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CAB Definitions and Meetings

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In this lesson, you will learn:

  • What CAB is for
  • What a CAB definition holds
  • How the agenda is built
  • How to create SNWR’s weekly CAB

🔁 Quick look back: Last time: Approvers, Approval Groups and Delegation. You learned how approval groups and delegation stop approvals getting stuck.

1 “What’s on the agenda?”

Every Monday, Mei spends an hour building the CAB agenda by hand.

  • She searches for changes that need CAB.
  • She emails the list to everyone.
  • Late changes get added by chat, and some are missed.

🎯 The problem: Hand-built agendas take time and miss changes.

👉 The fix: create a CAB definition. ServiceNow builds the meeting and its agenda for you.

2 CAB and its definition

Key term: CAB

Change Advisory Board: a group that reviews and approves risky changes.

Key term: CAB definition

The setup for a recurring CAB: chair, members, when it meets and which changes go on the agenda.

Key term: CAB meeting

One meeting, created from the definition, with its own agenda.

The SNWR Weekly CAB definition. Name: SNWR Weekly CAB. Manager (chair): Mei Chen. Members: the SNWR CAB group, including Beth, Daniel and Arjun. Recurrence: every Tuesday, 15:00 to 16:00 IST. Agenda condition: normal changes in Authorize with risk High, planned in the next two weeks. Notes: 1 Mei chairs every meeting. 2 Meetings are created from the recurrence. 3 Changes that match the condition are added to the agenda automatically.
Figure 1. Set it up once. The meetings and agendas follow.

📦 Entitlement check: CAB Workbench is part of Change Management. Check it’s active on your instance.

3 Who’s in SNWR’s CAB

Member Why
Mei (chair) Change manager
Beth IT manager, approves for Network and Desktop
Daniel Knows the impact on the Service Desk
Arjun Owns SNWR Email
Change owners Join only for their own changes

💡 Good to know: Keep CAB small. Invite change owners just for their item, not the whole hour.

4 Let’s try it: create the CAB definition

  1. Open CAB Workbench from the All menu, and go to the CAB definitions.
  2. Create SNWR Weekly CAB. Manager: Mei Chen. Add the SNWR CAB group as attendees.
  3. Set the recurrence: weekly, Tuesday, 15:00 to 16:00, time zone Asia/Kolkata.
  4. Set the agenda condition: normal changes in Authorize, risk High.
  5. Save, and check the next meeting is created with matching changes on its agenda.

5 Quick recap

  • CAB reviews and approves risky changes
  • A CAB definition sets the chair, members, schedule and agenda rules
  • Meetings are created from the recurrence
  • Matching changes are added to the agenda automatically
  • Keep CAB small; invite owners for their own item

6 Check yourself

Think of your answer first. Then tap to check.

1 Who chairs the SNWR Weekly CAB? Show answer

Mei Chen, the change manager.

2 Which changes go on the agenda automatically? Show answer

Normal changes in Authorize with risk High, planned in the next two weeks.

3 When does SNWR’s CAB meet? Show answer

Every Tuesday, 15:00 to 16:00 IST.

4 Should change owners stay for the whole meeting? Show answer

No. They join for their own item.

Nice work! SNWR’s CAB now builds its own agenda. 🎉
Next up: Running a CAB Meeting in CAB Workbench

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