Get started with
ServiceNow governance
June 2023
Developed by the ServiceNow Best Practice Center of Excellence
What is ServiceNow governance?
Governance is a decision-making framework that defines how ServiceNow®
strategy, portfolio, and technical decisions are made and who has the authority to
make them.
ServiceNow recommends a governance model with three governance boards,
each specializing in one type of decision-making (i.e. strategy, portfolio, or
technical).
Good governance streamlines the decision-making required to clearly define how
your organization should use and manage the Now Platform.
What’s the difference between my strategy,
my operating model, and my governance?
Your strategy describes what you will do, in terms of both:
• The business outcomes and value you plan to capture
• The ServiceNow workflows you’ll implement to realize outcomes and value
Your executive sponsor and/or Center of Excellence and Innovation leader should
set and approve your strategy.
Your operating model shows how you will realize your business outcomes. It
describes the capabilities you need to create and deliver value using the digital
workflows you implement on the Now Platform.
Your governance model provides the decision-making rigor and clarity you need
to make sure that your operating model works within the constraints of your
business strategy and technical environment.
2
Why should I invest in governance?
You’ll need to make many decisions as you implement and manage the Now
Platform, like:
• What services to deliver using ServiceNow
• How to sequence implementations
• How to manage upgrades
• When to customize as opposed to adopt out-of-the-box (OOTB) functionality
The point of governance is to structure and streamline how your organization
makes decisions like these, without frequent, chaotic, and ad hoc escalations to
senior leadership.
Good ServiceNow governance will:
• Drive your transformation vision – Effective decision-making avoids wasted effort
and prioritizes high-value projects by aligning ServiceNow strategy and
investment decisions with your broader enterprise goals.
• Deliver outcomes faster – Governance helps your organization get the right
work done faster by providing clear direction to teams that implement and
manage ServiceNow at your organization.
• Minimize technical and business risk – Governance is key to how you define
and apply technical best practices to minimize risk and maintain platform
integrity.
What will this workbook help me do?
When you complete the steps in this workbook, you’ll have ServiceNow
governance that:
• Structures how your decision-making groups (that is, governance boards) make
informed decisions that guide how you deliver value with the Now Platform
• Makes sure that ServiceNow projects and investments align with your strategy,
oversees how you manage your ServiceNow portfolio, and defines what
policies you need to follow to have platform stability
• Improves over time—by measuring and improving governance process
efficiency—so your governance delivers value without becoming burdensome
red tape
3
How to use this Success Workbook
This workbook will guide you through the steps to get started with ServiceNow
governance.
Start by reading through the Workbook Checklist and review the steps and tasks to
get started with ServiceNow governance. From the checklist page, you can either
proceed through the workbook page by page or navigate only to the sections
that you need using the hyperlinks.
Each section includes “check your progress” questions that you can answer to test
whether you need to complete the tasks listed on that page or if you’ve already
done so and should move forward. Hyperlinks are included throughout the
workbook so you can navigate back and forth between the checklist page and
different sections.
4
Workbook Checklist: Get started with
ServiceNow governance
Step 1: Prepare to implement ServiceNow
governance
q Assign someone to design your governance program and coordinate its
implementation
q Understand the technology governance requirements at your organization
q Build a project plan for how you’ll implement ServiceNow governance at your
organization
q Gain executive sponsorship for governance
q Engage stakeholders who should be involved in implementing governance
Step 2: Build your governance model
q Set up an executive steering board to support strategic decision-making
q Set up a technical governance board to lead technical governance
q Set up a demand board to lead portfolio governance
q Define how information flows to and across governance boards to inform
decision-making
q Define how to identify and escalate decision-making needs
Step 3: Define your governance policies
q Define a set of guiding principles or golden rules
q Define technical governance policies and standards that define how the Now
Platform should be managed
Step 4: Build a plan for continuously improving
governance
q Set metrics to measure the effectiveness of governance at your organization
q Continually assess and improve governance performance
5
Step 1a: Assign someone to design your
governance program and coordinate its
implementation
Your governance program will define how your organization makes the decisions
that will guide your ServiceNow implementation. Getting this right requires careful
program planning and design from the start. This is best managed by assigning
overall accountability for governance implementation to a single leader.
If you answered “yes” to both questions above, proceed to the next step. If not,
complete these action steps to complete this step:
1. Assign someone to design your governance program and
coordinate its implementation
This person will be accountable for completing the steps in this document,
including:
• Leading in defining the scope, direction, and goals for your governance
program
• Designing a project plan for implementing ServiceNow governance
• Identifying and engaging people that need to be involved in
implementation
Platform owners are typically best positioned to fulfill the responsibilities listed
above.
If the platform owner needs additional help, they should first recruit a program
manager to support planning and coordination and then involve others only as
needed.
Check your progress:
q Is someone accountable for implementing ServiceNow governance?
q Is this person a leader with the right authority and experience to effectively
lead governance design and implementation?
Practitioner insight: Make sure the people tasked with setting up governance
understand the non-technical elements of ServiceNow governance
Your Now Platform owner usually has both the technical and strategic perspectives
required to set up an effective governance program that extends beyond basic
platform management. Involve other people with experience in strategic planning and
who understand the business challenges as needed, if the platform owner in your
organization is primarily technically focused. Platform architects and business analysts,
for example, usually have the experience and know-how to provide this business
perspective.
Return to workbook checklist
6
Step 1b: Understand the technology
governance requirements at your organization
Most organizations have an existing technology governance model. While the
scope of ServiceNow governance is limited to governing the Now Platform, it’s
critical that your approach fits with any existing technology governance
requirements. For example, how will strategic decisions about how to use
ServiceNow need to consider prevailing enterprise platform strategy? How does a
ServiceNow-specific demand process align with the existing demand
management process at your organization? How should ServiceNow be managed
according to enterprise-wide architecture and security requirements?
This is especially important in organizations where ServiceNow is a strategic platform
and/or when ServiceNow is highly integrated with other platforms. It’s critical that
you understand this context before you start designing and implementing
ServiceNow-specific governance.
If you answered “yes” to both questions above, proceed to the next step. If not,
complete these action steps to complete this step:
1. Identify any existing technology governance model
requirements and/or policies that should be considered
when designing your ServiceNow governance approach.
Learn about your organization’s technology governance policies,
requirements, and governance bodies/structure so that you know how to align
your implementation of ServiceNow governance. Note specific policies that
should be considered when defining your own ServiceNow-specific policies
later on.
Check your progress:
q Do I know about all relevant existing governance and compliance
requirements in my organization?
q Do I know how to align ServiceNow governance design with our existing
technology governance model?
7
2. Make a list of anything you learned about technology
governance at your organization that you should keep in
mind as you design and implement your ServiceNow
governance model.
For example, does your organization use specific terminologies that you should
adopt instead of the terms used in this workbook? Are there restrictions or
design guidelines for how to set up new governance models at your
organization? Consult with technology governance experts at your
organization (typically in your enterprise architecture function) for guidance.
Practitioner insight: Consider how your organization’s decision-making culture should
influence how you structure decision-making for ServiceNow
Your organization’s culture should also influence how you design and position your
ServiceNow governance approach to ensure it’s most likely to be accepted and
followed. For example, if your organization is process oriented and has experience with
governance, it might appreciate a more detailed and rigid structure up front because
it’s easier to follow and strictly adhere to. If governance is a newer concept, you may
opt to ease into governance more slowly to avoid it being criticized as red tape.
8
Return to workbook checklist
Step 1c: Build a project plan for how you’ll
implement ServiceNow governance at your
organization
Approach implementing governance with a similar rigor that you apply to
technical implementations. Set goals and make a plan.
If you answered “yes” to both questions above, proceed to the next step. If not,
complete these action steps to complete this step:
1. Define a vision statement for what ServiceNow governance
will deliver at your organization.
We suggest something like “ServiceNow governance will simplify decision-
making to accelerate platform implementation and outcomes by defining how
the right people can effectively make the right decisions.”
2. Document your project plan for implementing governance.
Define specific steps for how you will implement governance, following at least
the steps included in this workbook. Set a timeline with deadlines for each step.
Use this governance project plan template, organized using the same tasks as
this workbook, to get started.
Check your progress:
q Is there a defined vision for what ServiceNow governance will deliver?
q Is there a project plan with a defined timeline for implementing ServiceNow
governance?
Task
Assigned
to
Start
date
End
date
Duration Status
Assign someone to
design your governance
program and
coordinate its
implementation
…
Research how decisions
are made at your
organization
…
Build a project plan for
how you’ll implement
ServiceNow
governance at your
organization
…
Gain executive
sponsorship for
governance
…
Engage stakeholders
that should be involved
in implementing
governance
…
…
…
9
Return to workbook checklist
Step 1d: Gain executive sponsorship for
governance
You need leadership support to get started with ServiceNow governance. Find
leaders who understand the value of governance and will help you establish it at
your organization, starting with your executive sponsor.
If you answered “yes” to both questions above, proceed to the next step. If not,
complete these action steps to complete this step:
1. Build a business case for why your organization needs
ServiceNow governance.
Leaders understand and respect business cases, and a well-structured case
can very effectively deliver your pitch for governance. You can do this in two
ways:
• First, clearly articulate the outcomes you expect from implementing
governance. We often cite that governance can “help drive your
transformation vision by aligning all ServiceNow investments to support
strategy, deliver the right work at the right time by streamlining decisions and
removing roadblocks, and maintain the integrity of your ServiceNow
implementation by defining and applying technical best practices.”
• Second, tell stories of previous issues that exemplify the cost of not having
structured decision-making (e.g., delayed projects because of escalation
roadblocks).
Simple, clear, “back-of-the-envelope” calculations on the value of
governance, supported by stories from previous projects, can help you make
your case.
2. Present your project plan and business case to your
executive sponsor, ask for their support.
3. Support your executive sponsor’s efforts to gain wider
executive buy-in and support for ServiceNow governance.
Arm your executive sponsor with your business case, project plan, and any
other supporting resources they ask for so they can be effective advocates for
your ServiceNow governance implementation. Refer to this playbook on how
to work with your executive sponsor, if needed.
Check your progress:
q Have you built a business case that explains why governance is worth
implementing?
q Have you shared this business case with your executive sponsor and gotten
their support?
q Has your executive sponsor gotten their peer leaders to also support your
case?
10
Return to workbook checklist
Step 1e: Engage stakeholders who should be
involved in implementing governance
Conduct a stakeholder analysis to Identify what roles and groups should be
involved in establishing ServiceNow governance and how they’ll contribute. This
analysis often reveals both who you’ll need to work with directly in order to set up
governance and who will need to be involved in ServiceNow governance
functions once they’re established.
If you answered “yes” to both questions above, proceed to the next step. If not,
complete these action steps to complete this step:
1. Identify who should be involved in implementing
ServiceNow governance.
Make a list of the groups you identify. This list will be different at every
organization but will generally involve at least someone from these groups:
• ServiceNow executive sponsor
• ServiceNow platform team
• IT/domain leaders
• Service and process owners
• Program managers (PMO)
• Enterprise architects
• Information security team
Check your progress:
q Do I know everyone who should be involved in implementing governance?
q
Have I defined how each stakeholder should contribute to implementation?
q Have I spoken to each stakeholder and set expectations with them?
Practitioner insight: Involve people with both technical and business skills when you set
up your governance program
All too often, organizations think of governance only in terms of controlling what
happens on the technology—and then they design a governance program that
focuses only on technical standards and management. The consequence is that the
responsibility for setting up governance often defaults to the staff with technical skills.
But if your organization is looking for transformation, the most important governance
decisions to frame aren’t technical—they’re about the strategic direction of the
ServiceNow roadmap and how technical decisions align with and support that. The
people who design and set up your governance program need to balance an
understanding of business as well as technical needs.
11
2. Build a stakeholder map that shows who needs to be
involved in setting up ServiceNow governance and what
they can contribute.
Your platform owner (and any others working to set up ServiceNow
governance) must coordinate with other groups to ensure your ServiceNow
governance program fits within the context of existing enterprise governance
and policies. Unfortunately, many groups overlook this need because they
don’t have a strong sense of whom to involve and how to work with them. To
avoid this, brainstorm a list of stakeholders who might need to be involved
when you initially set up ServiceNow governance.
Map these different stakeholder groups—such as your executive sponsor, the
PMO, and process owners—and define what you think each stakeholder can
help contribute to your governance program. The map will be different at
every organization but will generally involve at least the groups and tasks
included here:
Governance setup
role(s) (e.g., platform
owner)
• Sets up governance
committee structure
• Coordinates
governance
decision-making
processes
• Documents and
updates
governance policy
and process
• Collaborates with
enterprise process
functions
ServiceNow executive sponsor
• Advises governance setup group on governance model design
• Chairs executive steering committee
• Secures funding for governance
• Vets established governance with senior leaders
Service owners
• Identify where governance is needed for their service
• Apply governance in their service
Process owners
• Identify where governance is needed for their process
• Apply governance in their process
Program manager (PMO)
• Coordinates the work needed to set up governance
• Checks that ServiceNow governance aligns with IT and compliance needs
ServiceNow platform team
• Identifies where governance is needed to manage the platform
Architects/platform architects
• Support technical governance set up, including collaborating on defining
guiding principles, controls, and how to apply technical governance across
delivery activities
12
3. Meet with the stakeholders/groups you identified, share
your vision and project plan with them, and discuss what
might be expected of them as part of the implementation.
This conversation should also cover how they may be involved in ServiceNow
governance after it’s implemented.
Practitioner insight: Be prepared to sell ServiceNow governance to your stakeholders
When engaging stakeholders, always start with a pitch that explains ServiceNow
governance and its benefits. It is especially important to emphasize the benefits of good
governance if your organization has any aversion to the concept of governance or if
past governance initiatives have failed.
If you expect resistance, Organizational Change Management (OCM) practices might
complement your governance implementation to help you engage your stakeholders
and prepare them for any changes resulting from adopting a ServiceNow governance
model.
Don’t be disheartened if your pitch for governance is initially criticized. In one extreme
example, our customer at a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company shared, “When I
started, I couldn’t even use the word ‘governance’ at my organization because it’s too
deeply associated with red tape.” Ultimately, this customer was able to foster support for
adopting ServiceNow governance by working with their stakeholders and consistently
explaining the benefits.
13
Return to workbook checklist
Step 2a: Set up an executive steering board to
lead strategy governance
Strategy governance, led by an executive steering board, defines how strategy
roadmap decisions are made to align ServiceNow functionality to business
outcomes. Start by defining who must be involved in strategic roadmap decisions
for ServiceNow, then define how this group makes informed decisions.
If you answered “yes” to all questions above, proceed to the next step. If not,
complete these action steps to complete this step:
1. Recruit your executive sponsor to chair the executive
steering board.
Establish an executive steering board, led by the executive sponsor, to oversee
strategy governance.
2. Set a charter for you executive steering board.
We recommend that this board aspire to:
• Drive success of the ServiceNow program by aligning and prioritizing
investments with business goals and available delivery capabilities
• Monitor and direct programs to protect benefits and mitigate program risks
• Be accountable for the ServiceNow program, projects, and roadmap
3. Work with your executive sponsor to recruit other
stakeholders to the board.
One of the most important steps in establishing strategy governance is to
define who needs to be directly involved in decision-making processes that
determine how your organization will use and govern ServiceNow. Take great
care when you select who should participate in these decisions. Keep the
board as small as possible to start.
Consider asking the following roles to participate in executive steering board
decision-making:
• Executive sponsor
• CIO/CTO
• Key suppliers and partners
• Business unit/department representatives
• Vendor managers
Check your progress:
q Do you have a group of leaders who meet periodically to make strategic
decisions to use ServiceNow to support desired business outcomes at your
organization?
q Does this group have a defined remit that bounds what types of decisions
they need to be involved in?
q Does this group apply a consistent decision-making process?
14
4. Define what decisions and responsibilities need to be
managed by the executive steering board.
Consider what outcomes you expect from your board. Then make a list of
decisions and actions that your executive steering board will be responsible for.
To start, here are the most important decisions the executive steering board
needs to make:
• Does the current ServiceNow roadmap align with your business objectives?
• How will we revisit and update the ServiceNow vision and roadmap over
time?
• Do we have the right partners and partner management in place?
Here’s an example of how you can structure what you define, using a
template we’ve used while working with other customers. Note that the output
of action steps 1–3 can also be included in this template.
Executive steering board
Responsibilities and
decisions
• Drive success of
the ServiceNow
program by
aligning and
prioritizing
demand with
business goals
and available
delivery
capabilities
• Resolve
escalations and
conflicts of
interests
• Ensure project
dependencies
are identified and
shared among
the projects
• Optimize risk
position
• Oversee and
direct benefits
realization
• ServiceNow
executive sponsor
(lead)
• Platform owner
• Business unit
executives (live
processes and
current projects)
• Project
manager(s)
(current projects)
• Process
manager(s)
• Platform architect
Optional/guests:
• Quality manager
• Compliance and
audit
• Enterprise
architect
Members
• Aligned roadmap
• Aligned release
schedule
• Release schedule
approvals
• Release
prioritization
• Approve
enhancements
• Approve platform
architecture board
recommendations
• Aligned project
dependencies
• Platform upgrade
alignment
Outcomes
• Strategy and
demand review
• Alignment and
prioritization of
platform strategy
and projects
• Project(s) status
• Project(s)
planning
alignment
• Capacity review
• Release schedule
approval
• Enhancements
review and
approval
Typical agenda
Charter
• Drive success of
the ServiceNow
program by
aligning and
prioritizing
investments with
business goals
and available
delivery
capabilities
• Monitor and
direct programs
to protect
benefits and
mitigate
program risks
• Accountable for
the ServiceNow
program,
projects, and
roadmap
15
5. Set a cadence for executive steering board meetings.
We recommend that the executive steering board meet once every three to
six months, at least.
6. Define specifically how the executive steering board will
make decisions.
Define a process for how your board will make governance decisions. Make
sure your process explicitly prioritizes the most important action items from your
backlog.
Consider whether decisions are made by majority-rules voting, consensus,
seniority, or some other mechanism.
7. Define specifically how the executive steering board will
make decisions.
It isn’t enough to simply get the right leaders in the same room. You need to
plan for how you will prepare your board to focus on the right priorities when
they meet. Plan for how you can do the following items before and during
each board meeting:
• Set an agenda. Maintain a backlog of the items that your board needs to
discuss during their next meeting. Prioritize these items to ensure that the
most important and urgent needs are addressed.
• Provide relevant information so your board can make informed decisions.
For the executive steering board, this information can include the:
o Most up-to-date ServiceNow vision, business case, program plan, and
roadmap
o Most up-to-date ServiceNow performance dashboard reports
o Notes from past board meetings, including those from other boards (i.e.,
the demand board and/or technical governance board)
• Take meeting notes to record decisions made by the board so they can be
articulated into policies that your organization can follow, as needed.
Practitioner insight: Be mindful not to rely only on a cadence of governance board
meetings to provide effective governance.
Cadence doesn’t structure what decisions are made or how they are made. Focus on
defining how to support the decision-making process that those boards should follow.
16
Return to workbook checklist
Step 2b: Set up a technical governance board
to lead technical governance
Technical governance, led by a technical governance board, governs the
management and stability of the ServiceNow support model. Start by defining who
must be involved in technical decisions for ServiceNow, then define how this group
makes informed decisions.
If you answered “yes” to all questions above, proceed to the next step. If not,
complete these action steps to complete this step:
1. Recruit someone to chair the technical governance board.
Establish a technical governance board, led by the ServiceNow platform
architect and/or platform owner, to oversee technical governance.
2. Set a charter for your technical governance board.
We recommend that the technical governance board aspire to:
• Be the decision body and gate keeper on platform-related technical
aspects
• Assess technical and design options and approaches
• Assess development standards, best fit usage, UI standards, data
governance/strategy are among the tools used by this group
3. Work with your chair to recruit other stakeholders to the
board.
One of the most important steps in establishing technical governance is to
define who needs to be directly involved in decision-making processes that
determine technical standards for how the platform is used and managed.
Take great care when you select who should participate in these decisions.
Keep the board as small as possible to start.
• Platform architect
• Platform owner
• IT domain owners
• Program manager(s)
• Business analysts
• Quality assurance lead
• Security/compliance lead
• Development lead
• User experience lead
Check your progress:
q Do you have a group of leaders who meet periodically to make strategic
decisions to use ServiceNow to support desired business outcomes at your
organization?
q Does this group have a defined remit that bounds what types of decisions
they need to be involved in?
q Does this group apply a consistent decision-making process?
17
4. Define what decisions and responsibilities need to be
managed by the technical governance board.
Consider what outcomes you expect from your board. Then make a list of
decisions and actions that your technical governance board will be
responsible for.
To start, here are some decisions the technical governance board needs to
make:
• How should we manage the technical aspects of implementations and
upgrades?
• What technical standards should we adhere to for engineering,
development, and integration?
Here’s an example of how you can structure what you define, using a
template we’ve used while working with other customers. Note that the output
of action steps 1–3 can also be included in this template.
Technical governance board
Responsibilities and
decisions
• Decision body
and gate keeper
on platform
related technical
aspects
• Design authority
on platform
customizations
and integrations
• Maintain design
decision register of
approved,
rejected design
decisions
• Maintain technical
debt register for
periodic review
and removal of
technical debt
• Provides advisory
and
recommendations
to the program
steering
committee and
project(s)
• Enforcement of
platform quality
and upgradability
• Advisory for
projects,
operations, and
executive boards
• Platform architect
(lead)
• Platform owner
• Development
leads (each
project)
• Platform lead
administrator
Optional/guests:
• Security lead
• Interface owner
(source/target
system)
• Project
manager(s)
• Vendor
(ServiceNow)
architect
Members
• Approvals for
solution designs
• Guidance on
requests for
technical support
from projects
• Technical design
approvals for
customizations
and integrations
• Approve and
review plugin
enablement on
each instance
• Decisions on
requests that
have an impact
on the platform
Outcomes
• Review technical
requests
• Evaluation of new
demands,
stories, and
requirements
• Evaluation of
requirements
• Review of release
content (technical
review)
• Technical release
approval
• Release planning
recommendations
to steering
committee
• Approvals on
platform wide
aspects
• Review
high/critical
incidents that were
addressed to the
CAB (change
advisory board)
Typical agenda
Charter
• Be the decision
body and gate
keeper on
platform related
technical
aspects
• Assess technical
and design
options and
approaches
• Assess
development
standards, best
fit usage, UI
standards, data
governance/
strategy are
among the tools
used by this
group
18
5. Set a cadence for technical governance board meetings.
We recommend that the technical governance board meet at least every 1–2
months. However, they will also need to convene for point-in-time decision-
making as needed (e.g., to handle an issue or question elevated from
implementation teams so they can stay on schedule).
6. Define specifically how the technical governance board
will make decisions.
Define a process for how your board will make governance decisions. Make
sure your process explicitly prioritizes the most important action items from your
backlog.
Consider whether decisions are made by majority-rules voting, consensus,
seniority, or some other mechanism.
7. Plan how to support your technical governance board’s
decision-making.
It isn’t enough to just get the right leaders in the same room. You need to plan
for how you will prepare your board to focus on the right priorities when they
meet. Plan for how you can do the following items before and during each
board meeting:
• Set an agenda – Maintain a backlog of the items that your board needs to
discuss during their next meeting. Prioritize these items to ensure that the
most important and urgent needs are addressed.
• Provide relevant information so your board can make informed decisions.
For the technical governance board, this information can include:
o Project plans for ongoing work
o Most up-to-date ServiceNow performance dashboard reports
o Reports from ServiceNow HealthScan and Instance Security Center –
insight from these tools can help your board monitor compliance with
technical governance and identify areas that need improvement
o Notes from past board meetings, including those from other boards (i.e.
the executive steering board and/or demand board)
• Take meeting notes to record decisions made by the board so they can be
articulated into policies that your organization can follow, as needed.
19
Return to workbook checklist
Step 2c: Set up a demand board to lead
portfolio governance
Portfolio governance, led by a demand board, collects and prioritizes requests for
ServiceNow projects and enhancements and creates a roadmap that aligns with
the vision set by your executive steering board. Start by defining who must be
involved in portfolio decisions for ServiceNow, then define how this group makes
informed decisions.
If you answered “yes” to all questions above, proceed to the next step. If not,
complete these action steps to complete this step:
1. Recruit someone to chair the demand board.
Establish a demand board, led by the demand manager and/or platform
owner, to oversee portfolio governance.
2. Set a charter for you demand board.
We recommend that the demand board aspire to:
• Assess platform demand against strategic roadmap and guiding principles
to ensure demand has best fit usage on the platform
• Assess effort estimation and design options in order to approve viable
demands that provide value to the customer
3. Work with your chair to recruit other stakeholders to the
demand board.
One of the most important steps in establishing portfolio governance is to
define who needs to be directly involved in decision-making processes that
manage your ServiceNow portfolio. Take great care when you select who
should participate in these decisions. Keep the board as small as possible to
start.
Consider asking the following roles to participate in demand board decision-
making:
Check your progress:
q Do you have a group of leaders who meet periodically to make portfolio
decisions about how to prioritize and sequence Now Platform
implementations and enhancements?
q Does this group have a defined remit that bounds what types of decisions
they need to be involved in?
q Does this group apply a consistent decision-making process?
• Platform architect
• Platform owner
• IT process/domain owners
• Portfolio/service owners
• Demand managers
• Program manager
• Business analysts
• Vendor managers
• Key suppliers and partners
20
4. Define what decisions and responsibilities need to be
managed by the demand board.
Consider what outcomes you expect from your board. Then make a list of
decisions and actions that your demand board needs to consider.
To start, here are the most important decisions the demand board needs to
make:
• How do we determine the prioritization criteria for demands for new
capabilities, functionality, configuration, and customization?
• How do we use these criteria to govern demand intake?
• How do we delegate approvals for low-risk changes?
Here’s an example of how you can structure what you define, using a
template we’ve used while working with other customers (below). Note that
the output of action steps 1–3 can also be included in this template.
Demand board
Responsibilities and
Decisions
• Assess platform
demand against
strategic
roadmap and
guiding principles
to ensure
demand has best
fit usage on the
platform
• Assess effort
estimation and
design options in
order to approve
viable demands
that provide
value to the
customer
• Platform owner
• Project
manager(s)
(current projects)
• Process
manager(s)
• Platform architect
• Platform demand
manager (may
be combined
with another
platform role)
Members
• Provide decisions
on all demand
and associated
components
• Strategy fit – falls
within the
functional areas
of ServiceNow
• Service fit –
requires only out
of the box
functionality to
meet business
needs
• Customization
assessment
required by
design review
board
• Business case –
existing case for
change and
value
proposition
meets business
needs
• Effort estimation
• Address
conditional
actions to be
completed
• Assist in story
creation post
design decision
has been
reached
Outcomes
• Review demand
items that have
been flagged for
the review
• Run through
presented
demand design
options
• Agree on design
decisions
• Pending
• Rejected
• Approved
• Approved with
conditional
actions
• Address
conditional
actions and
follow-up items
Typical Agenda
Charter
• Assess platform
demand against
strategic
roadmap and
guiding principles
to ensure
demand has best
fit usage on the
platform
• Assess effort
estimation and
design options in
order to approve
viable demands
that provide
value to the
customer
21
5. Set a cadence for demand board meetings.
We recommend that the demand board meet every one to two months, at
least.
6. Define specifically how the demand board will make
decisions.
Define a process for how your board will make governance decisions. Make
sure your process explicitly prioritizes the most important action items from your
backlog.
Consider whether decisions are made by majority-rules voting, consensus,
seniority, or some other mechanism.
7. Plan how to support your demand board’s decision-
making.
It isn’t enough to just get the right leaders in the same room. You need to plan
for how you will prepare your board to focus on the right priorities when they
meet. Plan for how you can do the following items before and during each
board meeting:
• Set an agenda. Maintain a backlog of the items that your board needs to
discuss during their next meeting. Prioritize these items to ensure that the
most important and urgent needs are addressed.
• Provide relevant information so your board can make informed decisions.
For the demand board, this information can include:
o Project plans for ongoing work.
o Most up-to-date ServiceNow performance dashboard reports
o Notes from past board meetings, including those from other boards (i.e.
the executive steering board and/or technical governance board)
• Take meeting notes to record decisions made by the board so they can be
articulated into policies that your organization can follow, as needed.
22
Practitioner insight: Partner with enterprise architect (EA) teams to shape demand for ServiceNow. Once
you’ve defined how to govern your ServiceNow portfolio and reactively manage demand, you can start
working to anticipate, or even proactively shape, demand for the Now Platform.
Demand shaping involves educating business partners and other enterprise governance groups on what
your ServiceNow implementation can deliver so they know when ServiceNow is the right platform to use to
fulfill certain business needs. When done well, your demand shaping efforts will lead to better informed,
and often more, demand for ServiceNow, which will strengthen ServiceNow’s position as a strategic
platform at your organization.
The demand board plays a critical role in demand shaping because it’s best positioned to define and
share best-fit guidance (i.e., when to use ServiceNow versus other platforms) to other groups.
To start shaping demand, we recommend that the demand board partner with EA teams to define and
share best fit usage guidelines for their ServiceNow implementation. Here are some starter guidelines you
can consider.
When you’ve defined the best-fit guidelines for your specific implementation, ask your EA partners to keep
them in mind as they help other groups decide what platform to use to support their business needs. You
can also share these guidelines with your executive sponsor and executive steering board, so they can
refer to them when talking to other business leaders about ServiceNow.
ServiceNow fit
ServiceNow digital workflows can transform manual processes that span multiple systems
where development is slow and functionality isn’t reusable, relies on complex infrastructure,
and presents legacy experiences.
Good fit
• Extensive use of forms to interact with data
(service catalog, mobile)
• Automation of a manual and repeatable
business process
• New tables and table inheritance
• Workflow
• Data lookup
• Single portal
• Machine learning
• REST APIs
• Data can be modeled in a relation database
• Requires reporting and analytics capabilities
• Extensible and/or reusable
Bad fit
• One-time tasks
• Data is unstructured or analog
• Requires access to proprietary libraries that
do not have an API
• Applications requiring graphics engines
• Applications with no process flow
• Document storage or enterprise content
management
• Complex calculations
• High-compute resources (like blockchain
applications)
23
Return to workbook checklist
Step 2d: Define how information flows to and
across governance boards to inform decision-
making
Governance at the technical, portfolio, and strategy levels are interrelated and
should inform each other. For example, roadmap decisions at a strategic level
should inform when and why upgrades are planned at a portfolio level, which
should in turn inform priorities for upgrade management at a technical level. These
decisions should be made by separate groups to avoid overlapping responsibilities
and ensure the right specialists are involved in the right decisions, but they need to
remain in sync with each other to avoid siloed decision-making.
If you answered “yes” to both questions above, proceed to the next step. If not,
complete these action steps to complete this step:
1. Coordinate collaboration across governance boards.
Define how your governance boards will interact with each other. Clearly
articulate when they need to work together and how the decisions of one
board will impact the actions of another.
We recommend mapping this visually. Start with the map below and modify if
needed. Note that you can also include other groups (like the “operations
CAB” team below) in your map to show how your governance boards work
within the larger organization.
Check your progress:
q Have you documented how governance boards will interact with each
other to avoid silos?
q Do you know what information needs to be shared across boards to inform
decision-making?
Demand
board
Technical
governance
board
Operations
CAB
Solution design,
impact, effort
Demand for
assessment
Demand for
implementation
Release assignment
Implementation status
Implementation
review results
(e.g., source
code review)
Executive
steering
board
Budget
request
Prioritization
request
Request for
assessment
Strategic
positioning
Strategic initiative
Updated budget
Guiding principles
Demand for
approval and
planning
24
2. Coordinate how governance boards will share information.
Effective sharing and collaboration across governance boards reduces the risk
of uncoordinated or contradictory decisions.
Define how your boards will share information and how they'll collaborate
across boards after you establish the governance roles and authorities.
Standardize how they'll inform decisions and record them into policy across
governance bodies, including any governance bodies that may be indirectly
related to ServiceNow in your organization.
25
Return to workbook checklist
Step 2e: Define how to identify and escalate
decision-making needs
Most demand for decision-making will come from outside of your governance
board structure—from people and teams that are working on the Now Platform. For
example, a process owner implementing on the platform may need to escalate a
decision about how to design the process they’re implementing because it could
impact platform architecture or how other, already-implemented processes will
work. To support this, you need to map how these requests escalate to your boards
.
If you answered “yes” to both questions above, proceed to the next step. If not,
complete these action steps to complete this step:
1. Make sure that all implemented products
(or implementation projects) have assigned process and
service owners.
Process and service owners are key leaders on the front line and, along with
your Now Platform architects and platform owner, they’re positioned to identify
issues and questions that merit escalation and to hand those needs up the
chain of authority to be considered by your governance boards.
2. Define how implementation and project decisions escalate
from process/service owners to governance boards.
Your escalation path acts like an intake model with multiple “gates” to deflect
needs from requiring the attention of your full boards when possible. This
process flow will inform what needs to be covered during regularly scheduled
board meetings and prompt a decision-making process outside of the regular
cadence—for example, when a need is so urgent that it cannot wait for the
next scheduled meeting.
We recommend mapping this flow visually. Start with this map and modify if
needed.
Check your progress:
q Do you know every step in the escalation process, from individual
contributors on your platform support team up to full governance boards?
26
In this model, the platform owner is the first point of escalation. If they judge
that they can’t make a final decision on the issue, they decide which
governance board to escalate the question to.
We recommend distinguishing multiple levels of escalation within your
governance boards. The platform owner should start by directing questions to
the relevant board lead. The board lead should only escalate the question to
their full board when they can’t make a decision without consulting others on
their board. When this happens, the lead can decide to either escalate the
need immediately or add the question to the agenda for the board’s next
regularly scheduled meeting.
This structure is faster and less burdensome because it enables some decision-
making without the full board.
Platform/
implementation
team members
Service owner
Process owner
Platform
owner
Executive steering board
Demand board
Technical governance board
Front line Platform leader Board chair Full board
Increasing escalation
Executive sponsor
• Executive
sponsor
• Department
representatives
• Master architect
• Vendor
managers
• Key partners
• CIO
• …
Platform owner/
Demand manager
• Platform owner
• Demand
manager
• IT process
owners
• Service owners
• Business analyst
• Platform
architect
• Data owners
• Program
managers
• …
Platform owner/
Platform architect
• Platform owner
• Platform architect
• Program
managers
• Development lead
• Business analyst
• UX lead
• Data managers
• QA lead
• Security Lead
• …
Practitioner insight: Don’t escalate the same question to more than one board at a time,
even when it may be relevant to multiple boards.
Escalate first to just one board based on which you think is best positioned to start
addressing the specific need. Then rely on your boards to collaborate as needed. For
example, a process change may require input from all three boards, but it makes the
most sense to first escalate only to your demand board where your process owners sit.
27
Return to workbook checklist
Step 3a: Define a set of guiding principles or
golden rules
Many organizations start by agreeing on a set of principles or golden rules once
they’ve established their governance boards. Golden rules are simple, clear
statements that help to make sure governance decisions and activities are
coordinated at each level. These principles deliver early value by defining a north
star for how decisions should be made and for how you expect the Now Platform
to be used at your organization. They’re intentionally less detailed than formal
policies and standards.
If you answered “yes” to the question above, proceed to the next step. If not,
complete these action steps to complete this step:
1. Define the initial principles.
Share these draft principles, or golden rules, with your governance boards
(below). Ask them what they would change, add or delete from these
principles. When you have a final set of principles that your boards agree on,
finalize and circulate them to the teams that work on ServiceNow at your
organization.
Check your progress:
q Do you have a set documented high-level principles that the people in your
organization can apply to inform decisions in the absence of an exact
policy?
Architecture
• “Secure”
simplified user
experience
• Configure,
integrate, then
customize
• Enable citizen
developers
• Minimize waste
• N-0 versioning,
always current
• Integration: API
first
• Always look
forward
• Single production
instance
Design
• Seamless and
integrated user
experience
• Design for real
time
• Automation in
mind
• No code, low
code
• Focus on agile
maintainability
• Reuse existing
where possible
• Regular cadence
of health and
sprint scans
Data
• Common
services data
model
• Keep data clean
• Use data as an
asset
• Stage integration
data externally
• System of process
is system of
record
• System of record
then source of
truth
Over-arching principles
Think Experience
First
Drive Change,
Challenge Status
Quo
Quickest Path to
Value with
Acceptable Risk
Out of the Box First
Governance
• Decisions based
on manage-
ability,
performance,
upgrade-ability,
security, and UX
considerations
• Measurable
outcomes-based
approach
• Empowered
decision-making
within scoped
application
• Speed to value
approach
• Voice of
associate/
change
enablement
mindset
28
Return to workbook checklist
Step 3b: Define technical governance policies
and standards that define how the Now
Platform should be managed
Good governance should deliver a minimally sufficient set of policies that inform
and govern how work is best done with ServiceNow to drive business value. Your
initial set of policies will set a precedent—recording decisions made by your
governance authorities so they can be followed across your entire organization.
Your policies should provide detailed guidelines and technical standards that
teams can follow to do work according to established practices. They must also
align with your overall golden rules—in fact, policies often expand on your golden
rules to more granularly explain the guidance and guardrails you need.
If you answered “yes” to both questions above, proceed to the next step. If not,
complete these action steps to complete this step:
1. Define a minimum viable set of technical governance
policies. Define a minimum viable set of technical
governance policies.
Conduct a thorough review of product documentation and release notes to
identify what platform/technical governance policies may be needed. Then
consult with your administrators, developers, fulfillers, and process owners using
workshops and tabletop exercises where needed to identify key points where
your platform/ technical governance needs clear definition.
Based on what you learned, define a minimum viable set of governance
policies—an initial set of draft policies—that will help you avoid technical risks
while they guide work on your ServiceNow implementation.
This will help you deliver governance value quickly and avoid maturing any
one type of governance policy (like “perfecting” the instance management
policy) before considering the full set of different policies you need to govern
ServiceNow.
Check your progress:
q Have you documented a set of specific technical policies that define how
things like instance management, upgrades, and security are handled
according to established best practices at your organization?
q Do these policies effectively inform work at your organization?
29
A minimum viable set of policies could include:
• Platform management policy – Defines a process to evaluate and mitigate
the impact of changes in your ServiceNow instances to maintain platform
stability and integrity
• Instance management policy – Defines how to right-size environments,
replicate instances correctly, develop a security access control model, and
ensure proper maintenance
• Upgrade management policy – Defines how to plan for and execute
upgrades, including a policy that regulates customizations that could hinder
future upgrades
• Platform data governance policies – Defines data ownership and
stewardship roles, sets up data standards and establishes a data dictionary
with field descriptions, and manages data synchronization
• Demand management policy – Defines how demands—that is, requests for
new services or for changes to existing services—are evaluated and
prioritized relative to the business value they provide before resources are
allocated. This policy should be aligned with established demand intake
and management practices, if they’re already established in your
organization.
Practitioner Insight: Start by defining the extent and degree of control you need to
enforce via policy before defining any policy. The extent of control refers to the number
of things that need to be regulated by policy. The degree of control refers to how strictly
that policy needs to regulate action. Your goal should be to settle on the smallest extent
and degree of control possible. Doing this first makes it far easier to assemble a minimum
viable set of policies that will protect you against risk and inform your work—without
going overboard.
Bear in mind that the extent and degree of control you establish through governance
should match your organization’s risk tolerance level and not try to avoid risk beyond
that. Don’t try to completely avoid risk—it’s not possible and attempts to do so often
result in overly rigid policies that hinder work.
Practitioner insight: Explore what other work or policy exists that’s relevant to ServiceNow
governance first, even if it wasn’t defined explicitly for ServiceNow
A few minor alterations or additional considerations might make an existing process or
policy work well for ServiceNow governance needs, saving time and causing less change
from your established protocols. Always opt to adopt or adapt an existing policy when it’s
reasonable, but critically examine that policy first.
If an existing policy accomplishes exactly what you need (or can be slightly modified to
do so), don’t waste time reinventing the wheel. Otherwise, when you develop a new
policy that will better support your ServiceNow-specific needs, make sure it doesn’t
contradict with any existing policy.
30
2. Share your technical policies with all relevant audiences
(e.g., all governance boards, Now Platform support team
members, etc.).
Communicate your expectation that everyone will follow the guidance in your
policies whenever working on the Now Platform. Store these documented
policies in a central location where all relevant stakeholders can find and
review them whenever needed (e.g., a department SharePoint on in
knowledge management articles).
Practitioner insight: Make sure your organizational change management plan supports
your governance decisions. A best-in-class governance structure can craft value-adding
policies but still not generate positive change. Why? As with most things, you need to
effectively communicate your work and sell your organization on the value it provides.
Without marketing the good work you’re doing, it’s possible that people in your
organization will “miss the memo” and continue to do things the way they always have.
Harder still, you need to convince people that it’s in their best interest to follow the
guidelines set in governance policy, so they don’t circumvent governance or perceive it
as a roadblock.
Consider how you’ll deliver new governance policies in a way that your organization will
recognize and follow. Be open and communicate the decisions your governance
authorities make. Focus your messaging on the new value that policies will enable. One
ServiceNow customer advises that it can be helpful to think about this as managing the
organizational change caused by establishing new governance. Your plan for
organizational change management should account for this, particularly in your
communications plan.
It’s always worth the time to use these communications as opportunities to educate
stakeholders on both the value of governance and on the value of ServiceNow. Make
communication planning related to new decisions and policies a part of every board
meeting.
31
Return to workbook checklist
Step 4a: Set metrics to measure the
effectiveness of governance at your
organization
Define metrics that measure the effectiveness of your governance process and
policies and track them over time to identify where you should consider making
improvements.
Unlike system performance metrics, the metrics to track governance don’t need to
provide exact measurement nor should you need to track them in the platform.
They can be simple, even anecdotal benchmarks that you track over time to track
performance and identify opportunities to improve.
If you answered “yes” to both questions above, proceed to the next step. If not,
complete these action steps to complete this step:
1. Define a simple set of three to five metrics to diagnose
where governance can be improved.
Start by considering metrics that help you measure:
• How efficient your decision-making processes are, for example:
o # of decisions your boards are making each quarter – Track roughly how
many individual decisions are being made by each board. Tallying the
number of agenda items across a quarter provides a good proxy but
ideally you could count how many times your board makes a final
decision on something (e.g., calls a vote, reaches consensus, etc.,
depending on how your boards decided to finalize decisions). As a
bonus, any details on what different types of decisions are supported
would be interesting to track.
o Board member participation rates (%) – Meeting attendance is a good
informal metric that can indicate the burden of governance on your
board participants. Declining participation could be an indicator that
governance is overly burdensome and/or that members don’t think the
meetings are adding enough value to be worth the time to participate.
o # of board meeting count per quarter – Track how often your boards
meet in an average month. Compare this count to the cadence agreed
on in your board charter—is it more or less? Also note trends in this count.
An increasing cadence indicates an increased burden on your boards
and, potentially, that governance isn’t generating efficient enough
decision-making for your organization. Agendas that spill over and
require additional follow-up meetings are a red flag.
Check your progress:
q Have you defined a set of metrics that you can track over time to identify
how well governance is working?
q Do these metrics help you identify where improvements are needed?
32
o Average board meeting duration (hours) – Increasing meeting times may
indicate that governance efficiency isn’t keeping up with demand. If you
see this, try to root cause what is preventing efficient decision making – Is
more preparation required before meetings? Are there too many
participants in a given board? It’s important to limit the amount of time
spent in board meetings to limit the burden placed on board members,
so efficiency is key.
• How effective, comprehensive, and current your governance policies are,
for example:
o % reduction of escalations to governance boards over previous quarter –
Tracking this can help you measure if the governance you’ve
established is informing front-line work and decisions throughout your
organization. If escalations don’t decrease, it’s possible that people in
your organization aren’t aware of the policies, that they aren’t following
them, or that the policies don’t provide the guidance they need. You
can measure this by monitoring the agenda items addressed by your
governance boards and identifying the needs that result from
escalation.
o # of defined ServiceNow governance policies – Simply tracking the
number of policies you define provides a quick measure of how much
control (i.e., red tape) you’ve built into your established governance.
Rule of thumb: Single-digit measures are likely too low, and triple-digit
measures are almost definitely too high. Ten to 25 policies can be a
sweet spot, depending on how much control you need in your
organization and/or industry.
o % of policies that have been updated in 24 months – This indicator can
help you track how frequently you’re revisiting and improving
governance over time. Policies don’t have to change, but it’s very likely
that a significant percentage of your defined policies will need to be
updated within any given 24-month period.
33
Return to workbook checklist
Step 4b: Continuously assess and improve
governance performance
Best-in-class ServiceNow governance is dynamic: It evolves to reflect what you
need to drive your business objectives. As with any minimum viable product, most
organizations will likely discover over time that they need to iterate, optimize, and
refine their minimum viable set of governance policies.
Determine how you’ll revisit and improve governance over time to ensure that you
can continue delivering value while mitigating risks.
If you answered “yes” to both questions above, check the box. You’ve successfully
implemented ServiceNow governance! Remember to consistently reevaluate and
continuously improve governance at your organization.
If not, complete these action steps to complete this step:
1. Conduct periodic governance audits.
We’ve found that the best way to make sure you maintain the right amount of
governance is to get your governance groups to periodically review where
they can simplify their decision-making processes and policies. This goes
beyond searching for where you can remove bottlenecks in approval
processes. It involves auditing the portfolio of existing governance policies and
processes and looking specifically for opportunities for simplification.
You can think about this as a governance audit with the goal of identifying
where a process or policy adds value and should be preserved and refined,
and where it’s simply red tape and should be changed or removed.
We recommend setting a cadence for how often you conduct these audits.
You should conduct one at least every time you start work on an upgrade,
because upgrades can change how work is done on ServiceNow.
It can help to consider where specific governance processes or policies fall on
a two-by-two chart (like the one on the next page) that plots the value a
policy delivers against the burden that policy places on the organization in
terms of administration and adherence.
Check your progress:
q Do you know how you will identify where governance is inefficient or failing
and then improve?
q Have you thought about how to reduce the need to escalate decisions to
governance boards?
34
Value delivered by process/policy
Process/policy burden
High value/low burden
High
Always keepConsider removing or refining
Consider refining
Low
High value/high burden
Low value/low burden
Low value/high burden
Remove whenever possible
High
Low
Practitioner insight: Focus on maintaining the right amount of governance over time.
Governance can quickly become a quagmire over time: Policies that aren’t revisited
and reevaluated can add up like technical debt, with similar consequences for cost and
speed. To avoid this, you need to continuously work to maintain the right amount of
governance—your set of defined policies should add more value, by clarifying decision-
making and accountability, than they “cost” in terms of the time and effort required for
organizational administration and adherence.
While you can (and should) periodically assess where policies can be removed or
modified to maintain the right amount of governance, you should consider this every
time new policies are defined. To do this, ask yourself the following two questions every
time new governance policies are defined:
1. Does the value of this policy (such as the risk it mitigates or the speed it enables)
outweigh its cost (such as the time and burden required for administration and
adherence)?
2. After adding this policy, does our full set of policies deliver value that outweighs the
cost of administrating and adhering to them?
35
2. Use what you learn from your governance metrics and audits
to identify where to improve and streamline ServiceNow
governance at your organization.
• Your first priority should be to act on lessons learned from your governance
audit. Present your relevant findings to each board and ask board members to
approve any suggested policy and process modifications and removals. Then
follow through according to their guidance.
• Next, consider how else you can improve how quickly and efficiently
governance works by:
o Removing bottlenecks in governance decision-making – Identify barriers
that slow down your governance boards’ ability to make decisions quickly.
For example, do they always have the right information at hand to inform
decisions? Is low board member participation preventing your boards from
reaching final decisions? Resolve for these bottlenecks accordingly.
o Empower local decision-making to avoid constant escalation to boards –
Review governance board agendas and identify recurring or boilerplate
decisions that governance authorities should not have to continue spending
time on. Then define and communicate policies to managers and individual
contributors so they know how to adhere to standards and make decisions
accordingly, without having to escalate the same questions to governance
boards in the future.
o Enable governance to flex to meet the changing needs of the organization –
Make a plan for collecting feedback from people in your organization about
where governance is making their work harder and streamline governance
to address concerns where possible.
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Return to workbook checklist
