Yesterday I had a longer discussion with one of my clients about Instance Customization and changing OOTB functionality.

Years ago the recommendation was to deactivate the OOTB record and then copy and modify the new record. The problem with this approach is that you are drifting away from the baseline version with each upgrade unless you compare each of your cloned records with the new OOTB Version during an upgrade (but this can be a lot of effort and is often forgotten during the upgrade process).

During our discussion we came across a knowledge article from ServiceNow about Instance Customization and a quick answer sheet about the best practices for customizations in the Customer Success Center.

The short answer from ServiceNow on this topic:

Customizations should be made to baseline objects where necessary, so that conflict resolution and decision making can be appropriately recorded in the updates. Hidden customizations may cause 

administrators to overlook updates in future assessments in case reverts or merges are necessary.

Avoid copying objects. Instead, update objects in place wherever possible, except for Service Portal

widgets and other items designed to be reused

Because those two links are hard to find and they include very important things I want to share them with all of you.

Instance Customization FAQ and Guidelines

What are the best practices for customization?

Do you agree with their best practices and guidelines? Do you have any other best practise on instance customization on your instances?