How to Move Updates Between Update Sets in ServiceNow

If you're a ServiceNow administrator or developer, managing update sets efficiently is crucial. Sometimes, changes inadvertently end up in the wrong update set—often the default one. Moving updates from one set to another ensures that you can correctly track and migrate these customizations between your development, testing, and production instances.

In this article, we'll clearly explain how you can move updates from one update set to another, ensuring your configurations are accurately organized, easily auditable, and ready for promotion.

Moving Updates to a Different Update Set: Common Scenario and Causes

It's a common occurrence—you're modifying the incident form or making service portal adjustments, and without realizing, these changes get recorded in the default update set rather than your intended custom update set. Thankfully, ServiceNow provides a straightforward method to correct this, keeping your updates organized and traceable.

Common scenarios include:

• Making configuration changes without selecting your custom update set first.

• Forgetting to switch from the default update set before starting new developments.

  
  

Step-by-Step Solution: How to Move Customer Updates

Here's how you can effectively move your updates from one update set to another:

Step 1: Open the Update Set Containing Your Changes

Navigate to System Update Sets → Local Update Sets and select the update set currently containing the changes (usually the default update set).

Step 2: Locate the Customer Updates List

Once the update set is open, scroll down to the Customer Updates related list. This list displays all customizations captured by this update set.

Step 3: Move Individual Updates

• Click into the specific customer update you wish to move.

• On the customer update record, find the Update set reference field.

• Change the update set field by selecting the intended update set from the lookup or type-ahead functionality.

• Click Update to move the record.

Step 4: Moving Multiple Updates (Bulk Action)

If multiple updates require moving, ServiceNow allows batch updating:

• From the Customer Updates related list or the sys_update_xml table, select all records that need moving by checking their boxes.

• Use the actions dropdown to select Update Selected.

• In the mass-update interface, choose the desired update set in the Update set field.

• Click Update to complete the bulk action.

This method saves considerable time, especially if you've captured many changes.

Practical Example:

Suppose you've customized the incident form, and these changes mistakenly got recorded in the default update set. You can easily correct this:

• Open the default update set from Local Update Sets.

• Select the relevant changes (form layout, field updates) from the customer updates list.

• Bulk-edit or individually move these updates to the correct update set, like "Incident Form Customization – April 2024."

Alternative Solutions for Managing Update Sets

While the built-in ServiceNow methods described above are highly effective, there are other ways to efficiently manage your update sets:

UI Action (Copy/Move to Update Set)

ServiceNow also supports custom UI actions that allow developers to select specific updates and directly move or copy them into another update set. This approach provides enhanced flexibility and is favored by larger ServiceNow environments that handle many update sets and customizations daily.

Scripting Option

For advanced use cases or automation, scripting provides another solution. A GlideRecord script can programmatically move updates from one update set to another based on specific criteria (for instance, updates created by a particular user). However, this method is more technical and is best suited for experienced ServiceNow developers who require automation.

Here's a simplified script-based approach:

var updateSet = new GlideRecord('sys_update_set');
updateSet.get('sys_id_of_target_updateset'); // Target Update Set

var updateXml = new GlideRecord('sys_update_xml');
updateXml.addQuery('update_set', 'sys_id_of_current_updateset');
updateXml.query();

while (updateXml.next()) {
    updateXml.update_set = updateSet.sys_id;
    updateXml.update();
}

This method automates moving updates based on precise conditions, but it's crucial to use this with caution and thorough testing.

Conclusion

Properly managing update sets in ServiceNow is fundamental for maintaining clear, reliable, and audit-friendly configuration management. Moving updates from the default update set to your intended custom update set is straightforward and ensures your developments remain organized and easily promotable.

Actionable Next Steps:

• Regularly review your update sets for stray updates, especially the default update set.

• Train your team to select the correct update set before beginning new customizations.

• Utilize bulk editing to swiftly handle multiple updates when needed.

  
  

By following these best practices, you'll significantly streamline your ServiceNow development process and enhance the accuracy and traceability of your instance configurations.