Mastering ServiceNow Reporting: Turn Data into Actionable Insights (Even If You’re a Beginner)

ServiceNow is a powerhouse for managing IT workflows, but all that data is useless if you can’t understand it. That’s where ServiceNow reporting comes in. This guide will walk you through the basics of creating reports, customizing them, and using them to drive meaningful action. No prior experience needed!

What is ServiceNow Reporting?

Simply put, ServiceNow reporting is the process of extracting data from your ServiceNow instance and presenting it in a visual and understandable format. These reports can take various forms, like charts, graphs, lists, and pivot tables, helping you analyze trends, identify bottlenecks, and make data-driven decisions.

Why is Reporting Important?

Track Performance: Monitor key metrics like incident resolution times, change request success rates, and service level agreement (SLA) compliance.
Identify Bottlenecks: Pinpoint areas where processes are slow or inefficient, allowing you to optimize workflows.
Improve Decision-Making: Make informed decisions based on real-time data rather than gut feelings.
Demonstrate Value: Show stakeholders the impact of your IT services and initiatives.
Proactive Problem Solving: Identify potential issues before they escalate into major problems.

Getting Started: Accessing the Reporting Module

Log into ServiceNow: Use your credentials to access your ServiceNow instance.
Navigate to Reports: In the Application Navigator (the left-hand menu), type “Reports” and then click on “Reports > Create New” or “Reports > View/Run”.

Creating Your First Report: A Step-by-Step Guide

Let’s create a basic report showing the number of open incidents by assignment group.

Click “Create New”: This opens the report designer interface.
Name Your Report: Give your report a descriptive name (e.g., “Open Incidents by Assignment Group”).
Choose a Source Type:
- Table: Select the table containing the data you want to report on. In this case, choose the “Incident” table (incident).
- Data Source: (More advanced) Allows reporting on aggregated data. We’ll stick with “Table” for this beginner’s guide.
Select Report Type: Choose a visual representation for your data. For this example, let’s use a “Bar Chart.” Other popular options include pie charts, line charts, and lists.
Configure the Report:
- Group by: This determines the categories on your chart. Select “Assignment Group.”
- Aggregation: This specifies how the data is aggregated for each group. The default “Count” is perfect for this example. This will count the number of incidents in each assignment group.
Click “Run”: This generates your report. You should now see a bar chart showing the number of open incidents for each assignment group.

Code Example (GlideRecord to show data):

While not directly used in report creation, understanding GlideRecord is helpful for comprehending how data is retrieved. The following code shows how you might retrieve and count incidents by assignment group programmatically, echoing what the report is doing:


// Server-side script (e.g., background script)
var assignmentGroups = {}; // Object to store counts
 
var gr = new GlideRecord('incident');
gr.addQuery('active', true); // Only count open incidents
gr.query();
 
while (gr.next()) {
    var assignmentGroup = gr.assignment_group.getDisplayValue();
    if (assignmentGroups[assignmentGroup]) {
        assignmentGroups[assignmentGroup]++;
    } else {
        assignmentGroups[assignmentGroup] = 1;
    }
}
 
// Log the results (for demonstration purposes)
for (var group in assignmentGroups) {
    gs.info(group + ': ' + assignmentGroups[group]);
}
 
//Alternatively
var agg = new GlideAggregate('incident');
agg.addAggregate('COUNT');
agg.groupBy('assignment_group');
agg.query();
while (agg.next()) {
  gs.info('Group: ' + agg.getValue('assignment_group') + ', Count: ' + agg.getAggregate('COUNT'));
}

This script isn’t directly used in creating the report, but illustrates the data retrieval logic that the reporting engine abstracts. It provides a programmatic view of the data aggregation.

Customizing Your Report: Making it Your Own

The default report is a good starting point, but you’ll often want to customize it to meet your specific needs. Here’s how:

Filters: Add filters to narrow down the data displayed in your report. For example, you could filter the report to only show incidents created in the last week, or incidents with a specific priority. You add a filter in the “Filter” section.
Titles and Labels: Customize the report title, axis labels, and legend to make the report more understandable. These are often found under “Style” or “Configuration” depending on the report type.
Colors: Choose colors that match your company’s branding or make the report easier to read. Again, look under “Style”.
Drill-down: Enable drill-down functionality to allow users to click on a data point in the report and see the underlying records. This is often enabled under ‘Configuration’ or a similarly named section. It may involve creating a ‘Drilldown URL’ Action.
Scripting: (Advanced) Use scripting to perform more complex data transformations or calculations. This requires JavaScript knowledge and is beyond the scope of this beginner’s guide, but know that it’s possible to go very deep in customizing reports.

Example: Adding a Filter

Let’s add a filter to our “Open Incidents by Assignment Group” report to only show incidents with a priority of “High” or “Critical.”

Open the Report Designer: Navigate to “Reports > View/Run” and find your report.
Click “Edit”: Opens the report for modification.
Add Filter: In the “Filter” section, add a filter condition:
- Field: “Priority”
- Operator: “is one of”
- Value: “High, Critical”
Click “Run”: Your report now only shows open incidents with a priority of High or Critical, grouped by assignment group.

Different Report Types: Choosing the Right Visualization

ServiceNow offers a variety of report types, each suited for different purposes:

List: Displays data in a tabular format. Good for viewing individual records.
Bar Chart: Compares values across different categories. Excellent for showing counts or sums.
Pie Chart: Shows the proportion of different categories relative to the whole. Useful for visualizing percentages.
Line Chart: Shows trends over time. Ideal for tracking performance metrics.
Pivot Table: Summarizes data by two or more dimensions. Powerful for analyzing complex datasets.
Funnel: Visualizes the stages of a process and the conversion rates between them.

Experiment with different report types to find the best way to represent your data.

Once you’ve created a report, you can schedule it to run automatically and share it with others:

Scheduling: Schedule reports to run daily, weekly, or monthly and be delivered via email. Look for the “Schedule” button in the report designer.
Sharing: Share reports with specific users or groups, or make them publicly available (use caution with sensitive data!). There’s typically a ‘Sharing’ option under the report, allowing you to control who can see it and how they interact with it. You can control access based on roles, groups, or individual users.
Dashboards: Add reports to dashboards to create a centralized view of key metrics. Create a new dashboard and add your reports as widgets.

Practical Examples: Reporting in Action

Here are a few real-world examples of how you can use ServiceNow reporting:

Incident Management: Track incident resolution times, identify common incident types, and monitor SLA compliance. Reports can show average resolution time by assignment group, the number of incidents resolved within SLA, and the most frequent categories of incidents.
Change Management: Monitor change request success rates, identify risky changes, and track the impact of changes on the environment. Examples include reports on the percentage of successful changes, the number of changes that resulted in incidents, and the average time to implement a change.
Problem Management: Identify recurring problems, track the progress of problem investigations, and measure the effectiveness of problem resolutions. These may show the number of open problems by priority, the average time to resolve a problem, and the number of incidents related to a specific problem.
Service Request Management: Monitor the fulfillment of service requests, identify bottlenecks in the fulfillment process, and track customer satisfaction.
Asset Management: Track the location and status of assets, identify underutilized assets, and plan for asset lifecycle management.

Beyond the Basics: Advanced Reporting Techniques

Once you’re comfortable with the basics, you can explore more advanced reporting techniques:

Database Views: Combine data from multiple tables into a single view for reporting.
Scripting: Use JavaScript to perform custom data transformations and calculations.
Performance Analytics: A more advanced ServiceNow module for trend analysis and performance monitoring over time.
Interactive Filters: Allow users to dynamically filter report data based on their own criteria.
External Reporting Tools: Integrate ServiceNow with external reporting tools like Tableau or Power BI for more sophisticated visualizations.

Conclusion

ServiceNow reporting is a powerful tool for transforming data into actionable insights. By mastering the basics of report creation, customization, and sharing, you can unlock the potential of your ServiceNow instance and drive meaningful improvements in your IT operations. Don’t be afraid to experiment, explore different report types, and leverage the ServiceNow community for support. Start simple, and gradually expand your knowledge as you gain experience.