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Administration · LessonBy , ServiceNow Architect · Updated

Reporting

Reporting turns the records already in your tables into charts, lists, dashboards and scheduled exports, no data duplication, just a saved query with a visualisation on top. It answers "what is true right now?"; for trends over time you graduate to Performance Analytics.

Quick answer

Reporting turns the records already in your tables into charts, lists, dashboards and scheduled exports, no data duplication, just a saved query with a visualisation on top. It answers "what is true right now?"; for trends over time you graduate to Performance Analytics.

Key takeaways
  • How a report is built
  • Report types
  • Dashboards, sharing and scheduling
  • Reporting vs Performance Analytics
  • Common mistakes

How a report is built

Every report is three choices: a data source (a table or a saved Report Source), a condition (the filter), and a type (how to draw it). Change the filter and the visualisation updates live, there is no separate data store to refresh.

Report types

List
A formatted table of records.
Bar / Column
Counts or sums grouped by a field.
Pie / Donut
Proportion of a whole by category.
Time series / Trend
A measure plotted over time.
Pivot
Two-dimensional cross-tab (rows x columns).
Single score
One headline number, optionally with a target.
Map / Heatmap
Geographic or matrix visualisations.

Dashboards, sharing and scheduling

  • Dashboards assemble reports with interactive filters that re-scope every widget at once.
  • Sharing is permission-aware, a viewer only ever sees rows their ACLs allow, so the same report shows different totals to different people.
  • Scheduled reports email a PDF/Excel on a cadence via a scheduled job.
Because ACLs filter every report at run time, "the numbers don't match" between two users is usually correct behaviour, not a bug, they have different row access. Verify with impersonation.

Reporting vs Performance Analytics

Reporting is a live query, refresh and yesterday's number is gone. Performance Analytics snapshots a metric on a schedule, so you can trend it, set targets, and forecast. Use reporting for current state; PA for direction over time.

Common mistakes

  • Building a report on the wrong table when the data lives on a parent/child in the task hierarchy.
  • Assuming everyone sees the same numbers, ACLs filter each viewer's rows.
  • Using live reports for trend analysis instead of PA.
  • Grouping on a high-cardinality field and producing an unreadable chart.

Practice challenge

3 questions
Q1Building a basic report requires...

No code

Reports are built through configuration.

Q2The first thing you pick for a report is the...

Source table

The source table is the report's data.

Q3Reports can be combined on a...

Dashboard

Dashboards assemble multiple reports.

Frequently asked questions

How is access to Reporting controlled?
Dashboards assemble reports with interactive filters that re-scope every widget at once. Sharing is permission-aware, a viewer only ever sees rows their ACLs allow, so the same report shows different totals to different people. Scheduled reports email a PDF/Excel on a cadence via a scheduled job.
What is another point to note about Reporting?
Every report is three choices: a data source (a table or a saved Report Source), a condition (the filter), and a type (how to draw it).
What tends to go wrong with Reporting?
Building a report on the wrong table when the data lives on a parent/child in the task hierarchy. Assuming everyone sees the same numbers, ACLs filter each viewer's rows. Using live reports for trend analysis instead of PA.

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