📦 Data Archiving in ServiceNow

🌐 Introduction

As organizations use ServiceNow for years, the database grows rapidly with incidents, requests, change records, audit data, and logs. This can:

• Slow down performance.

• Increase storage costs.

• Make reporting harder.

Data Archiving helps solve this by moving old and inactive records from primary tables into archive tables, improving performance while keeping the data accessible.

💡 Key Benefit: Archiving optimizes instance performance, ensures regulatory compliance, and maintains access to historical data.

📑 How Data Archiving Works

🔹 Archiving Process

1. Define Archive Rules: Rules specify what data gets archived (e.g., incidents closed for 2+ years).

2. Move Records: Data moves from the primary table to an archive table (with _archive suffix).

   • Example: incident → incident_archive.

3. Maintain References: Links between parent/child records are preserved.

4. Access Archived Data: Archived records can still be viewed and restored.

🔹 Example Rule

• Archive all incidents closed more than 730 days ago.

• Archive closed change requests after 3 years.

⚡ Key Features

• Archive Rules: Define criteria for archiving (conditions + filters).

• Archive Tables: Store historical records.

• Restore Capability: Administrators can restore archived data if needed.

• Search & Reporting: Users can search archived data, though reporting is usually limited.

• Cascade Archiving: Child records (tasks, work notes, attachments) also move to archive tables.

• Archiving Scheduler: Automated jobs run regularly to archive eligible data.

🛠️ Real-World Examples

1. Incident Management

   • A global bank archives incidents closed over 3 years ago.

   • This reduced active incident table size by 70%.

2. Change Management

   • Archived all closed changes beyond 5 years for compliance.

   • Maintains access to change history for audits.

3. Audit Data

   • Archived sys_audit records older than 18 months.

   • Improved system performance by reducing database bloat.

🔍 Advanced Features

• Scoped Archive Rules: Define rules per business application or department.

• Custom Archiving: Create custom archive rules for tables like HR Cases or CSM Cases.

• Reporting on Archives: Limited native reporting; however, archived data can be exported for BI tools.

• Integration with ILM (Information Lifecycle Management): Supports retention policies aligned with regulations (HIPAA, SOX, GDPR).

• Archiving Attachments: Moves attachments linked to archived records.

📊 Benefits

• Performance Improvement: Faster queries on active records.

• Cost Optimization: Reduces database storage growth.

• Compliance Support: Meets data retention and audit requirements.

• User Transparency: End users don’t notice the difference—records remain viewable.

💡 Best Practices

• ✅ Define archiving policies with business and compliance teams.

• ✅ Start with non-critical tables (like old incidents) before archiving sensitive data.

• ✅ Regularly review archive jobs to avoid unintentional data loss.

• ✅ Cascade archiving to include child records and attachments.

• ✅ Test restore functionality to ensure archived data can be retrieved.

• ❌ Don’t archive active or frequently accessed records.

• ❌ Don’t rely solely on archiving—use data retention policies too.

🎬 Conclusion

Data Archiving in ServiceNow is essential for instance health, compliance, and cost management.

• It moves old, unused records into archive tables while preserving relationships and accessibility.

• With archive rules, automation, and restore options, it ensures data retention policies are met without impacting performance.

✅ In short: Data Archiving = Performance + Compliance + Retention Management