1. #7: Build dedicated, dynamic governance process, policies & team
Success Pillar: Actively lead the transformation

2. Success Pillars – Structure
State and measure your business goals
Actively lead the transformation
Get your ServiceNow foundations right
Create excitement, drive adoption 1
State your transformation vision and outcomes 5
Engage executive sponsor to drive change and remove roadblocks 11
Manage to
“Out-of-the Box” 15
Design an engaging self-service employee & customer experience 2
Build your business case 6
Find, manage, and coordinate capable, certified partners 12
Discover and map your service assets 16
Design an optimal agent and rep experience 3
Build a phased
program plan, identify quick win 7
Build dedicated, dynamic governance process, policies & team 13
Plan your architecture, instances, integrations and data flows 17
Create change management plan 4
Baseline and track performance, usage KPIs and metrics 8
Reimagine how you want work processes to flow 14
Plan for upgrades at least once a year 18
Build internal team of ServiceNow experts & train users 9
Define and map out your business services 19
Build a community of champions 10
Manage platform demand

3. Build dedicated, dynamic governance process, policies & team
Governance is a set of policies, processes, and organizational capabilities that define how decisions are made and who is responsible for outcomes. Basic governance – defining roles and responsibilities and policies that govern your ServiceNow technology implementation – is needed to guard against technical risk. Advanced governance accounts for longer-term strategic planning and portfolio management, and enables your organization to scale the capabilities of the Now Platform to support new and changing priorities.
Governance is essential for ensuring that your implementation continues to deliver value over time against your business objectives. At a baseline level, governance is needed to use the Now Platform to deliver value with minimal technical risk. At more advanced levels, the right governance model can:
Ensure that your ServiceNow roadmap rapidly identifies and supports changes in business priorities
Accelerate your ability to deliver value, by providing front-line teams with the tools to "self-govern” development and service delivery
Insight: Implementing ServiceNow Governance
Three areas of governance need to be established:
Strategy governance, which defines how strategy roadmap decisions are made to align ServiceNow functionality to business outcomes
Technical governance, which governs the management and stability of the ServiceNow support model
Portfolio governance, which articulates how ServiceNow portfolio decisions are made and captured in policy
Build a team and start with basic strategy and technical governance to enable safe, quick value delivery with the platform, then proceed to establishing portfolio governance. Do not refine any one area of governance before initiating development across all areas (strategy, technical, and portfolio governance) – they must be co-developed and refined over time so they can appropriately inform one another.
Use metrics to diagnose how to continuously improve governance, working to make governance dynamic and minimize bureaucracy over time.
Key Implementation Steps
Start
Improve
Optimize
1. Define governance roles and responsibilities
2. Build capabilities for strategy governance
3. Enact technical governance
4. Build capabilities for portfolio governance
5. Make governance dynamic

4. Step 1: Define core governance team roles and responsibilities
Establishing governance roles is essential to create appropriate lines of authority for determining changes and making decisions for your ServiceNow implementation and ongoing operation. Focus on which roles are accountable – those which own the outcome – and which roles are responsible for delivering the outcome.
Define the roles needed to support your governance objectives
Identify a small number of individuals (~2-5, including a team lead) who will form the core ServiceNow governance team. This team is:
Responsible for documenting and updating governance policy and process
Responsible for collaborating with enterprise process functions
Responsible for scheduling governance board meetings and setting appropriate meeting agendas
Responsible for executing and/or coordinating activities defined in this guide
Define how the governance team roles will support, uphold, and integrate existing IT and enterprise processes in the ServiceNow Platform (e.g. incident and change management).
Create a governance responsibility assignment matrix (RACI) to establish a common understanding of accountability and responsibility
Assign responsibility and accountability for governance tasks to members of the dedicated governance team and Platform Support Team
Document where responsibilities and accountabilities for ServiceNow governance involve people outside of ServiceNow specific teams
Define how ServiceNow team members will collaborate with others to manage shared responsibilities and accountabilities for ServiceNow governance
Socialize the ServiceNow RACI with the ServiceNow Program Governance and Platform Support teams and other IT and enterprise stakeholders
Steps
1. Define governance roles and responsibilities
2. Build capabilities for strategy governance
4. Build capabilities for portfolio governance
5. Make governance dynamic
3. Enact technical governance

5. Step 2a: Define decision-making authorities for strategy governance
Strategy governance provides value by structuring how to identify, select and prioritize the best, most timely investment of ServiceNow capabilities and resources against strategic objectives. Start by defining who must be involved in strategic roadmap decisions for ServiceNow, then define how these decisions are informed and captured in policy (step 2b).
Define decision-making authorities for strategy governance
Establish an Executive Steering Board, led by the Executive Sponsor, to oversee strategy governance and the development of the ServiceNow roadmap in line with enterprise service and transformation objectives.
Include (as possible): Executive Sponsor, CIO, CTO, Business Unit/ Department Representatives, Vendor Managers, Key Suppliers & Partners
Create a standard agenda for semi-annual Executive Steering Board meetings that ensures all meetings include time to evaluate and refine the strategic roadmap.
Define a set of Platform Selection Principles which inform decision makers in the organization as to when they should look to ServiceNow as the delivery platform
Practitioner Insight: Governance takes time and adds overhead. This is necessary for decisions that have significant enterprise impact, or that require risk and audit oversight. However, ensure there is also a ‘lite’ track for decisions that carry less enterprise risk, and that need to be made quickly, and where ‘trust but verify’ allows the organization to move more rapidly.
Steps
1. Define governance roles and responsibilities
2. Build capabilities for strategy governance
4. Build capabilities for portfolio governance
5. Make governance dynamic
3. Enact technical governance

6. Step 2b: Define strategy governance activities
After setting up decision–making authorities for strategy governance, define a process for how strategy governance decisions are made and captured in policy to ensure that execution strategies consistently connect to your ServiceNow vision and roadmap.
Define how strategy governance decisions are supported and informed
Define a process for how governance decisions will be made during Executive Steering Board meetings based on the user population impacted, taking into account the outcomes and goals of the impacted staff.
Create and maintain an ongoing list of decisions that need to be made by the the Executive Steering Board in upcoming meetings
Use Visual Task Boards (graphical task boards that allow you to rapidly change or re- categorize work) to make decision making immediately actionable
Collect information needed by the Executive Steering Board to inform decisions about strategy governance and the ServiceNow roadmap and provide it to Board members one week before scheduled meetings, including:
Most up-to-date ServiceNow vision, business case, and program plan documents
Most up-do-date ServiceNow roadmap, with plans for activity sequencing for ServiceNow utilization, features, and functionality
Most up-to-date KPI dashboards and trends to inform how urgent actions are and to prioritize decision making accordingly
Summary of recent decisions and outcomes from other governance authorities (e.g. upgrade decisions made by the Technical Governance Support Committee)
Define how strategy governance decisions are captured in policy
Take detailed notes during Executive Steering Board meetings
Create and document new strategy governance policy (or updated existing policy) based on Executive Steering Board decisions
Capture and review and decisions that cannot be informed by existing policy and update policy accordingly
Review how existing governance policies, processes, and decisions link to the vision and strategy for the organization semi-annually, after Executive Steering Board meetings
Document and share how governance decisions and resulting policy are helping the organization move the program forward. This should be done semi-annually, after Executive Steering Board meetings, with responsible/account level stakeholders ((refer to “Stakeholder Map” on the “KPIs and Stakeholders” page)
Steps
1. Define governance roles and responsibilities
2. Build capabilities for strategy governance
4. Build capabilities for portfolio governance
5. Make governance dynamic
3. Enact technical governance

7. Step 3a: Define decision-making authorities for technical governance
ServiceNow must be managed to ensure it works as needed to deliver value to your organization. This requires clear accountabilities for incidents, for configuration and customization, and for change requests to the platform.
Define decision- making authorities for technical governance
Define ownership of platform integration, technical releases, change management and data governance.
Establish a Technical Governance Support Committee to meet as needed to guide point-in-time technical decisions (e.g. upgrade planning).
Include (as possible): Platform Architect, Platform Owner, IT Process/Domain Owners, Program Manager, Business Analysts, Quality Assurance Lead, Security/Compliance Lead, Development Lead, User Experience Lead
Update and expand your existing ServiceNow RACI to include new governance committee roles.
Practitioner Insight: For governance committees to be effective, effective value communication is key. So governance committees should spend time on crafting effective messages about the decisions they make, and use them as opportunities to educate stakeholders not only on the value of governance but also on the overall value of the platform. Prepare this messaging by clearly documenting: 1) the decision, 2) why that decision was made, and 3) the implications of that decision.
Practitioner Insight: Governance policies and processes at the levels of Platform, Portfolio, and Strategy are interrelated and should inform each other – for example, oversight of the ServiceNow roadmap 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 – but the bodies overseeing these levels should be kept separate, to avoid overlapping responsibilities.
Steps
1. Define governance roles and responsibilities
2. Build capabilities for strategy governance
4. Build capabilities for portfolio governance
5. Make governance dynamic
3. Enact technical governance

8. Step 3b: Create technical governance policies and procedures
In order to ensure success with implementing, managing, and governing your platform, it is important to establish base platform management capabilities. These functions provide operational readiness and supportability to stakeholders and consumers of the platform throughout its lifecycle. Effective supportability begins with an instance strategy and day- to-day operations plan that will mature with your organization’s requirements and needs.
Develop and approve governance policies to define how the Now Platform is managed, configured, customized, developed, and supported.
Define the following “minimum set” of policies and processes:
Policy that defines development standards and review processes for any required customization
Policy that defines integration standards
Process that ensures configurations are fit for scale, performance, and upgradability
Basic Platform Management Policy: Policy that defined platform decisions; Process to evaluate the impact of changes
Process to maintain integrity of the ServiceNow platform
ServiceNow platform data governance policy: Policy that defines data ownership and stewardship roles; Policy that sets up data standards and established a data dictionary with field descriptions; Policy to manage synchronization of data
Policies that define instance management – how to right size environments, replicate instances correctly, develop security access control model, and ensure proper maintenance
Policy that manages upgrades
Policy that defines standards for ServiceNow platform development, UI, APIs, and release
Processes that codify and enact application best practices.- how to identify the best method for app creation based on requirements and how to follow consistent UI design specifications
Conduct a thorough review of product documentation and release notes to identify (and align) platform/technical governance policies needed.
Consult with your administrators, developers, fulfillers, and process owners using workshop and tabletop exercises where needed, to identify key points where platform/technical governance needs clear definition.
Steps
1. Define governance roles and responsibilities
2. Build capabilities for strategy governance
4. Build capabilities for portfolio governance
5. Make governance dynamic
3. Enact technical governance

9. Step 4a: Define decision-making authorities for portfolio governance
Initially ServiceNow governance will be focused on the development, integration, and change management issues around the platform itself. As the organization becomes used to ServiceNow, governance authorities should be established to manage changes around IT portfolios, including ServiceNow, ensuring connected decision-making across the organization’s entire technology portfolio.
Define decision-making authorities for portfolio governance
Establish a ServiceNow Demand Board with monthly meetings to manage and shape demand, and to measure success over time. 
Include (as possible): Platform Architect, Platform Owner, IT Process/Domain Owners, Portfolio/Service Owners, Demand Managers, Program Manager, Business analysts, Vendor Managers, Key Suppliers & Partners
Establish a ServiceNow Business Technology Board with monthly meetings to create and refine a ServiceNow technology roadmap.
Include (as possible): CIO/CTO, Platform Owner, Platform Architect, Enterprise Architect, Enterprise Technology Owners, Portfolio/Service Owners or Business Relationship Managers, PMO Leader, Demand Managers
Set a goal for the Demand and Business Technology Board outputs to enable clear planning and resourcing for maintaining upgrades to maintain pace with new ServiceNow releases and innovation.
Define the flow of information across governance authorities, including the Technical Governance Support Committee, Executive Steering Board, ServiceNow Demand Board, and ServiceNow Business Technology Board
Define the decision-making inputs and outputs for each governance area.
Document the communications stakeholders for each governance committee, and how approvals flow across governance boards.
Steps
1. Define governance roles and responsibilities
2. Build capabilities for strategy governance
4. Build capabilities for portfolio governance
5. Make governance dynamic
3. Enact technical governance

10. Step 4b: Define portfolio governance capability
It’s important to establish a ServiceNow platform governance capability to define a portfolio of services offered using ServiceNow, with detail on what those services deliver to customers and how demand is managed for those services. 
Define and document the portfolio of services offered on the Now Platform to business lines
Document the  cost, capabilities, and other systems required to deliver each business service on the Now platform
Define how the ServiceNow portfolio aligns with other business services and systems in your organization, with the goal of eventually integrating all portfolios into one enterprise service portfolio
Revisit the ServiceNow portfolio at least monthly while implementing your first solution on ServiceNow (and semi-annually after that), and assess where ServiceNow services should be modified, where new services are needed, when ServiceNow can replace an existing system, or where ServiceNow should be integrated with other systems of insight
Assess ServiceNow demand at least monthly, progressing to weekly or even daily to improve responsiveness to business needs.
Steps
1. Define governance roles and responsibilities
2. Build capabilities for strategy governance
4. Build capabilities for portfolio governance
5. Make governance dynamic
3. Enact technical governance

11. Step 4c: Define portfolio governance activities
To maintain and refine portfolio governance over time, establish how to consistently inform governance authority decisions and how those decisions are captured in written policy.
Define how portfolio governance decisions are supported and informed
Define a process for how governance decisions will be made during ServiceNow Demand Board and Technology Board meetings (set agendas, define rules for granting approval, etc.)
Create and maintain an ongoing list of decisions that need to be made by the the ServiceNow Demand and Technology boards in upcoming meetings
Collect information needed by the ServiceNow Demand Board to inform decisions about how to manage and shape demand. Provide this information to board members one week before scheduled meetings. This information should include:
Most up-to-date version of the ServiceNow service portfolio and/or any other enterprise service portfolios.
Historical data on ServiceNow demand, with a focus on demand since the last meeting.
Most up-to-date version of the ServiceNow strategic roadmap, to inform how demand shaping decisions align with strategic direction
Summary of decisions and outcomes from other governance authorities since last ServiceNow Demand Board meeting
Collect information needed by the ServiceNow Technology Board to inform decisions about ServiceNow technology roadmap development. Provide this information to board members one week before scheduled meetings. This information should include:
Most up-do-date ServiceNow technology roadmap, with plans for activity sequencing for ServiceNow utilization, features, and functionality
Most up-to-date version of the ServiceNow strategic roadmap, to inform how technology roadmap decisions can align with overall strategic direction
Summary of decisions and outcomes from other governance authorities since last ServiceNow Technology Board meeting
Define how portfolio governance decisions are captured in policy
Take detailed notes during ServiceNow Demand Board and Technology Board meetings meetings
Create and document new portfolio governance governance policy (or updated existing policy) based on ServiceNow Demand Board and Technology Board decisions
Steps
1. Define governance roles and responsibilities
2. Build capabilities for strategy governance
4. Build capabilities for portfolio governance
5. Make governance dynamic
3. Enact technical governance

12. Step 5: Make Governance Dynamic
Heavy, bureaucratic governance can pour dangerous cement across an organization. Too much governance impedes responsiveness, and also stops entrepreneurial thinking by staff. Too little governance, however, means that the organization doesn’t have a clear accounting of risks being taken, and remediation steps. The end objective is to create the ‘right amount’ of governance, by continually reviewing established process and tracking metrics that will inform ongoing governance optimization decisions.
Define metrics to diagnose where governance can be improved
Build Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that track governance comprehensiveness and quality over time and embed them into the platform
Define how metrics can measure desired business outcomes
Set baselines for benchmarks and then set goals for continuous improvement.
Seek and remove bottlenecks in governance approvals processes
Remove simple, low-risk “boilerplate” decisions from governance committee agendas and delegate those decisions to members of the core ServiceNow governance team instead
Review streamlined approvals processes with stakeholders, especially Enterprise Architecture and Security.
Empower local decision making within enterprise frameworks
Identify the conditions where autonomous decision making is allowed and encouraged. This should be done for decisions that:
A governing body’s approval rate is trending toward 100%
Are low-risk, or with limited potential for negative impact and comply with published standards (e.g. governance decisions around pilots or other experimental projects in testing environments)
Provide decision making guardrails, rather than clear lines of authority; this allows a balance of risk taking and risk remediation. Guardrails should be defined around decisions that cannot yet be made autonomously, but that are trending in that direction.
Review product documentation and release notes to identify where governance can be pushed to the front lines. For example, scoped apps allow for local teams to develop custom applications that meet their needs without risking global platform stability.
Enable governance to appropriately flex to best meet the changing needs of the organization
Use voice of the customer, Adoption Champions, and Business Liaisons to proactively understand where policies are becoming hindrances to new ways of working.
Revisit governance policies and processes at each release to identify opportunities for governance streamlining.
Steps
1. Define governance roles and responsibilities
2. Build capabilities for strategy governance
4. Build capabilities for portfolio governance
5. Make governance dynamic
3. Enact technical governance

13. KPIs and Stakeholders Key Performance Indicators Essential KPIs
% reduction of escalations to steering committees over previous quarter
% of target governance roles that are staffed
# unmitigated audit findings
# of defined ServiceNow governance policies
# of variances in ServiceNow workflow
# of policy exceptions allowed
% of policies that have not been updated in 24 months
‘Nice to Have’
% of policies that are directly associated with enterprise services or goals
# of variance requests escalated to governance committees
% of meetings attended by stakeholders
% of expected ROI
Anecdotal evidence of performance against desired outcomes and value achieved for all new Services implemented on the platform
Stakeholder Map
Responsible/Accountable
ServiceNow Program Governance lead
ServiceNow Platform Owner
Executive Sponsor
CIO
CISO
Senior Leadership
Audit
Consulted/Informed
All IT organization
Business Leaders
Service Owners
ServiceNow Users (inform only)