MRVS report creation and how to display real value instead of sys_id

[LT_23]

Hello,

My requirement is to create a report from a MRVS that has 2 columns one for employee and the other is the employee's manager (both reference fields).

I tried creating a database view  and can see the rows but sys_id are displayed instead of the employees name and managers name.My question is how can I have the real values displayed instead and also is there a way to merge it with the other variables of the catalog item so that I have one report with all variables including the MRVS. 

PS: if I have two MRVS do I have to create a database view and report for each? 

[lauri457]

Have a look at this blog post:

How to use Remote Tables to Report on MRVS - The SN Nerd

[Nishant_Shelar]

• The table sc_multi_row_question_answer does not store display values.
• It stores everything as plain text.
• Even if your variable is a reference field (like sys_user), it still stores only the sys_id.

You can try below solution (Untested)

How MRVS data is actually stored (EAV model)

• ServiceNow uses an EAV (Entity-Attribute-Value) structure for MRVS.
• That means:
  • Each row in MRVS is NOT one record
  • Instead, each field inside that row is stored as a separate record

👉 Example:

If your MRVS has:

Employee Manager

John

Mike

It gets stored like this:

Row ID Question (Variable) Value

1	Employee	sys_id_1
1	Manager	sys_id_2

So:

• Same row → linked using a row index / parent reference
• But Employee and Manager are stored separately

---

3. Why you can’t directly get Employee & Manager together

• Since both values are stored as separate rows, they are not side-by-side by default
• You have to manually join them back together
• That’s why a simple query doesn’t work

---

4. Why you need to join the table twice

To reconstruct one MRVS row:

• First join → get Employee value
• Second join → get Manager value

So basically:

• Same table (sc_multi_row_question_answer)
• Used two times
• Each time filtered by a different variable (question)

---

5. Why you also need to join sys_user twice

• Both Employee and Manager store sys_ids
• To convert them into names:
  • Join sys_user for Employee
  • Join sys_user again for Manager

So total joins:

• MRVS table → 2 times
• sys_user → 2 times

---

6. Final structure (simple understanding)

Your Database View is doing something like:

• MRVS (Employee)
• MRVS (Manager)
• sys_user (Employee name)
• sys_user (Manager name)

[Ankur Bawiskar]

@LT_23 

that's how data is stored for MRVS and it shows sysId and not display value

link shared by @lauri457 should help you

💡 If my response helped, please mark it as correct ✅ and close the thread 🔒— this helps future readers find the solution faster! 🙏