Create a change approval policy using Decision Builder

---
title: Create a change approval policy using Decision Builder
description: Create a change approval policy in Decision Builder to define the approvals that are generated for your change requests.
locale: en-US
canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/it-service-management/change-management/change-approval-policy-decision-builder.html
release: australia
product: Change Management
classification: change-management
topic_type: task
last_updated: "2026-09-10"
reading_time_minutes: 3
breadcrumb: [Creating change approval policies, Use, Change Management, IT Service Management]
---

# Create a change approval policy using Decision Builder

Create a change approval policy in Decision Builder to define the approvals that are generated for your change requests.

## Before you begin

The Decision Builder plugin \(sn\_decision\_design\) must be installed.

A change approval policy evaluates a set of policy inputs against the conditions defined on its decisions. A policy can contain multiple decisions, enabling a single policy to handle every approval required for a change type. For each matching decision, the associated approval definition generates the required approvals.

A policy input is a variable source, such as a change field or a referenced record value, that the condition columns evaluate. When you add an input, you define its data type, which controls the operators and values available in the condition columns. For example, an input of type **Reference** lets a condition evaluate a referenced record or a field on the reference table. For more information about the full model of inputs, decisions, and approval definitions, see [Change approval policies](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/it-service-management/change-management/change-approval-policy.md).

Role required: admin or change\_manager

## Procedure

1.  Navigate to **All** > **Change** > **Change Policy** > ****.

2.  Select **Create new change approval policy**.

3.  Enter the name of the policy.

4.  In the **Execution** field, select an option to determine the approach to implement your decision.

<table id="choicetable_dsq_35w_f5b"><tbody><tr><td id="d187196e111">

**First decision that matches**

</td><td>

Uses the first matching decision in ascending order of the value defined in the **Order** column of the **Decisions** list. The associated approval definition is applied.

</td></tr><tr><td id="d187196e129">

**Run all decisions that match**

</td><td>

Uses all matching decisions and applies the associated approval definition.

</td></tr></tbody>
</table>5.  Select **Create &amp; Continue**.

6.  Select **Add an input**.

7.  On the form, fill in the fields.

<table id="table_opv_p5w_f5b"><thead><tr><th>

Field

</th><th>

Description

</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>

Label

</td><td>

Header of the input.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Type

</td><td>

Type of data used for the input.

 When the data type is **Reference**, a new column titled Reference appears in the form. The reference is the table associated with the input.

 The available input types are:

 -   Choice
-   Date
-   Date/Time
-   Decimal
-   Due Date
-   Integer
-   Long
-   Reference
-   String
-   String \(Full UTF-8\)
-   True/False


</td></tr></tbody>
</table>8.  Add a condition by selecting **Add Condition Column**.

9.  On the form, fill in the fields.

<table id="table_lgc_z5w_f5b"><thead><tr><th>

Field

</th><th>

Description

</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>

Condition column label

</td><td>

Label for the condition.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Description

</td><td>

Brief overview of the condition.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Input

</td><td>

Input linked to the condition column.

 To evaluate multiple fields, you can add multiple conditions with the Reference input type.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Table

</td><td>

If the data type is **Reference**, this field is automatically set to the name of the reference table.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Data to evaluate

</td><td>

If the input type is **Reference**, specifies whether the condition evaluates a reference record or a field from the reference table.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Condition type

</td><td>

Data type selected for the input.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Default operator

</td><td>

Operator used to evaluate a user-specified value. A default operator is required for all input data types except for True or False.

</td></tr></tbody>
</table>10. Add more conditions by selecting the plus icon \(+\) after the last condition column, or by pointing to a condition column and selecting the plus icon \(+\).

11. For each condition cell, select an operator and enter a value.

    For example, to evaluate the change approval policy only for hardware issues, set the condition \[**Assignment group**\] \[**is**\] \[**Hardware**\].

12. In the Result column, select the change approval definition to apply.

13. In the form header, select **Save**.


## Result

A change approval policy is created and is evaluated on a change request that matches the defined condition.

**Parent Topic:**[Creating change approval policies](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/it-service-management/change-management/using-change-approval-policies-cf.md)

**Related topics**  


[Create change approval policies](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/it-service-management/change-management/create-change-policy.md)