ServiceNow

Reporting
Deep Dive Training
http://utqa.service-now.com

Learning Objectives
Overview of the ServiceNow Reporting Application
Three ways to create reports in ServiceNow:
From Record Lists
Viewing or modifying Existing out of box reports
Creating new reports using the Report Generator
How to Perform Dot Walking
How to Manage Reports
Appendix - Report types in ServiceNow Reporting
application

ServiceNow Reporting

OVERVIEW

Reporting Shows Results

ServiceNow reporting lets you show results, prepared on an ad hoc or

scheduled basis

Reporting vs Analysis

Reporting is the act of collecting and organizing data to

effectively represent, and often summarize, something
we wish to measure
Analysis is understanding and explaining the data
collected in a report with the goal of providing insight
into historic trends and to help predict future trends

Key Principles for Report Creation

Understand the desired requirement or objective of the report
prior to design
Understand your data sources including underlying tables and
fields
Reuse OOB reports for creation instead of creating from
scratch and publish to the proper audience
Minimize duplication/redundancy of reports on the same table
from a global perspective
Manage reports centrally

Key Features (1/2)

ServiceNow provides a robust reporting capability to

generate point-in-time reports (visual
representations) that help in understanding trends
and work patterns within the ITSM processes

ServiceNow reporting strategy is to empower the

User to generate reports needed to support the
processes and provide visibility

Reporting application has tools to help create

reports by querying the ServiceNow system.
ServiceNow provides the same reporting capability
across all applications built on the platform

Key Features (2/2)

There are Out-of-Box reports built into the application

that can be run as is or modified (close to 400)

Presenting information on homepages as content

gauges or published to a public URL

Scheduled distribution of information at regular

intervals

ServiceNow

REPORTS APPLICATION

Standard Report Types

Pie Chart

Bar Chart

List

Calendar

Pivot Table

Box Chart

Control Chart

Histogram

Line Chart

Pareto Chart

Availability Chart Trend box Chart

See Appendix for more details on Report

Types

Report Output Types

Chart report types can be exported as PNG, JPG, or PDF
Pie Chart

Bar Chart

Non-Chart report types can be exported as EXCEL, CSV, XML,

or PDF
List Report

Pivot Table

Reports - Application & Module

View/Run:
View or generate reports.

Create New:
Opens report form to
create a new report

Header Footer
Templates:

ITIL KPI Reports:

Create templates in which

reports will be exported.

Out of box reports on

ITIL KPIs.

Summary Sets:

Custom Charts:

Report summary sets.

Administer custom
reports (script
generated, etc.).

Accessing Reports
Click
Click on
on View
View //
Run
Run to
to view
view the
the
reports
modules
reports modules

My
My reports
reports -- these
these
are
are the
the personal
personal
reports
reports you
you have
have
created
created

Click
Click New
New to
to
create
create aa new
new
report
report

Global
Global reports
reports -- these
these
reports
reports are
are available
available to
to
everyone
everyone and
and contain
contain ininbuilt
built reports
reports from
from
ServiceNow
ServiceNow

ServiceNow

REPORTING ROLES

Reporting Roles
Different Activities
Read

Role Name

Create

Update

Delete

Publish

Schedule

ITIL
Report_Admin

Admin

As a Fulfiller (ITIL role) if you

wish to create global reports,
publish or schedule reports,
submit a request to the Report
Administrator
ITIL users will have the ability
share reports with their group(s)

Legends
Access
Personal Only
No Access

ServiceNow

CREATING REPORTS

3 Ways to Produce Reports

1. Reports can be created from Record Lists
(for example, from a List of All Incidents)
2. Reports can be viewed or modified from existing
Out of Box or Custom Reports
3. New Reports can be produced using the built in
report generator

Tool Demo

SERVICENOW REPORTING

ServiceNow

CREATING REPORTS FROM

RECORD LISTS

Creating Reports from Record Lists

1. Open any list view. The example below shows a list of incidents
filter by assignment groups and state.
2. Right click the column name on which a bar chart or a pie chart is
to be created.

Creating Reports from Record Lists

3. Select the desired chart type (Bar Chart or Pie Chart) for the report.
4. System displays a report from the list, grouped by the selected
column as shown in next slide.

Creating Reports from Record Lists

5. System displays the report parameters in an editable mode.

6. Enter a report name and configure any other parameters as desired.

Click Save button to save the chart.

ServiceNow

RUNNING EXISTING OUT OF

BOX OR CUSTOM REPORTS

Reports Application and Modules

Out of box and custom reports are managed through the Reports
application in the navigation pane. End Users do not have access to
reports, only those with Fulfiller and above roles.
View / Run:
View out of box or
customer reports

A List of base system out of box reports can be found at:

http://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=Base_System_Reports#gsc.tab=0

Running Existing Reports

Selecting View/Run opens the landing page for Reports. From this
page you can select one of four groups of existing reports: My
Reports, My Groups Reports, all Global Reports (available to all
Fulfillers), and All Reports.

Report Visibility
My reports
Created by you and
only visible to you

Group
Reports that are visible
to everyone in your
assignment group

All
List of all personal,
group, and global
reports

Global
Available to
everyone
(all Fulfillers)

Running Existing Reports

For example, selecting ALL reports opens a list of all the reports in
the system these will include out of box and custom generated
reports.

Running Existing Reports

If you are looking for a specific
report or class of reports (i.e.
reports involving incidents), you
can type the search term in the
search area at the top of the
reports list. This will open a drop
down box with reports and
tables containing that term.

Running Existing Reports

From the list of reports, click on the title of the report you wish to run.
This will open and automatically run the report.
If you wish to edit and existing report, select the pencil icon, this will
open the report in edit mode, allowing to make changes and then Run
the report.

Running Existing Reports

The report will open showing the Header section, which shows the
parameters of the report and the Results, which shows the report
itself.

Header

Results

ServiceNow

CREATING NEW REPORTS

Common Tables Used for Reporting

Incident

Incident
Incident SLA
Incident Metric
Incident Time
Worked

Problem
Problem
Problem Task
Problem Metric

Change

Change Request
Change Task

Request

Request
Request Item
Catalog Task

Configuration

Configuration Item
Computer
[cmdb_ci_computer]

Approvals

Approval [sys_approval]

Creating Reports (1/5)

Name:
Unique and
descriptive name
for the report

Group by:
Attribute to group the
report by - this option is
dependent on the Type
and Table selected.

Table:
Table is the ServiceNow table
against which this report will be
run.

Type:
Output type of the report. Bar
chart or Lists are some of the
options available.

Creating Reports (2/5)

Columns:
List columns can be added or removed by selecting one or
more fields.
Use the left and right arrows to move them in or out of the
table.

Creating Reports (3/5)

Aggregation:
Determines how to aggregate the data in the
report. Default is Count, which displays the
number of records.

Display Grid:
Display Grid is used to indicate
whether to display (selected) or hide
(cleared) details of the report data in
a table below the chart.

Creating Reports (4/5)

Add Filter Condition:

Conditions for filtering and
ordering data.

Click on Save to save the

report
conditions/parameters.
Click Run to execute the
report.

Boolean operators
combine filter terms with
logic operators.

Creating Reports (5/5)

Click Run to execute the

report.

Report is
executed by the
tool.

Filtering Reports
Filters determine what data will be displayed in the report. When a filter is
applied, only items that meet the conditions are returned. A condition
consists of three major parts: a field, an operator, and a value.

Operat
or

Field

Value
Delet
e
OR

Sort

Users can add multiple filters by clicking on

for AND condition or
click
for OR condition to add more relationships to the filter.
Click Delete to delete a condition.

ServiceNow

DOT WALKING

Dot Walking (1/5)

Dot-walking provides access to fields on related tables
from a form, list, or script. If the current table contains
a reference to another table, any field on the referenced
table can be accessed using dot-walking.
Dot-walking references a field by building a chain of field
names separated by dots (periods).
For instance,
incident.assignment_group.manager references the
manager of the assignment group assigned to an
incident. The recommended limit for chain length is three
levels.

Dot Walking (2/5)

Users can dot-walk to related fields in a drop-down
list, such as the field list in a filter. This example
demonstrates how to filter the incident table by the
Assignment Group assigned to the incident:
Open the choice list of fields to filter by. This
presents a list of the fields which are present on
the Incident table.
Reference fields are followed by related fields,
which are presented in blue. For
instance: Assignment Group is followed
by Assignment Group User fields. This
means that Assignment Group is a reference
field, and the related fields are User fields on
the Assignment Group record.
If the blue related fields are not present in the
list, select Show Related Fields in blue at the
bottom of the list.

Dot Walking (3/5)

When the related
fields are present,
select a set of
related fields.

After the related field

is selected, the
menu reloads with
the related table's
fields.

Dot Walking (4/5)

4. Now, it is possible to select a field from the Assignment Group
record. The new field is: Assignment_group.Manager

5. When looking at the list, it is easy to see where in the dot-walk

the user currently is. Each selected reference is stored at the
top, and the number of dots in front indicate how many dots
from the initial record the user has reached.
5

Dot Walking (5/5)

6. In this example, the user is currently at
incident.assignment_group.manager. It is possible to return to
higher levels in the hierarchy by selecting the blue records. For
instance, selecting Incident fields returns to the list of incident
fields.
7. The related fields can be dismissed by selecting Remove
Related Fields in blue at the bottom of the list:

ServiceNow

EXPORTING REPORTS

Exporting Reports
You can export a list report by right clicking on
any column heading and selecting Export
Other charts can be exported as
PNG or JPG using hamburger

Available Export Formats

Export
Format
CSV

Excel

XML

PDF

Description
Export table records as a comma-separated value text file.
Use this option to export the currently displayed fields in
the list or form as a text file.Configure the listorformto
add or remove fields from the export.
Export table records as a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Use
this option to export the currently displayed fields in the
list or form as an Excel spreadsheet. Configure the list or
form to add or remove fields from the export.
Export table records as an XML document. Use this option
to export all data from a table or all data for a particular
record. The XML file has an XML element for each column
in the table.
Export table records as a Portable Document Format file.
Use this option to export the currently displayed fields in
the list or form as a PDF file. Configure the list or form to

Publishing and Scheduling Reports

ServiceNow reports can be shared by publishing them to a publicly

accessible URL and scheduling their distribution by email.
Publish a report to create a publicly accessible URL that anyone can
use to access the report, including people who are not ServiceNow
users. Navigating to that URL causes the report to be generated
using current data from the ServiceNow platform.
Scheduling is a convenient way to automate the distribution of
reports.
To publish and schedule reports, users must have Report Admin or
Admin role. Fulfillers (ITIL role) who would like to publish or
schedule a report should send a Request to the Report Admin (UT
ServiceNow team).

APPENDICES

Appendix

COMMON REPORT TYPES IN

SERVICENOW

Report Types in ServiceNow (1/4)

Report Type

Bar Chart: Bar chart reports display data in either a

Horizontal bar or a Vertical bar format. Each bar
represents specific subset of data based on the
Group by value. Bar charts are useful for displaying
data by one or two parameters with a higher number
of groupings (5-10).

Pie Chart: A circular chart divided into sectors that

displays the relative proportions of individual pieces
of data to the whole. Pie charts are useful for
displaying data by a single parameter with a small
number of groupings (2-4).

Pivot Tables: Aggregates data from a table into

defined columns and rows. Pivot tables are useful
for displaying data by two parameters with a large
number of groupings.

Sample

Report Types in ServiceNow (2/4)

Report Type

Box Chart: A box chart graphically depicts groups

of numerical data through a six-number summary:
sample minimum; lower quartile (lowest 25% of the
data); median (blue lines on the chart), upper
quartile (highest 25% of the data); mean (blue dots
on the chart) and the sample

Line Chart: A line chart is a basic type of chart that

is created by connecting a series of data points with
line segments. A line chart is often used to visualize
a trend in data over intervals of time.

Control Chart: Control charts display data as a

series of connected points on a chart with a center
line, drawn at the process mean, and upper and
lower control limits that indicate the thresholds at
which activity is considered statistically unlikely.

Sample

Report Types in ServiceNow (3/4)

Report Type

List: Displays a simple list of records returned by

the report query. Using the Group by parameter will
arrange the records into an expandable list. Click
the plus (+) symbol next to the group to expand it.

Histogram: A histogram is a graph that displays

tabulated frequencies shown as vertical bars. These
reports show what proportion of the data falls into
specific categories (bars), which are intervals of
measured units.

Calendar: The calendar report displays date-driven

events in a calendar format and enables filtering
these events by any field value in the table
specified. The data can be viewed by day, week,
month or year using the controls in the calendar
report header bar.

Sample

Report Types in ServiceNow (4/4)

Report Type

Pareto Chart: Pareto charts combine bar and line

graphs. The bars display the data in descending
order from left to right, and the line graph shows the
cumulative totals from each category in the same
order.

Trend Chart: Displays data as vertical bars over

time. The type of data presented is controlled by
selecting a field to evaluate, and then selecting a
time period over which to trend the activity.

Trendbox Chart: A box chart trended by a

secondary value over a configurable period of time.
A trendbox chart graphically depicts groups of
numerical data through a five-number summary:
sample minimum; lower quartile (lowest 25% of the
data); median; upper quartile (highest 25% of the
data); and the sample maximum (the target
observation)

Sample

Review of Learning Objectives

Overview of the ServiceNow Reporting Application
Three ways to create reports in ServiceNow:
From Record Lists
Viewing or modifying Existing out of box reports
Creating new reports using the Report Generator
How to Perform Dot Walking
How to Manage Reports
Appendix - Report types in ServiceNow Reporting
application

Questions about Reporting