Fiscal calendar in servicenow

[sakshinitna]

In any organisation, tracking financial or operational performance doesn’t always align neatly with the standard January-to-December year. That’s where Fiscal Calendars come in. They help define how your company divides the year for financial reporting, budgeting, and forecasting — for example, by months, quarters, or special week-based periods.

In ServiceNow, you can easily configure fiscal calendars to align with your organisation’s unique reporting structure using the Fiscal Calendar plugin.

Plugin: Fiscal Calendar (com. s n c. fiscal_calendar)

What is a Fiscal Calendar?

A fiscal calendar defines how an organisation divides its financial year.
Unlike a regular calendar year (January–December), a fiscal year may start in any month — for example, April–March or July–June, depending on the organisation.

Navigation:

System Navigation>Fiscal calendar > Generate

Each Generate fiscal calendar consists of:

• Fiscal Calendar type
• A Fiscal Unit (Month or Quarter)
• Start and End dates
• Prefixes used in record naming

These fiscal periods help the system calculate and report data accurately in ITSM, Financial Management, and Performance Analytics modules.

Types of Fiscal Calendars

When you open the Fiscal Calendar form in ServiceNow, you’ll see several options under Fiscal Calendar Types.
Here’s what each one means:

Type	Description
Standard	A regular calendar divided into 12 months (each month representing one period).
13 Periods	A calendar with 13 equal periods, each consisting of 4 weeks. (Note: This is the only type that doesn’t use quarters.)
445	Divides the year into quarters of 4 weeks, 4 weeks, and 5 weeks respectively — often used in retail or manufacturing to ensure consistent comparison across quarters.
454	Divides each quarter into 4 weeks, 5 weeks, and 4 weeks respectively.
544	Divides each quarter into 5 weeks, 4 weeks, and 4 weeks respectively.

These week-based patterns (445, 454, 544) help standardise reporting by ensuring each fiscal period has an equal number of weekdays, making business performance comparisons more accurate.

Fiscal Calendar Configuration Fields

Field	Description
Fiscal Unit	Defines the base unit of your fiscal calendar.  Month – Generates a calendar with monthly periods.  Quarter – Generates a calendar with quarterly periods.
Start Month	Selects the month in which your fiscal year begins. (For example, if your fiscal year starts in July, choose 07.)
Start Year	The starting year for your fiscal calendar. For example, 2025.
Start Day	The exact day when each month or period begins (commonly 01 or any day your fiscal cycle starts).
End Year	The final year up to which the system should generate fiscal periods.
Prefix for Year	The prefix that appears in fiscal year record names. Example: “FY” → FY2025.
Prefix for Quarter/Period	The prefix that appears in fiscal quarter or period record names. Example: “Q” → Q1 FY2025.
Prefix for Month/Period	The prefix used in fiscal month or period record names. Example: “M” → M07 FY2025.

How to Generate a Fiscal Calendar

Once you’ve entered all the configuration details:

1. Click Generate Calendar.
2. ServiceNow automatically creates fiscal year, quarter, and month (or period) records based on your inputs.
3. Navigate to Fiscal calendar→ Fiscal Periods to verify that the records were generated correctly.

You’ll see records like:

• Fiscal Year: FY2025
• Fiscal Quarter: Q1 FY2025
• Fiscal Month: M07 FY2025, M08 FY2025, etc.

Example

Let’s say XYZ Company's fiscal year runs from July 2025 to June 2026.

Configuration:

• Fiscal Unit: Month
• Start Month: 07 (July)
• Start Year: 2025
• End Year: 2026
• Prefix for Year: FY
• Prefix for Quarter: Q
• Prefix for Month: M

After clicking Generate Calendar, ServiceNow creates:

• FY2025 fiscal year record
• Q1 FY2025 to Q4 FY2025
• M07 FY2025 to M06 FY2026 for all 12 months

Now you can use these fiscal periods in reports, dashboards, and metrics across the platform.

Where Fiscal Calendars Are Used in ITSM

Fiscal Calendars are especially useful in modules that track performance over time, such as:

1. Performance Analytics (PA):
   Helps in comparing KPIs across fiscal periods instead of regular months — e.g., “Incident resolution rate in Q3 FY2025.”
2. Financial Management:
   Used to allocate budgets, track costs, and generate financial reports aligned with your company’s fiscal structure.
3. Project Portfolio Management (PPM):
   Aligns project milestones and budgets with fiscal quarters or periods.
4. ITSM Reporting:
   Used in trend analysis dashboards (like incidents logged or closed per fiscal period).

Note:The fiscal calendar in ServiceNow is not exclusive to IT Service Management (ITSM); it is a platform-wide feature that can be utilised across various modules, including Financial Management, Project Portfolio Management (PPM), and other applications that require financial period tracking. While it is commonly used within ITSM for reporting and financial tracking, its functionality extends beyond ITSM.