setValue("short_description", "Emergency: Fix production database connection leak") emergencyChange.setValue("type", "emergency") emergencyChange.setValue("priority", 1) emergencyChange.setValue("risk", "high") emergencyChange.setValue("impact", 1)

// Emergency justification emergencyChange.setValue( "justification", "Production database connections exhausted causing service outage. " + "Immediate fix required to restore service.", )

// Immediate start emergencyChange.setValue("start_date", new GlideDateTime())

var endDate = new GlideDateTime() endDate.addSeconds(7200) // 2 hours emergencyChange.setValue("end_date", endDate)

emergencyChange.insert()

// Emergency changes bypass normal CAB gs.eventQueue("change.emergency.created", emergencyChange)

Standard Change (ES5)

// Create from standard change template function createStandardChange(templateName, variables) { // Find template var template = new GlideRecord("std_change_producer") template.addQuery("name", templateName) template.query()

if (!template.next()) { gs.error("Standard change template not found: " + templateName) return null }

// Create change from template var change = new GlideRecord("change_request") change.initialize()

// Copy template values change.setValue("short_description", template.getValue("short_description")) change.setValue("description", template.getValue("description")) change.setValue("type", "standard") change.setValue("std_change_producer", template.getUniqueValue())

// Apply variables for (var key in variables) { if (variables.hasOwnProperty(key) && change.isValidField(key)) { change.setValue(key, variables[key]) } }

return change.insert() }

// Usage createStandardChange("Password Reset", { requested_by: userSysId, cmdb_ci: applicationSysId, })

Change Tasks

Creating Change Tasks (ES5)

// Add tasks to change function addChangeTask(changeSysId, taskConfig) { var task = new GlideRecord("change_task") task.initialize() task.setValue("change_request", changeSysId) task.setValue("short_description", taskConfig.description) task.setValue("order", taskConfig.order) task.setValue("assignment_group", taskConfig.group) task.setValue("planned_start_date", taskConfig.start) task.setValue("planned_end_date", taskConfig.end) return task.insert() }

// Create implementation tasks var tasks = [ { description: "Pre-implementation backup", order: 100, group: "Database Team" }, { description: "Apply patches", order: 200, group: "Server Team" }, { description: "Verify functionality", order: 300, group: "QA Team" }, { description: "Update documentation", order: 400, group: "Change Management" }, ]

for (var i = 0; i < tasks.length; i++) { addChangeTask(changeSysId, tasks[i]) }

Affected CIs

Linking CIs to Change (ES5)

// Add affected CIs function addAffectedCI(changeSysId, ciSysId) { var task = new GlideRecord("task_ci") task.initialize() task.setValue("task", changeSysId) task.setValue("ci_item", ciSysId) return task.insert() }

// Add all affected servers var servers = ["server1_sys_id", "server2_sys_id", "db_sys_id"] for (var i = 0; i < servers.length; i++) { addAffectedCI(changeSysId, servers[i]) }

Approvals

Check Approval Status (ES5)

// Get approval status function getApprovalStatus(changeSysId) { var approvals = []

var approval = new GlideRecord("sysapproval_approver") approval.addQuery("sysapproval", changeSysId) approval.query()

while (approval.next()) { approvals.push({ approver: approval.approver.getDisplayValue(), state: approval.state.getDisplayValue(), comments: approval.getValue("comments"), sys_updated_on: approval.getValue("sys_updated_on"), }) }

return approvals }

Request Approval (ES5)

// Add approval request function requestApproval(changeSysId, approverSysId) { var approval = new GlideRecord("sysapproval_approver") approval.initialize() approval.setValue("sysapproval", changeSysId) approval.setValue("approver", approverSysId) approval.setValue("state", "requested") return approval.insert() }

Change Conflict Detection

Check for Conflicts (ES5)

// Check for scheduling conflicts function checkChangeConflicts(changeSysId) { var change = new GlideRecord("change_request") if (!change.get(changeSysId)) return []

var conflicts = [] var startDate = change.getValue("start_date") var endDate = change.getValue("end_date")

// Find overlapping changes on same CIs var affected = new GlideAggregate("task_ci") affected.addQuery("task", changeSysId) affected.groupBy("ci_item") affected.query()

while (affected.next()) { var ciSysId = affected.ci_item.toString()

// Find other changes affecting this CI
var otherChanges = new GlideRecord("change_request")
otherChanges.addQuery("sys_id", "!=", changeSysId)
otherChanges.addQuery("state", "NOT IN", "closed,cancelled")
otherChanges.addQuery("start_date", "<=", endDate)
otherChanges.addQuery("end_date", ">=", startDate)

// Join to task_ci
otherChanges.addJoinQuery("task_ci", "sys_id", "task").addCondition("ci_item", ciSysId)

otherChanges.query()

while (otherChanges.next()) {
  conflicts.push({
    change: otherChanges.getValue("number"),
    ci: ciSysId,
    start: otherChanges.getValue("start_date"),
    end: otherChanges.getValue("end_date"),
  })
}

}

return conflicts }

State Transitions

Change States

State Next States Conditions

New Assess Submitted

Assess Authorize, Cancelled Assessment complete

Authorize Scheduled, Cancelled Approvals complete

Scheduled Implement, Cancelled Within maintenance window

Implement Review, Cancelled Tasks completed

Review Closed PIR complete

Closed

Final state

Transition Change (ES5)

// Move change to next state function transitionChange(changeSysId, newState, notes) { var change = new GlideRecord("change_request") if (!change.get(changeSysId)) { gs.error("Change not found: " + changeSysId) return false }

// Validate transition var currentState = change.getValue("state") var validTransitions = { "-5": ["-4", "4"], // New -> Assess or Cancelled "-4": ["-3", "4"], // Assess -> Authorize or Cancelled "-3": ["-2", "4"], // Authorize -> Scheduled or Cancelled "-2": ["-1", "4"], // Scheduled -> Implement or Cancelled "-1": ["0", "4"], // Implement -> Review or Cancelled 0: ["3"], // Review -> Closed }

if (!validTransitions[currentState] || validTransitions[currentState].indexOf(newState) === -1) { gs.error("Invalid state transition: " + currentState + " -> " + newState) return false }

change.setValue("state", newState) if (notes) { change.work_notes = notes } change.update()

return true }

MCP Tool Integration

Available Change Tools

Tool Purpose

snow_create_change_request

Create change

snow_create_change_task

Add tasks

snow_get_change_request

Get details

snow_update_change_state

Transition state

snow_search_change_requests

Find changes

snow_schedule_cab_meeting

Schedule CAB

Example Workflow

// 1. Create change var changeId = await snow_create_change_request({ short_description: "Database upgrade", type: "normal", risk: "moderate", start_date: "2024-03-20 22:00:00", end_date: "2024-03-21 02:00:00", })

// 2. Add tasks await snow_create_change_task({ change: changeId, description: "Backup database", order: 100, })

// 3. Check conflicts var conflicts = await snow_check_change_conflicts({ change: changeId, })

// 4. Submit for approval await snow_update_change_state({ change: changeId, state: "assess", })

Best Practices

• Complete Documentation - Implementation, backout, test plans

• Risk Assessment - Accurate risk and impact ratings

• CI Linking - All affected CIs attached

• Proper Scheduling - Within maintenance windows

• Task Breakdown - Clear implementation steps

• Approval Chain - All required approvals

• Conflict Check - Verify no overlapping changes

• PIR - Post-implementation review for lessons learned