Article

Flexible IT Service Management: Enhancing Request Efficiency with Multi-Task Ticketing in ServiceNow

Author: Agus Budi Harto, 2025-05-26 02:10:54

In today’s fast-paced digital workplace, companies require a flexible IT Service Management (ITSM) system to handle employee requests efficiently. A modern approach where a single request ticket can consist of multiple tasks is significantly more effective compared to the traditional method, where one ticket is limited to a single task.

ServiceNow’s Smart Handling of Multi-Task Requests

ServiceNow fully understands this modern ITSM need. In its request structure:

  • A single request (REQ) can contain one or more request items (RITM).

  • Each RITM can further include one or more tasks (SCTASK).

This hierarchy allows organizations, especially tech-driven ones, to manage complex service requests in a streamlined and organized manner. However, this flexible structure brings a new challenge.

The Communication Gap Between Task Assignees and Approvers

Although SCTASK provides an efficient way to delegate tasks under a single request, a common issue arises: comments made by task assignees (in SCTASK) are not visible to approvers because SCTASK records are stored separately from the RITM records. As a result, approvers may not have the complete context when making decisions.

The Solution: Syncing Task Comments with Request Items

To ensure that comments added in SCTASK are also visible in RITM, we can create a Business Rule in ServiceNow. This rule copies comments from SCTASK to the associated RITM, making them visible to approvers for better decision-making.

Here’s how to implement it:

Step-by-Step Guide: Creating a Business Rule to Forward Comments

  1. Navigate to: All > System Definition > Business Rules


  2. Click New to create a new rule.


  3. Name the rule appropriately (e.g., Copy Task Comments to RITM) and make sure the "Advanced" checkbox is ticked.

  4. You’ll find three tabs in the middle section:

    • When to Run


    • Actions

    • Advanced

When to Run:

  • Set "When" to Before

  • Check the box for Update

  • Set the filter condition to: Work notes and changes 

Actions:

  • Leave this section as is.

Advanced Tab:

  • Set the Condition to:

current.work_notes.changes() && current.work_notes.indexOf('Work Note added from:') < 0;

  • Set the Script field to:

(function executeRule(current, previous /*null when async*/) {

 if(current.comments.nil()){
  return;
 } 

 else {
  var gr = new GlideRecord('sc_req_item'); 
  gr.addQuery('sys_id', current.request_item);
  gr.query();
  while(gr.next()){
   gr.comments = "Comments added by system from " + current.number + " \n  " + current.comments;
   gr.update();
  }
 }
})(current, previous);

  1. Click Update to save the Business Rule.

Conclusion

This approach helps bridge the communication gap between task performers and approvers in a multi-task request scenario. By forwarding comments from SCTASK to RITM automatically, approvers gain better visibility, resulting in smarter, faster approvals and overall improved efficiency in IT request management.

Implement this Business Rule in your ServiceNow instance to unlock the full potential of your ITSM strategy.

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