How to create a report where I can group data by TAG incident table

[SrinivasuSa]

Hi Community,

User has raised below concern :

I want to create a report where I can group data by TAG in dashboard by data visualisation. It does not work for me.

Kindly review and advise?

Thanks
srinivasu

[Bruno Pires2]

Do you need to group records by more than one tag per record, or is it always exactly one tag per record?

Why this matters?
If it is always one tag, the solution is simple and clean, a single choice or reference field and reporting works out of the box.
If multiple tags per record are required, we need to decide between a multi select field, a helper table, or a reporting workaround, each with trade offs.

Once you confirm that, I can give you the exact recommendation and steps, no guesswork.

[SrinivasuSa]

Hi @Bruno Pires2 ,

Thank you for your response

he needs to incident records by more than one tag per record

And later also suggest this "it is always exactly one tag per record

[Bruno Pires2]

Hi @SrinivasuSa ,

Thanks for the clarification.

Since the requirement is to group Incident records by more than one Tag per record, this explains why the current approach does not work.

Why this does not work in ServiceNow?

Tags in ServiceNow are not stored as a real field on the Incident table.

They are stored in a separate system table and linked dynamically to records.

Because of this limitation:

• Tags can be used for filtering.
• Tags cannot be used for Group by, Stack by, or dashboard visualisations.
• This is expected platform behaviour, not a configuration issue.

So grouping Incidents by Tag is not supported out of the box, especially when multiple tags are applied to the same record.

Recommended best practice

If reporting and dashboards are required, Tags should not be used as the reporting dimension.

The recommended options are:

Option 1. Data model for reporting

Create a proper data model, for example:

• A helper Tag table.
• A many to many relationship between Incident and Tag.

This allows correct grouping and visualisation.

Option 2. Replicate Tags into a reportable field

If Tags must remain for user experience:

• Use a Business Rule, Flow, or scheduled job.
• Copy the Tag values into a real field such as a multi select choice or related table.
• Build reports on that field instead of system Tags.

Option 3. Advanced workaround

Use a Database View or scripted reporting source joining Incident with the Tag storage table.

This works but is not recommended due to complexity and performance impact.

Important note on the follow up suggestion

If later the requirement changes to exactly one Tag per Incident, then a simple choice or reference field is enough and reporting will work immediately.

In summary:

Tags are designed for filtering and organisation, not for reporting or aggregation.

For dashboards and grouping, the data must exist in real, reportable fields.

Hope this clarifies the limitation and the correct direction.