ServiceNow Reports Fundamentals

This document provides an overview of reporting and analytics on the Now Platform.

Use it to understand what reports are, when to use them, and how they fit into ServiceNow.

What is a Report?

  • A report is a visualization of data from a table or set of tables
  • Reports can show trends, summarize information, or list records

Reports are how you turn data into insights.

When Should I Use a Report?

Use reports when:

  • You need to see data from tables quickly
  • You want to analyze trends
  • You want to share information with others

Do not use reports for:

  • Data enforcement
  • Real-time form validation
  • Automating processes (use flows/scripts instead)

Types of Reports

List Reports

  • Show rows of records
  • Sortable and filterable

Example:

  • All open incidents

Pivot / Aggregation Reports

  • Summarize data by field(s)
  • Show totals, averages, counts

Example:

  • Count of incidents by priority

Bar / Column / Pie Charts

  • Visual representation of grouped data

Example:

  • Number of incidents per department

Calendar / Timeline Reports

  • Show data over time

Example:

  • Planned maintenance schedule

Performance Analytics (Advanced)

  • Trend analysis and forecasting
  • KPI dashboards

Performance Analytics is optional and often used in ITSM metrics

How Reports Work

  1. Select Table / Data Source
  2. Define Conditions / Filters
  3. Choose Type of Report
  4. Configure Visualization
  5. Save and Share

Reports can be personal, shared, or global

Dashboards

  • Dashboards are collections of reports
  • Can include multiple report types and layouts
  • Useful for executives, teams, or daily operations

Example:

  • Incident dashboard showing open, prioritized, and SLA-breached incidents

Report Best Practices

  • Keep it simple: focus on actionable insights
  • Use meaningful groupings and filters
  • Avoid overloading dashboards with too many reports
  • Name reports clearly
  • Schedule reports if recurring review is needed

Common Mistakes

  • Using reports to enforce rules
  • Making dashboards too cluttered
  • Forgetting to filter out irrelevant data
  • Ignoring performance implications of large datasets

1-Min Example

Requirement: See how many high-priority incidents were created last month per department

Solution:

  1. Table: Incident
  2. Conditions: priority = High, created last month
  3. Group by: department
  4. Visualization: Bar Chart
  5. Save report and add to team dashboard

Relationship to Other Tools

  • Forms/Lists: source of raw data
  • Flows: can create or update records, which are then reported
  • Scripts: can prepare or calculate fields for reporting

Mental Shortcut

Reports = data insight Dashboards = data at a glance **Scripts/Flows = data manipulation