Servicenow Reporting Ditch Spreadsheets for Powerful Insights

Ditch the Spreadsheets: Creating Powerful ServiceNow Reports That Tell a Story

For years, countless organizations have relied on spreadsheets to track key performance indicators (KPIs), monitor operational efficiency, and make data-driven decisions. While spreadsheets can be useful for basic data manipulation, they quickly become unwieldy, error-prone, and difficult to maintain as data volumes grow. ServiceNow offers a robust reporting engine that provides a much more powerful, scalable, and insightful alternative. In this blog post, we’ll explore how to leverage ServiceNow reports to create compelling narratives that drive action.

Why Ditch the Spreadsheet Mentality?

Before diving into the technical aspects, let’s understand why relying solely on spreadsheets is limiting:

Data Silos: Spreadsheets are often isolated, making it challenging to consolidate data from different sources and gain a holistic view.
Manual Updates: Data entry and updates are manual, leading to errors and inconsistencies.
Lack of Real-time Visibility: Spreadsheets represent a snapshot in time, not a live view of your data.
Limited Collaboration: Sharing and collaborating on spreadsheets can be cumbersome, especially with version control.
Scalability Issues: As your data grows, spreadsheets become slow and difficult to manage.
Security Risks: Sensitive data stored in spreadsheets may not be adequately protected.

ServiceNow reports address these limitations by providing a centralized, automated, and secure platform for data analysis and visualization.

ServiceNow Reporting: The Basics

ServiceNow reporting is a core functionality that allows users to create various types of reports based on data stored within the ServiceNow platform. These reports can be used to track performance, identify trends, and gain insights into different aspects of your organization’s operations.

Here’s a breakdown of the key components:

Data Source: The table or database view that provides the data for the report. Examples include incident, problem, change request, task, and user tables.
Report Type: The type of visualization used to display the data (e.g., bar chart, pie chart, line chart, list, pivot table, calendar).
Filters: Conditions that specify which data to include in the report (e.g., incidents assigned to a specific group, incidents created within a certain date range).
Grouping: Organizing data into categories or groups for analysis (e.g., grouping incidents by category, priority, or assignment group).
Aggregation: Performing calculations on data, such as summing, averaging, counting, or finding the minimum or maximum value (e.g., calculating the average resolution time for incidents).
Schedule: Automating the generation and distribution of reports on a regular basis (e.g., daily, weekly, monthly).

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

Let’s walk through creating a simple report that shows the number of open incidents by priority.

Navigate to Reports: In ServiceNow, go to Reports > Create New.
Report Name and Source:
- Give your report a descriptive name (e.g., “Open Incidents by Priority”).
- Select the Incident table as the data source.
Report Type: Choose Bar Chart as the report type.
Configuration:
- Group by: Select Priority.
- Aggregation: The default aggregation is typically Count, which is exactly what we need.
Filters (Optional): If you want to filter the data, add a filter condition. For example, Active is true to only show open incidents.
Style (Optional): Customize the appearance of the chart, such as colors and labels.
Save and Run: Save the report and run it to see the results.

Taking Your Reports to the Next Level: Advanced Techniques

Once you’ve mastered the basics, explore these advanced reporting techniques:

Calculated Fields: Create new fields based on existing fields using formulas. For example, calculate the age of an incident (time since creation) and use it in your report.

Example: Calculate the ‘Age’ of an Incident.
1. Go to the Incident table definition.
2. Create a new column with Type as Calculation.
3. Add calculation like :
```
(gs.dateDiff(current.sys_created_on.getDisplayValue(), gs.nowDateTime(), true))/(60*60*24);
```
1. Use that field in a report.
Pivot Tables: Summarize data by multiple dimensions, allowing you to analyze complex relationships. For example, show the average resolution time for incidents by both category and assignment group.
Database Views: Combine data from multiple tables into a single view for reporting purposes. This is useful when you need to report on related data that is stored in different tables.

Example: Report on incidents and the users who submitted them.
1. Create a database view that joins the Incident and User tables.
2. Use the database view as the data source for your report.
Interactive Filters: Allow users to dynamically filter the data in the report, providing greater flexibility and control.
Drill-Down Reports: Create reports that allow users to click on a data point to see more detailed information. For example, click on a bar in a bar chart to see the list of incidents represented by that bar.
PA(Performance Analytics) Integration: Combine the powerful features of PA with standard reporting to visualize the data and track against target.

Real-World Examples of ServiceNow Reports

Let’s look at some practical examples of how ServiceNow reports can be used in different scenarios:

Incident Management:
- Report: Open incidents by priority and service.
- Insight: Identify areas where high-priority incidents are concentrated, indicating potential service disruptions.
- Action: Allocate resources to address the most critical issues and improve service availability.
Change Management:
- Report: Number of successful vs. failed changes by change type.
- Insight: Understand the success rate of different change types and identify areas for improvement.
- Action: Review change management processes for change types with low success rates.
Problem Management:
- Report: Number of problems by category and assignment group.
- Insight: Identify recurring problems and the teams responsible for resolving them.
- Action: Prioritize problem resolution efforts based on the frequency and impact of the problems.
Service Level Management (SLM):
- Report: SLA breach rates by service and assignment group.
- Insight: Monitor SLA performance and identify areas where SLAs are frequently breached.
- Action: Investigate the root causes of SLA breaches and implement measures to prevent future breaches.
Asset Management:
- Report: Count of assets by type and location.
- Insight: Track asset inventory and identify underutilized or misplaced assets.
- Action: Optimize asset allocation and reduce costs by redeploying underutilized assets.
Request Management:
- Report: Time to fulfill catalog items by category.
- Insight: Identify bottlenecks in request fulfillment process.
- Action: Streamline the fulfillment process to reduce fulfillment time.

Best Practices for Creating Effective ServiceNow Reports

Define Your Objectives: Clearly define what you want to achieve with the report before you start creating it.
Choose the Right Report Type: Select the report type that best visualizes the data and conveys the message you want to communicate.
Keep It Simple: Avoid cluttering the report with unnecessary information or complex calculations.
Use Clear and Concise Labels: Use descriptive labels for axes, data points, and legends.
Test and Iterate: Test the report with different users and iterate on the design based on their feedback.
Schedule and Distribute: Schedule the report to run automatically and distribute it to the relevant stakeholders.
Consider Accessibility: Ensure that your reports are accessible to users with disabilities by following accessibility guidelines.

Resources

ServiceNow Documentation: https://docs.servicenow.com/
ServiceNow Community: https://community.servicenow.com/

Conclusion

Ditching the spreadsheet mentality and embracing ServiceNow’s reporting capabilities can transform the way you analyze data and make decisions. By leveraging the platform’s powerful features, you can create compelling reports that provide real-time visibility into your organization’s operations, identify trends, and drive action. Start with the basics, explore advanced techniques, and follow best practices to create reports that tell a story and empower your team to make informed decisions.