Manual flow for certificate requests

concept australia Updated Sep 10, 2026 1 min read manual-cert-requests.md

Certificate renewal requests and incidents are automatically created when certificates are about to expire or have expired. You can also manually create requests using the Service Catalog.

In the manual flow, the request and its approval are recorded on the ServiceNow instance. However, the certificate itself is obtained outside the instance, directly with your certificate authority (CA). Use the manual flow when your CA is not covered in the automated flow. For the CAs that are supported, see Automated certificate management for TLS certificates.

A scheduled job examines the Unique Certificates [cmdb_ci_certificate] table on a daily basis and triggers renewal certificate tasks when a certificate is either expired or nearing expiration.

Things to consider for renewal of certificates:

Tasks for certificate renewals are automatically generated 60 days prior to expiration. To modify the timeframe, update the Discovery property: glide.discovery.certs.days_before_expiration_to_create_renewal_task.

Note: It's enough to configure the glide.discovery.certs.days_before_expiration_to_create_renewal_task system property for the automatic creation of manual certificate tasks. You don’t need to custom configure the CertificateNotifier or other prefilters.
Certificate tasks are automatically assigned a Priority 3 - Moderate. Modify the priority by opening the task if necessary.
If a certificate task already exists for the current certificate, no additional tasks are created.
For renewal certificate tasks and incidents, various fields are automatically pre-populated based on the certificate CI.

Note: The fields assigned_to and requested_for in the renewal task are derived from the assigned_to field in the targeted certificate. Additionally, the assignment_group is carried over from the certificate to the renewal task.
If a certificate expires and isn't replaced, a new incident is created. However, only one incident is generated for each expired certificate.
To view the certificate incidents list, navigate to Service Desk > Incidents.

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---
title: Manual flow for certificate requests
description: Certificate renewal requests and incidents are automatically created when certificates are about to expire or have expired. You can also manually create requests using the Service Catalog.
locale: en-US
canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/it-operations-management/discovery/manual-cert-requests.html
release: australia
product: Discovery
classification: discovery
topic_type: concept
last_updated: "2026-09-10"
reading_time_minutes: 1
breadcrumb: [Configure, Certificate Inventory and Management, ITOM Visibility, IT Operations Management]
---

# Manual flow for certificate requests

Certificate renewal requests and incidents are automatically created when certificates are about to expire or have expired. You can also manually create requests using the Service Catalog.

In the manual flow, the request and its approval are recorded on the ServiceNow instance. However, the certificate itself is obtained outside the instance, directly with your certificate authority \(CA\). Use the manual flow when your CA is not covered in the automated flow. For the CAs that are supported, see [Automated certificate management for TLS certificates](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/it-operations-management/discovery/automated-cert-requests.md).

A scheduled job examines the Unique Certificates \[cmdb\_ci\_certificate\] table on a daily basis and triggers renewal certificate tasks when a certificate is either expired or nearing expiration.

Things to consider for renewal of certificates:

- Tasks for certificate renewals are automatically generated 60 days prior to expiration. To modify the timeframe, update the [Discovery property](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/it-operations-management/discovery/r_DiscoveryProperties.md): **glide.discovery.certs.days\_before\_expiration\_to\_create\_renewal\_task**.

**Note:** It's enough to configure the **glide.discovery.certs.days\_before\_expiration\_to\_create\_renewal\_task system property** for the automatic creation of manual certificate tasks. You don’t need to custom configure the **CertificateNotifier** or other prefilters.

- Certificate tasks are automatically assigned a Priority 3 - Moderate. Modify the priority by opening the task if necessary.
- If a certificate task already exists for the current certificate, no additional tasks are created.
- For renewal certificate tasks and incidents, various fields are automatically pre-populated based on the certificate CI.

**Note:** The fields **assigned\_to** and **requested\_for** in the renewal task are derived from the **assigned\_to** field in the targeted certificate. Additionally, the **assignment\_group** is carried over from the certificate to the renewal task.

- If a certificate expires and isn't replaced, a new incident is created. However, only one incident is generated for each expired certificate.
- To view the certificate incidents list, navigate to **Service Desk** &gt; **Incidents**.