1 © 2021 ServiceNow, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Questions addressed:
Page 1:
• How often should I
upgrade?
• What is the value
of staying current?
Page 2:
• What is the
upgrade process?
Page 3:
• How do I speed up
testing?
• Where can I find
additional content
to help me
upgrade?
How do I perform ServiceNow upgrades?
It’s important to stay on the current ServiceNow
®
release so you can take full advantage of the new products and capabilities
as they're released and so you maintain the highest levels of security, availability, and performance.
How often should I upgrade?
• The ServiceNow upgrade policy states that we provide support for the two most recent release families—the current
release and one release behind the current. This means you need to upgrade at least once a year to stay current. Once
you fall behind the supported versions, ServiceNow will schedule an upgrade for you.
• There are two major releases each year, typically in March and September. Determine your upgrade plan (once or twice a
year) and plan ahead.
What is the value of staying current?
By consistently performing upgrades to the Now Platform
®
, the potential benefits you can expect include:
Achieve business value faster
Increase workflow efficiency by up to 25%*
Bring new capabilities to market faster
Get faster access to new features, reducing time spent on build-outs and
developments by as much as 80%*
Improves platform performance and the upgrade process
Reduce the time spent on upgrades by as much as 81%*
Visit the ServiceNow Value
Calculator to learn how much
you can save by upgrading
regularly.
*The Total Economic Impact™ Of Staying Current With ServiceNow Upgrades, a commissioned study
conducted by Forrester Consulting, August 2020.
If you have any questions
on this topic or you would
like to be a contributor to
future ServiceNow best
practice content, please
contact us.
Use the Upgrade Kit to get started.
2 © 2021 ServiceNow, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
What is the upgrade process?
Phase 1: Plan
Read the release notes and plan your upgrade
Sub-production instances
Ø Read the release notes to understand the required upgrade and migration tasks.
Ø Complete the preparation and planning tasks in Phase 2 of the upgrade planning checklist.
Ø Evaluate the level of customization on your instances.
Ø Create a comprehensive test plan.
Ø After validating that your upgrade was complete, apply update sets and fix scripts.
Ø Perform post-upgrade user acceptance testing.
Ø Hold a retrospective review to identify what worked well and what you can improve next time.
Phase 2: Prepare
Prepare for the development instance upgrade
Phase 3: Schedule upgrade
Verify your upgrade configurations and schedule
the development instance upgrade in
NowSupport
Phase 4: Review upgrade
Upgrade and validate the development
instance
Phase 5: Test and validate
Upgrade and validate your other non-production
instance(s), such as your test instance
Phase 6: Remediate
Prepare to upgrade the production instance
Phase 7: Production upgrade
Upgrade the production instance
Ø Review and fix issues discovered during testing.
Ø Communicate the upgrade to stakeholders and consumers.
Ø Create a system clone of your production instance so you’ll be able to simulate an upgrade on your
production configuration in a non-production environment.
Ø Follow steps in the upgrade planning checklist to set up your instance for the upgrade and then
schedule your upgrade in Now Support.
Ø Track the progress of your upgrades with the Upgrade Monitor.
Ø Use the Upgrade Monitor to process the skipped list of records that were not addressed in the upgrade.
Ø Gather the update sets needed to address skipped records, changes to configurations needed for the
upgrade, and items that must go live immediately after the upgrade. Then, perform functional testing.
Ø Configure and refine your development instance.
Ø Upgrade other sub-production instance(s) you have in your development to production stack.
Ø Configure your test environment to be a good representation of your production environment.
How do I perform ServiceNow upgrades? (Continued)
3 © 2021 ServiceNow, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Where can I find additional content to help me upgrade?
How can I simplify my upgrades?
Ø Automated Test Framework (ATF) is a native Now Platform application for creating and running automated testing. ATF helps you complete upgrades
faster by automating complex, resource-intensive manual testing. When you upgrade, run ATF tests to confirm that the instance still works as
designed.
Ø Instance Scan checks your existing configurations and helps you avoid creating future configuration issues. Instance Scan is a tool you can use as
part of your development operations, release management process, and your pre- and post-upgrade processes. Use Instance Scan to interrogate
your instance for configurations that indicate health issues and to identify opportunities to follow best practices.
Ø The Upgrade Center is a set of tools you can use to plan and manage your upgrades. With the Upgrade Preview module, select any release version
available to you and it will generate a list of its predicted skipped changes, generate personalized release notes, and show you its known errors. Then
you can schedule your upgrade and monitor its status. You can also view the summary of your latest upgrade. To manage any post-upgrade skips,
use the upgrade visual task board (VTB) featured in the Upgrade Center. You can use the Upgrade History module to view all your past upgrades.
Best practices
• All about upgrades
• Implement upgrades
Product documentation
• Release notes
• Upgrade your instance
• Upgrade planning checklist
Now Support
• Schedule upgrades
• Early Release registration
• Upgrade Assist registration
Community support
• Upgrade Community
• Now Creators
How do I perform ServiceNow upgrades? (Continued)
