Countdown to ServiceNow Launch

It’s happening! Tomorrow — Thursday, Aug. 18 — our ServiceNow implementation team begins the final steps for the August release.

Yes, this message is long, but it's important since it will help you prepare for the coming changes. Please take the time to read it. It gives a high level overview of what the launch on Monday, Aug. 22 means generally and — more important — what it could mean to you starting that day.

Help make the launch successful by being prepared. If while reading through this, you discover that you are among the many UIT staff members who are affected by the change, the single most valuable thing you can do is attend a training class. If you haven't done that already, sign up soon.

All of us on the project team thank you for all your support.

What’s happening in the next few days?

The team is working on two things:

Upgrading our production ServiceNow instance that is currently only used with Stanford Health Care (SHC).

Activity	Start Date/Time	Stop Date/ Time
Version upgrade and SHC “mirroring” fix	Thursday, Aug.18 5 a.m.	Thursday, Aug. 18 8 p.m.
From 5-8 a.m. you will not have access to this system. Although you'll have access at 8 a.m., because of other activities (#2 below), the project team cannot guarantee normal performance and strongly prefers that you avoid using the system until after 8 p.m. SHC staff will relay requests that come directly to them to our Service Desk. If you fulfill SHC requests, you will have to manually keep the fulfillment process moving forward (i.e., without using ServiceNow).

Preparing our production ServiceNow instance for handling change management, problem management, and knowledge management for UIT services.

Activity	Start Date/Time	Stop Date/ Time
Code updates, data loads, validations, and more	Thursday, Aug. 18 8 a.m.	Monday, Aug. 22 8 a.m.
JIRA workflow changes to projects	Friday, Aug. 19 9 p.m.	Monday, Aug. 22 8 a.m.
JIRA will remain available, but projects will be converted into the new workflow on a project by project basis. You may see your project workflow converted at any time during this period. If possible, you should not use JIRA during this period.

What’s changing after launch?

With activity #1 above, integration (i.e., mirroring) between the UIT and SHC instances of ServiceNow will improve. Other than that, you may notice some minor user interface changes, but the system should work the same as before the upgrade.

The big changes comes with activity #2. This ServiceNow release results in new Change, Problem, Knowledge and JIRA workflows and processes for UIT. Each of these may affect you in different ways.

Change Management
*What’s changing?* ServiceNow is replacing Remedy and JIRA as UIT’s change management system. *Does it affect me?* It does if you plan or work on changes to any UIT production system or service. If you currently use Remedy for change management, you must start using ServiceNow and the new change management process on Aug. 22. If you currently use JIRA for development work, you can continue development tracking, pre-production migrations, and testing in JIRA, but you must start using ServiceNow for change management for production approvals, implementations, and verifications on Aug. 22. *Where can I get more details?* Training \| Overview Slides \| User Guide

Change Management

What’s changing? ServiceNow is replacing Remedy and JIRA as UIT’s change management system.

Does it affect me? It does if you plan or work on changes to any UIT production system or service.

If you currently use Remedy for change management, you must start using ServiceNow and the new change management process on Aug. 22.
If you currently use JIRA for development work, you can continue development tracking, pre-production migrations, and testing in JIRA, but you must start using ServiceNow for change management for production approvals, implementations, and verifications on Aug. 22.

Where can I get more details? Training | Overview Slides | User Guide

Problem Management
*What’s changing?* ServiceNow is replacing Remedy PRB and JIRA RCA as UIT’s single problem management system. *Does it affect me?* It does if you work to prevent service issues by identifying the underlying causes of problems and providing fixes that eliminate problems or minimize their impact. You must start using ServiceNow and the new problem management process starting Aug. 22. If you have existing problem management tickets in Remedy or JIRA, you can complete them in those systems. Any new items should be placed in ServiceNow. *Where can I get more details?* Training \| Overview Slides \| User Guide

Problem Management

What’s changing? ServiceNow is replacing Remedy PRB and JIRA RCA as UIT’s single problem management system.

Does it affect me? It does if you work to prevent service issues by identifying the underlying causes of problems and providing fixes that eliminate problems or minimize their impact. You must start using ServiceNow and the new problem management process starting Aug. 22. If you have existing problem management tickets in Remedy or JIRA, you can complete them in those systems. Any new items should be placed in ServiceNow.

Where can I get more details? Training | Overview Slides | User Guide

Knowledge Management
*What’s changing?* ServiceNow introduces an integrated system where you capture, store, share, and easily access and re-use information. *Does it affect me?* It does if you or your workgroup keep processes, procedures, documentation, etc., online for easy access and reuse. The more “knowledge” we can get into ServiceNow, the better we can do our work and support our clients. Beginning Aug. 22, you can create knowledge articles in ServiceNow. Work with your manager to determine what new content you should create or what existing content you should move from its current location into ServiceNow. *Where can I get more details?* Training \| Overview Slides \| User Guide

Knowledge Management

What’s changing? ServiceNow introduces an integrated system where you capture, store, share, and easily access and re-use information.

Does it affect me? It does if you or your workgroup keep processes, procedures, documentation, etc., online for easy access and reuse. The more “knowledge” we can get into ServiceNow, the better we can do our work and support our clients. Beginning Aug. 22, you can create knowledge articles in ServiceNow. Work with your manager to determine what new content you should create or what existing content you should move from its current location into ServiceNow.

Where can I get more details? Training | Overview Slides | User Guide

JIRA SDLC
*What’s changing?* ServiceNow with JIRA workflow integration introduces an unified software development lifecycle system where you review, develop and test fixes to software. *Does it affect me?* It does if you or your workgroup uses on-premise JIRA today. Current project workflows are being upgraded to the new integrated workflow where information seamlessly moves between JIRA and ServiceNow. So you should start working with JIRA support today to determine the timing of your project’s changes over the weekend of Aug. 20. *Where can I get more details?* Training \| Overview Slides \| User Guide

JIRA SDLC

What’s changing? ServiceNow with JIRA workflow integration introduces an unified software development lifecycle system where you review, develop and test fixes to software.

Does it affect me? It does if you or your workgroup uses on-premise JIRA today. Current project workflows are being upgraded to the new integrated workflow where information seamlessly moves between JIRA and ServiceNow. So you should start working with JIRA support today to determine the timing of your project’s changes over the weekend of Aug. 20.

Where can I get more details? Training | Overview Slides | User Guide

What should I do next?

If you haven’t already attended training, you should sign up right away.

As we approach Aug. 22, we’ll be sending you another message telling you a few things to check out after launch.

You can get more information about this project at our website. If you have any questions before then, ask us by using the feedback form.

Countdown to ServiceNow Launch