Building vs. Buying: What Enterprises Overlook in DIY Deployment Automation

The ability to automate update set migration in ServiceNow has been available for years to those who were aware of the undocumented APIs that are now about to be formally documented in the Yokohama release. This release will allow customers to integrate update sets into CI/CD pipelines with less sleuthing.

This will inevitably lead many platform teams to state:

“Cool, we will now build our own ServiceNow deployment automation pipeline!”

While developing a custom deployment automation solution may seem appealing, many enterprises have already found that a DIY approach introduces significant hidden costs, governance risks, and long-term maintenance challenges.

In this blog, we explore:

• The unseen costs of maintaining a custom update set deployment process
• Why deployment automation alone isn’t enough—governance, compliance, and multi-instance visibility matter
• How enterprises ensure seamless deployments without ongoing manual effort

If your team is considering building its own pipeline, this guide will help you evaluate the full scope of what’s involved—and whether an out-of-the-box solution like xtype is the wiser investment.

Why Enterprises Consider DIY

It’s natural for teams to explore in-house-built options when a new capability is introduced. With Yokohama, ServiceNow has publically documented existing APIs for update set automation, making it easier to:

• Retrieve update sets from one instance to another
• Trigger update set movement through Flow Designer
• Automate update approvals using CI/CD Spoke actions

At first glance, this seems like the foundation for a custom deployment pipeline. However, what starts as a simple automation project can quickly turn into a full-time maintenance burden.

The Hidden Costs of a DIY ServiceNow Deployment Pipeline

1. Custom Automation Requires Ongoing Maintenance

A scripted update set pipeline is not a “set it and forget it” solution.

Many organizations underestimate how much time and effort it takes to keep a homegrown pipeline running—meaning teams must constantly maintain their solution. Over time, teams often require a dedicated full-time resource or the same resources working off-hours to troubleshoot and update their automation.

2. Governance & Compliance Can’t Be an Afterthought

While update set automation makes it easier to move updates, it does not enforce governance, security, or compliance. Enterprises operating in regulated industries need:

• Immutable audit logs to track every deployment
• Policy-based deployments that govern and enforce deployment steps
• Least-privilege access control to prevent unauthorized changes

3. Multi-Instance Management is Still a Challenge

Yokohama’s update set automation moves update sets but does not address the more considerable challenges of managing multiple instances, of which update set migration is a small part. Enterprises need to:

• Real-time multi-instance visibility that can track updates across all instances.
• Govern changes across all instances enforcing the Principle of Least Privilege.
• Bidirectionally sync update sets to prevent drift
• Minimize reliance on cloning to keep instances aligned

The Smart Alternative: Automation Without the Maintenance Burden

Leading organizations recognize that ServiceNow’s update set automation is a great foundation—but it’s not a complete enterprise-scale solution. That’s why many teams turn to the Multi-Instance Management Platform from xtype, which provides:

• Out-of-the-box real-time multi-instance visibility, governance, and automation
• Policy-driven deployments enforcing compliance or regulatory requirements
• Seamless synchronization across all instances, reducing cloning frequency and duration
• Cloning runbooks for backups and automated restoration validation
• Release Package that eliminates the need for spreadsheets
• Lowers the requirement for elevated privileges
• Much more.

Rather than spending months—or years—building and maintaining a custom deployment pipeline, xtype customers get:

• Immediate ROI without technical debt—xtype installs and works within minutes
• Enterprise-grade governance controls built-in to enforce the PoLP and unauthorized changes
• A scalable solution backed by ServiceNow Ventures

Conclusion

Before committing to a DIY ServiceNow deployment pipeline, ask yourself:

• How much time will it take to build AND maintain?
• How do you sustain maintenance over time?
• What about the rest of your instance management needs?

For organizations that need an enterprise-ready Multi-Instance Management Platform that installs and delivers value within minutes, xtype offers a proven alternative—without the maintenance burden.