Why we should not increase default export limit

[IceIronDragon]

Iwanted to understand why we should not increase default export limits provided by ServiceNow.

There is a case where in users want to import data which is more than 10000 records and there is a conversation happeneing around increasing the limit, I want to understand why we should not increase the limits.

[Marcos Kassak · Accepted solution]

Hi @IceIronDragon,

I see two main reasons here:

System Load: Exporting large volumes of data can put a significant load on the ServiceNow instance, affecting the performance of other users.

Resource Consumption: Exporting large datasets consumes system resources (CPU, memory, bandwidth) that might impact the overall system responsiveness and degrade the user experience.

Plus, as you would be consuming more of the instance it can impact integrations that were running, reporting, scheduled jobs, and many other system operations.

You could encourage them to use Reports or Data Replication/Integration, if they want to leverage Microsoft Excel you may want to use the ODBC driver:

https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/tokyo-application-development/page/integrate/odbc-driver/task/t_U...

Or if they are going to use Power BI for reporting you can let them use the Table API:

https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/vancouver-api-reference/page/integrate/inbound-rest/concept/c_Tab...

You can also understand the main reason for exporting the data so you can work with a different approach. My experience around this is that once you open the door by saying that is possible, it's a matter of time for them to request more and more.

Let me know your thoughts!

If you found my answer helpful or correct in any way, please don't forget to mark it to help future readers! 👍

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Kind regards,

Marcos Kassak
Solution Consultant  🎯

[SanjivMeher]

You can increase the limit, but not so much which could impact instance performance.

Lets say you allow 500k data to be exported from ServiceNow. The amount of time it will take to export and the resource it uses, may impact performance of another user running on the same node. 

I also find it may be not secured, if someone export hell lot of records from the system. Better to have a limit.

I have had no issue increasing it till 100k. But you can test it out in your instance.,