ServiceNow Xanadu delivers a suite of major improvements and new features, with a focus on enhancing Strategic Portfolio Management and introducing Enterprise Architecture (EA). Formerly known as Application Portfolio Management, EA reflects a broader approach to managing the entire enterprise architecture. These upgrades empower organisations to strategise, plan, and execute their IT initiatives with greater precision and insight.
Now, let’s have a look at all the enhancements in more detail.
Strategic Portfolio Management
Collaborative Work Management
One of the major additions in ServiceNow Xanadu release is Collaborative Work Management. This feature aims to streamline collaboration across various teams and stakeholders involved in strategic portfolio management. By offering better tools for communication, task assignment, and tracking, it reduces silos and improves project visibility across the board. It will massively help your organisation to deliver on strategic goals more effectively.
Now Assist for SPM
One of the key elements of the ServiceNow Xanadu release is definitely AI-powered Now Assist. It acts as a virtual assistant to help portfolio managers prioritise tasks, generate insights, and automate routine processes.
Thanks to Now Assist, you can now summarise multiple feedback records and save time by not having to do manual feedback analysis. Generating short summaries for one or multiple feedback records at once will help you make more informed decisions on your product. Moreover, you can also use Now Assist in Docs to create a concise summary of the selected text and quickly gain relevant information.
Scenario Planning in Strategic Planning Workspace
Another standout feature in the ServiceNow Xanadu release is the Scenario Planning functionality. It allows you to create multiple roadmap scenarios, compare them, and make data-driven decisions on which path to follow. It will immensely help your organisation with visualising different strategic outcomes.
Additionally, you can export those roadmaps into a Microsoft PowerPoint format which streamlines communication and presentation of strategic plans to stakeholders and decision-makers.
Resource Assignments
ServiceNow Xanadu release introduces us to a simplified Resource Allocation process, replacing the previous resource plan model. The new approach eliminates the distinction between soft and hard bookings, streamlining the process into a single-step booking.
This change directly addresses user requests, making resource management more efficient. Additionally, the new Resource Management Workspace provides your resource managers with real-time visibility and control over resources, improving the process of handling requests and assignments.
Enterprise Agile Planning
ServiceNow’s Xanadu release marks a significant step forward in Enterprise Agile Planning. The combination of enhanced collaboration tools, streamlined migration paths, and intuitive UX empowers your organisation to achieve Agile excellence.
SAFe Migration Guided Setup
Recognising the growing trend of organisations transitioning from Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) to EAP, ServiceNow has simplified this journey with the SAFe Migration Guided Setup. This step-by-step guide facilitates the migration of SAFe data to EAP, ensuring continuity and minimising disruption.
Docs and Now Assist
Centralised docs are now integrated into EAP. Teams can collaborate on documentation directly within their planning context, eliminating the need for external tools. Templates (e.g. for Iteration Retrospective) expedite document creation, maintaining consistency and saving time.
Now Assist harnesses the power of AI to generate text and summarise documents, fostering efficiency.
Enterprise Architecture
Enterprise Architecture Workspace
While looking into the ServiceNow Xanadu release, we have to mention yet another major change. Application Portfolio Management (APM) has been revamped into a new product – Enterprise Architecture (EA). The new workspace serves as a centralised hub for:
- Enterprise Architects,
- Product Owners,
- Application Owners
and consolidates crucial business information, such as Business Capabilities, Business Applications, and Technology & Information Portfolios, enabling these roles to have a comprehensive view of the enterprise’s architectural landscape.
Enterprise Modelling and Visualisation
A key addition to the EA suite is the Enterprise Modelling and Visualisation tool. This new feature allows architects to create and share diagrams, showcasing the IT architecture’s structure and relationships. These models can be linked to architectural artefacts, improving visual representation and communication across teams.
By using these diagrams, architects can drive better decision-making, ensure alignment with business goals, and meet governance and compliance standards more effectively. Enterprise Modelling and Visualisation significantly improves collaboration between your technical and business teams, offering clear visual insights into complex architectures.
Conclusion
ServiceNow has made significant strides in refining the Project Workspace, with notable enhancements in Resource Assignment. The Strategic Planning Workspace is also evolving positively, with features like Microsoft PowerPoint export being particularly valuable.
However, the addition of fiscal year filtering within Scenario Planning would be a welcome improvement. The revamped look of APM, while preserving existing functionality, is very much appreciated. The introduction of Enterprise Visualisation and Modeling stands out as a truly valuable addition for our clients.
If you need more information about the ServiceNow Xanadu release or anything else regarding the Now platform, do not hesitate to contact our team.
