ServiceNow Archiving

Picture this: you've had ServiceNow in your organisation for a couple of years, and you’re starting to notice the number of older records accrue, perhaps to the point where performance isn’t what it used to be. Not all of us have the processing power of the Matrix to handle everything at once!

Forgotten records are not isolated problems for businesses, but it’s an easy issue to address especially if you want to improve instance speeds and efficiency. Unlike overflowing filing cabinets in your office, the impact is easily missed until problems arise. Now is as good a time as ever to embrace the bright start of the new year, and consider refreshing your data to improve system performance.

ServiceNow can help with the System Archiving application. This allows you to configure archival and disposal rules specific to your business recordkeeping.

Archiving

Archiving data simply moves data to an archive table using rules configured to meet your retention requirements. These rules automatically run, ensuring data refresh is ongoing.  

In the example below, a SME business has over 5000 incident records and they’re keen to automate archive incidents which are inactive and closed over a year ago.

The key point to remember is to not archive records which are likely to be required for reporting. While archived records can be restored to their original tables, they are not designed to be reported on nor are they optimised for searching.

Disposal

Now our SME has archival rules, their next step would be to review the disposal rules. As with hard copies, no one wants records sitting in archive for all eternity. That’s a lot of filing cabinets!

Ideally, our SME would work closely with record managers and data owners to come to an agreement on when records can safely be disposed of. For example, it could be agreed that 2 years after the archival date of an incident record, it can safely be disposed. Government regulations are often 5 to 7 years for sensitive data, and when that date rolls around, disposal rules can automatically rid you of the load.

Conclusion

Is 2019 the year you consider the automated refresh of ServiceNow records for your business? JDS can work with you to review your ongoing needs and help determine safe archival and disposal rules that suit.