Communication Plan & Communicate Tab Issues — Troubleshooting GuideIssue <!-- /*NS Branding Styles*/ --> .ns-kb-css-body-editor-container { p { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, #000000); } span { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, #000000); } h2 { font-size: 24pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } h3 { font-size: 18pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } h4 { font-size: 14pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } a { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #00718F); } a:hover { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #024F69); } a:target { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #032D42); } a:visited { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #00718f); } ul { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; } li { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; } img { display: ; max-width: ; width: ; height: ; } } Scenarios While attempting to send the Initial Communication, the Communication Templates for Service Down were unavailable (i.e the compose button beside intial and templates like update, Resolve are completely absent ) in service operation workspace .The templates were also unavailable in the UI16 Workspace.While trying to send the INITIAL comms, the Communications tab was completely missing.Once the comms was sent via UI16 workspace, the tabs appeared on SOW and were working as expected at my end. However, the communications tab remained missing in MS Edge for all the incidents for that day only. Clear cache and browser restart did not work as well at her end. But they observed that Chrome works fine. Facts<!-- /*NS Branding Styles*/ --> .ns-kb-css-body-editor-container { p { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, #000000); } span { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, #000000); } h2 { font-size: 24pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } h3 { font-size: 18pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } h4 { font-size: 14pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } a { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #00718F); } a:hover { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #024F69); } a:target { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #032D42); } a:visited { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #00718f); } ul { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; } li { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; } img { display: ; max-width: ; width: ; height: ; } } Communication Plan & Communicate Tab How It Works (Background)When a major incident is created or updated in Service Operations Workspace, two things need to happen: 1. Communication plans get auto-attached — An out-of-the-box async business rule ("Attach Communication plans") evaluates plan definitions and attaches matching ones to the incident 2. Communicate tab shows tasks with Compose button — The Communicate tab displays communication tasks from those plans, each with a Compose button to send emails/SMS If either of these breaks, the Communicate tab appears empty or the Compose button is missing. Release<!-- /*NS Branding Styles*/ --> .ns-kb-css-body-editor-container { p { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, #000000); } span { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, #000000); } h2 { font-size: 24pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } h3 { font-size: 18pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } h4 { font-size: 14pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } a { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #00718F); } a:hover { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #024F69); } a:target { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #032D42); } a:visited { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #00718f); } ul { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; } li { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; } img { display: ; max-width: ; width: ; height: ; } } All Resolution<!-- /*NS Branding Styles*/ --> .ns-kb-css-body-editor-container { p { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, #000000); } span { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, #000000); } h2 { font-size: 24pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } h3 { font-size: 18pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } h4 { font-size: 14pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } a { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #00718F); } a:hover { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #024F69); } a:target { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #032D42); } a:visited { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #00718f); } ul { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; } li { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; } img { display: ; max-width: ; width: ; height: ; } } Part A: Why Communication Plans Might Not Be Generated----------------------------------------------------------------------- Reason 1 — Business rule "Attach Communication plans" is deactivated This is the most critical check. The OOB business rule (sys_script: 1953a23e5b3b0300e3cc8e6541f91a3a) is responsible for all auto-attachment. If it's inactive, no plans will auto-attach to any incident. This can get deactivated due to: - An admin or developer manually deactivated it (intentionally or accidentally) - An update set was promoted that contained this record in an inactive state - An instance clone from a source where this BR was already inactive - A plugin upgrade conflict where "skip" was chosen during resolution, preserving the inactive state - A fix script or automation programmatically set it to inactive How to verify: - Open /sys_script.do?sys_id=1953a23e5b3b0300e3cc8e6541f91a3a and check if Active is true - Check audit trail: sys_audit_list.do?sysparm_query=tablename=sys_script^documentkey=1953a23e5b3b0300e3cc8e6541f91a3a^fieldname=active Reason 2 — Mutex lock contention (silent failure) When multiple updates happen on the same incident rapidly (common during MIM workflows — propose, accept, promote), the system acquires a lock before attaching plans. If another process already holds the lock, the attachment is silently skipped. No error is shown to the user. How to verify: - Search syslog for: "cannot get hold of the TCM lock for task" with the incident's sys_id Reason 3 — Plan definition condition doesn't match at evaluation time The business rule runs asynchronously (in the background). There is a delay between the incident update and when the rule actually executes. If the incident's field values change during that gap (e.g., priority changes, major_incident_state transitions), the plan definition's condition may no longer match when it's evaluated. How to verify: - Open the plan definition and note the condition field - Check sys_audit for the incident's field values at the time the BR would have fired - Compare whether the condition would have matched Reason 4 — Plan instance already exists (duplicate prevention) Before attaching a plan, the system checks if a plan instance already exists linking this incident to that definition. If one exists — even if it's been closed or cancelled — the definition is excluded and won't attach again. How to verify: - Query: comm_plan.list?source= and check the comm_plan_definition values - Look for closed or cancelled plan instances that may be blocking re-attachment Reason 5 — Plan definition misconfiguration The plan definition must meet all of these criteria: - active = true - condition_based = true (if false, it can only be manually attached) - table field matches the incident's record class name (should be incident) - In multi-domain setups: domain must match the incident's domain How to verify: - Open the plan definition record and check each field Reason 6 — Cache not refreshed The system caches whether any plan definitions exist for a given table and domain combination. If a plan definition was recently created or modified, the cache may not reflect the change. How to verify: - Flush cache at sys_cache_flush.do — look for sn_comm_management.comm_plan_def_tables_cache Part B: Why the Communicate Tab Might Not Be Visible or Compose Button Is Missing------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reason 1 — User does not have the required role The system checks whether the logged-in user has write access to the communication task's state field. Without the appropriate role, the Compose button is hidden. Required roles (any one): - itil - sn_comm_management.comm_plan_manager - sn_incident_write How to verify: - Impersonate the affected user - Run background script: var gr = new GlideRecord('comm_task'); gr.get(''); gs.print('active: ' + gr.active + ', canWrite: ' + gr.state.canWrite()); - If canWrite returns false, it's a role/ACL issue Reason 2 — Communication task is inactive or in a terminal state The Compose button is hidden if: - active = false on the communication task - Task state is Cancelled (state = 3) - Task state is Closed (state = 7) In SOW specifically, cancelled and closed states hide the button even if other checks pass. How to verify: - Open the communication task record and check active and state fields Reason 3 — No "update" type channels on the task Each communication task has channels (email, SMS, etc.). The system requires at least one channel with classification = update. If the task only has collaboration channels (sidebar chat, Teams), or if no channels were created when the plan was attached, the Compose button won't appear. How to verify: - Query: comm_channel.list?comm_task= - For each channel, check its comm_channel_config record — the classification field must be update - If no update channels exist, check the plan definition's channel configuration Reason 4 — No communication plans attached (empty Communicate tab) If no communication plans are attached to the incident (due to any reason in Part A), the Communicate tab will appear empty with no tasks to compose from. How to verify: - Query: comm_plan.list?source= - If empty, refer to Part A for root cause Reason 5 — All channels marked as hidden for workbench Even if update channels exist, if all of them have hideForWorkbench = true, the Compose button is hidden because there's no usable channel. How to verify: - Check channel properties for hideForWorkbench flag Quick Troubleshooting ChecklistWhen the Communicate tab is empty or Compose is missing, check in this order: 1. Is the "Attach Communication plans" business rule active? 2. Are there any communication plan instances on the incident? (comm_plan.list?source=) 3. Are there communication tasks on those plans? (comm_task.list?comm_plan=) 4. Are the tasks active and not in Cancelled/Closed state? 5. Do the tasks have update-type channels? (comm_channel.list?comm_task=) 6. Does the user have itil or comm_plan_manager role? 7. Check syslog for mutex lock failures on the incident sys_id Related Links<!-- /*NS Branding Styles*/ --> .ns-kb-css-body-editor-container { p { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, #000000); } span { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, #000000); } h2 { font-size: 24pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } h3 { font-size: 18pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } h4 { font-size: 14pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } a { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #00718F); } a:hover { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #024F69); } a:target { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #032D42); } a:visited { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #00718f); } ul { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; } li { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; } img { display: ; max-width: ; width: ; height: ; } } https://support.servicenow.com/kb?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB2607345 https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/zurich/it-service-management/service-operations-workspace/configure-comm-plan-mim-sow.html