The release of the ServiceNow Kingston version in January 2018 brings out the default plan of ServiceNow to close the Helsinki upgrade. The ServiceNow Helsinki users are left with the option to shift to its higher version either Jakarta or Kingston. Not performing the upgrade manually would make ServiceNow auto upgrade from Helsinki version to Kingston version. If a smooth ServiceNow upgrade is your goal it is best to be informed about following key facets we share here.

Key Things to Be Aware Of When Upgrading ServiceNow Helsinki

1. For those still using the Helsinki version, ServiceNow will first send a notification, and later will upgrade to Kingston version automatically according to instance types and its upgrade dates.

   (Look here for best practices for the ServiceNow Helsinki upgrade)
   

2. To safeguard from upgrade issues, you must manually upgrade your version to the next release before ServiceNow automatically upgrades to the Kingston Release. The auto-upgrade may result in some migration issues.
3. The auto-upgrade may cause some functionalities to break. So, based on the ServiceNow new version release notes, identify the functionalities that are going to break and the potential problems that raise.
   
4. Auto-upgrade may cause existing plugins to be deprecated. The plugins that are to be deprecated with the auto upgrade from Helsinki to Kingston are: 
   • Amazon Web Services
   • Configuration Automation
   • Configuration Automation – Chef
   • Configuration Automation – Puppet
   • Facilities Service Management Floor Plan Viewer
   • I18N: Korean Translations
   • Integration - Altiris 2.0
   • Legacy Notify
   • Microsoft Azure Management
   • Okta
   • Personal Task Management
   • Security Incident Response GRC Support
   • Security Incident Response Event Management support
   • U11

   (Get a detailed explanation on deprecated ServiceNow Helsinki plugins)
   

5. If the Instance is upgraded automatically by ServiceNow, the upgrade will break the existing environment customization. The below screenshots give an example to illustrate how the customization has changed from UI11 to UI16 i.e. from Helsinki to the latest release, Kingston.

User Interface (UI16) of ServiceNow Kingston Version