5. Level Up Your ServiceNow Game: Mastering Performance Analytics for Proactive Problem Solving

ServiceNow is a powerful platform, but its true potential is unlocked when you leverage Performance Analytics. This isn’t just about pretty dashboards; it’s about transforming data into actionable insights that allow you to proactively identify and address issues before they impact your organization. This post will explore five ways to level up your ServiceNow game by mastering Performance Analytics.

1. Define Clear Objectives and KPIs

Before diving into configurations, take a step back and define what you want to achieve with Performance Analytics. What are your key performance indicators (KPIs)? What business outcomes are you trying to improve? Without clear objectives, you risk creating reports and dashboards that don’t provide valuable insights.

Practical Example:

Let’s say you want to improve incident resolution times. Your objectives might be:

• Reduce the average incident resolution time by 15% in the next quarter.
• Increase first-call resolution rate by 10%.
• Identify the top 3 incident categories contributing to long resolution times.

Based on these objectives, your KPIs will be:

• Average Incident Resolution Time (in days/hours)
• First Call Resolution Rate (%)
• Number of Incidents per Category

Diagram:

2. Automate Data Collection with Data Collectors

Performance Analytics relies on accurate and up-to-date data. Data collectors automate the process of collecting data from various ServiceNow tables and sources. This ensures that your indicators are based on the latest information.

• Scheduled Data Collection: Schedule data collection jobs to run automatically at regular intervals.
• Event-Driven Data Collection: Trigger data collection based on specific events in ServiceNow, such as incident creation or closure.
• Transform Maps: Use transform maps to map data from external sources to ServiceNow tables.

Practical Example:

To track incident resolution times, you can create a scheduled data collector that runs daily. This data collector will extract data from the incident table, including fields like opened_at, closed_at, assigned_to, and category.

Reference URL: ServiceNow Documentation on Data Collectors 

3. Build Interactive Dashboards with Visualizations

Dashboards provide a central location to monitor KPIs and track progress towards your objectives. Use a variety of visualizations, such as charts, graphs, and scorecards, to present data in a clear and engaging manner.

• Scorecards: Display key metrics and their trend over time.
• Time Series Charts: Visualize data changes over time.
• Breakdown Charts: Analyze data by different categories or groups.
• List Reports: Show detailed records with specific fields.

Practical Example:

Create a dashboard to monitor incident management performance. This dashboard could include scorecards showing average resolution time and first-call resolution rate, a time series chart showing the number of open incidents over time, and a breakdown chart showing the number of incidents by category. Make the dashboard interactive by adding filters that allow users to drill down into specific data.

Code Example (Demonstrating a simple ServiceNow JavaScript for a dashboard filter):

//Client Script (onLoad)
function onLoad() {
    // Get the current user's role
    var userRole = g_user.hasRole('itil'); // Replace 'itil' with relevant role.
 
    // If the user does not have the required role, hide the filter.
    if (!userRole) {
        g_form.setDisplay('filter_variable_name', false); //Replace 'filter_variable_name' with the name of your dashboard filter variable.
    }
}

4. Proactive Monitoring with Automated Alerts

Don’t wait for users to report problems. Set up automated alerts to notify you when KPIs deviate from expected thresholds. This allows you to proactively identify and address issues before they impact your organization.

• Threshold Alerts: Trigger alerts when a KPI value exceeds or falls below a specified threshold.
• Anomaly Detection: Use machine learning to identify unusual patterns in your data and trigger alerts when anomalies are detected.

Practical Example:

Set up an alert that triggers when the average incident resolution time exceeds a certain threshold (e.g., 8 hours). This alert will notify the incident management team so they can investigate the cause of the delay and take corrective action.

Flowchart:

5. Continuous Improvement with Trend Analysis and Predictive Analytics

Performance Analytics isn’t a one-time setup. Continuously analyze your data to identify trends and areas for improvement. Use predictive analytics to forecast future performance and proactively address potential issues.

• Trend Analysis: Identify patterns and trends in your data over time.
• Predictive Analytics: Use machine learning to forecast future performance based on historical data.
• Process Mining: Analyze event logs to identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies in your processes.

Practical Example:

Analyze historical incident data to identify the root causes of long resolution times. Use this information to implement process improvements, such as providing better training for support staff or automating certain tasks. Use predictive analytics to forecast future incident volumes and staffing needs.

Conclusion:

By mastering Performance Analytics in ServiceNow, you can transform your data into actionable insights that drive continuous improvement. By defining clear objectives, automating data collection, building interactive dashboards, setting up automated alerts, and performing trend analysis, you can proactively identify and address issues before they impact your organization. This leads to improved service delivery, increased efficiency, and a better user experience. Embrace these five strategies to level up your ServiceNow game and unlock the full potential of your data.