Strike one, strike two, strike three… and you’re out! Just like the popular rule of baseball – for an uncaught third strike the batter needs to be replaced, in Customer Service Management the same logic can be used when following users’ cases. After the 3rd time you receive no response from the customer, the system can automatically close the ticket. 

We do not have an OOTB solution for implementing the 3-strike rule in ServiceNow. This functionality has to be customized. There are several ways to achieve the implementation of the 3-strike rule.  

We can use: 

• Business rule + Scheduled job  
• Custom scripts 
• SLA + Custom flow 

That is probably more effective than a scheduled job and easier to configure and administer in the future.

1. What is the 3-strike rule? 

The 3-strike rule is communicating with the customer end for gaining additional information required to resolve a ticket. 

The process defines reaching out to a customer thrice within a time frame before proceeding with the closure of the ticket.  

Before closing the ticket for every attempt at reaching the caller and receiving no response, a notification is sent so that the caller is notified of the number of strikes. 

Once the count reaches three, the ticket must be closed as per the 3-strike rule.

2. How to develop and implement the 3-strike rule?  

2.1 Create SLA definitions with the requirements. This SLA definition will be used to run the logic of the 3-strike rule via a FLOW. See attached screenshots below: 

2.2 Create the flow with the required steps/rules provided by the client. Via this flow, we can configure and control very easily when and what will happen during the execution of the 3-strike rule.  

What can be done via the flow: 

    – Check for the duration of the SLA 

    – Send notification 

    – Control the flow steps based on logical steps. e.g. “If Caller responded” checks the state of the incident for updates and stops the rule if the condition is matched. 

Below you can see screenshots of an actual flow currently in use. The flow triggers custom notifications based on different percentages of the time passed. It checks if the incident is no longer in the state “On Hold” and updates the record with a specific custom resolution code and notes if no response is received. 

It is that easy! Now you just have to test, verify that all is working as it should, and enjoy! 

Find more useful tips and insights about ServiceNow read our article on how to trigger client script from client script.