Data Storytelling with Servicenow Reporting

6. Data Storytelling with ServiceNow Reporting: Captivate Your Audience and Inspire Action

In today’s data-driven world, information overload is a common challenge. Raw data, no matter how insightful, can be overwhelming and difficult to interpret. This is where data storytelling comes in. It’s the art of presenting data in a narrative format that engages your audience, provides context, and ultimately, inspires action. In the context of ServiceNow reporting, this means going beyond simply generating reports and charts; it involves crafting a compelling narrative around the data to drive meaningful change within your organization.

This blog post will explore how to effectively use ServiceNow reporting for data storytelling, covering key principles and providing practical examples.

1. Understanding Your Audience and Defining the Goal

Before diving into report creation, it’s crucial to understand your audience and define the goal of your data story.

Who is your audience? Consider their roles, technical expertise, and existing knowledge of the subject matter. A report for IT managers will differ significantly from one presented to executive leadership.
What do you want to achieve? Are you trying to highlight a problem, demonstrate the success of a project, or justify a resource allocation? Your goal will shape the entire narrative.
What action do you want them to take? This is the most crucial step. Your story needs to end with a clear call to action.

For example, imagine you’re presenting a report on incident resolution times. If your audience is IT support agents, your goal might be to highlight areas for improvement in their workflow. If your audience is executives, your goal might be to justify the need for additional staffing or training.

2. Selecting the Right Visualizations

ServiceNow offers a variety of report types and visualizations. Choosing the right one is essential for conveying your message effectively.

Bar Charts: Ideal for comparing categorical data. For example, comparing the number of incidents resolved by different support groups.
Line Charts: Best for showing trends over time. For example, tracking the average incident resolution time over the past year.
Pie Charts: Useful for showing proportions. For example, illustrating the percentage of incidents by category. Caution: Use sparingly; pie charts can be difficult to interpret if you have too many slices.
Single Score: Great for highlighting a key metric. For example, displaying the overall customer satisfaction score.
Funnel Charts: Effective for visualizing a process flow and identifying bottlenecks. For example, tracking the stages of a change request from submission to approval.
Heatmaps: Powerful for identifying patterns and correlations in large datasets. For example, showing which types of incidents are most common during certain times of the day.

Example:

Let’s say you want to show the trend of incidents created each month for the past year. A line chart would be the most appropriate visualization. You can configure the chart to display the month on the X-axis and the number of incidents on the Y-axis. Add trendlines to highlight the overall direction of the data.

3. Providing Context and Adding Annotations

Visualizations alone are not enough. You need to provide context and add annotations to guide your audience through the data.

Titles and Labels: Use clear and concise titles and labels to explain what each chart is showing.
Annotations: Add annotations to highlight key events or trends. For example, you might annotate a line chart to indicate when a new system was implemented, and how it affected incident resolution times.
Descriptive Text: Include descriptive text to explain the significance of the data and its implications. Don’t assume your audience will understand the data without explanation.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Highlight the KPIs that are most relevant to your audience. Use color-coding to indicate whether KPIs are meeting targets.

Example:

Imagine you have a bar chart showing the number of incidents resolved by each support group. You could add annotations to highlight the top-performing group and the group that needs improvement. You could also include descriptive text explaining the factors that may be contributing to the differences in performance.

4. Structuring Your Report Like a Story

Think of your report as a story with a beginning, middle, and end.

Introduction: Start with a brief introduction that sets the stage and explains the purpose of the report.
Body: Present your data in a logical sequence, building your case step-by-step. Use visualizations and annotations to guide your audience through the data.
Conclusion: Summarize your findings and provide clear recommendations. End with a call to action.

Flowchart of Data Storytelling Structure

Example:

Your report on incident resolution times could follow this structure:

Introduction: “This report analyzes incident resolution times over the past year to identify areas for improvement and ensure we are meeting our service level agreements (SLAs).”
Body: “Our analysis shows that incident resolution times have increased by 15% over the past year. This increase is primarily due to a backlog of incidents in the network support group. (Show a line chart illustrating the trend and a bar chart comparing resolution times across support groups).”
Conclusion: “To address this issue, we recommend increasing staffing in the network support group and providing additional training on network troubleshooting. We will monitor resolution times closely over the next quarter to ensure these measures are effective. (Call to action: Approve the request for additional staffing and training.)“

5. Using Interactive Features (ServiceNow Performance Analytics)

ServiceNow Performance Analytics enhances your storytelling capabilities by providing interactive features.

Dashboards: Create interactive dashboards that allow users to drill down into the data and explore different dimensions.
Interactive Filters: Allow users to filter the data based on different criteria, such as time period, support group, or incident category.
Breakdowns: Use breakdowns to analyze data by different dimensions and identify patterns.

Example:

Create a dashboard that shows key metrics related to incident management, such as incident resolution time, customer satisfaction, and number of open incidents. Allow users to filter the data by support group or incident category to see how these metrics vary across different dimensions.

6. Applying Real-World Examples

To further illustrate the power of data storytelling with ServiceNow reporting, let’s consider a few real-world examples:

Reducing Security Incidents:
- Story: Present a report showing the trend of security incidents over time. Highlight the types of incidents that are most common and the systems that are most vulnerable. Explain how these incidents are impacting the organization and the steps being taken to address them.
- Visualization: Use a line chart to show the trend of security incidents over time and a heatmap to show which systems are most vulnerable.
- Call to Action: Request funding for additional security training and tools.
Improving Change Management Success:
- Story: Present a report showing the success rate of change requests. Identify the factors that are contributing to failed changes and the steps being taken to improve the change management process.
- Visualization: Use a funnel chart to show the stages of the change management process and identify bottlenecks.
- Call to Action: Implement a new change management process or invest in better change management tools.
Optimizing Service Catalog Usage:
- Story: Present a report showing the usage of different service catalog items. Identify the items that are most popular and the items that are underutilized. Explain how the service catalog can be optimized to better meet the needs of users.
- Visualization: Use a bar chart to show the usage of different service catalog items.
- Call to Action: Promote the underutilized service catalog items or remove them from the catalog.

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Conclusion

Data storytelling with ServiceNow reporting is a powerful tool for driving change within your organization. By understanding your audience, selecting the right visualizations, providing context, structuring your report like a story, and using interactive features, you can create compelling narratives that engage your audience and inspire action. Remember to always start with a clear goal in mind and end with a specific call to action. By following these principles, you can transform raw data into actionable insights and drive meaningful improvements across your organization.