Getting Ready for Platform Analytics: Value, Gaps, and Fixes (2026)

[Dan_Kane]

Welcome to the Platform Analytics experience upgrade guide. This article consolidates known migration issues, workarounds, and practical solutions to help customers successfully transition to Platform Analytics experience. The guide is organized into sections covering common challenges identified through support cases and customer feedback. Bookmark this page and check back regularly—it will be updated as new issues are identified and resolved!

NOTE: This content is community guidance based on analysis of customer support cases, field experience, and community feedback. While created by members of the Platform Analytics product team, this represents practical tips and known issues gathered from the field and is not official product documentation. For official documentation, please refer to docs.servicenow.com.

NOTE: Information about future products, features, or functionality is intended to outline ServiceNow’s general product direction and is for informational purposes only. It is not a commitment, promise, or legal obligation, and may change at any time at ServiceNow’s sole discretion.

Sections:

• The Value of Upgrading
• Getting Ready for Platform Analytics
• Visualization, Editing & UI Behavior
• Exporting Behavior
• Migration Fidelity
• Data Source, Filtering & Cache Behavior
• Accessibility
• What This Means for Your Migration

From Questions to Clarity: The Value of Upgrading

Upgrading to Platform Analytics isn’t just about getting new analytics features—it’s about giving your teams a clearer, faster, and more connected view of how the business is really performing. With today’s pace of change, leaders need sharper signals and users need tools that help them get to answers quickly. Platform Analytics is designed to do exactly that.

See more of what matters

Most organizations want to understand performance from multiple angles but are limited by old reporting structures. Platform Analytics changes that. With enhanced Data Snapshots that support deeper, multi‑level KPI breakdowns, you can examine performance by region, team, product line, or any other dimension you rely on—without waiting for end‑of‑day processing. The result is a faster, more meaningful understanding of what’s driving shifts in your operations.

Make decisions with greater confidence

Teams often spend too much time interpreting dashboards or debating what they mean. Platform Analytics helps cut through that noise. Built‑in guidance highlights where attention is needed, suggests KPI thresholds, and surfaces opportunities for improvement so you can move from “What’s happening?” to “What should we do?” much more quickly.

Connect your data, not your spreadsheets

Data rarely lives in one place anymore. Platform Analytics taps into Workflow Data Fabric to let you analyze cross‑functional data without extracting, exporting, or stitching it together manually. Whether you’re connecting insights across IT, HR, fulfillment, or customer operations, you get a more complete picture with governance built in.

Give everyone the power to explore

Business users shouldn’t have to wait for an analyst to answer a simple question. With AI Data Explorer, users can ask questions in plain language—“What’s driving the increase in high‑priority cases?”—and get guided insights and visualizations instantly. They can even share and curate their findings in collaborative spaces or add them directly to dashboards. It shortens the distance between a question and actionable insight.

Keep your analytics environment healthy

Analytics can get cluttered over time. Platform Analytics brings AI into the upkeep with suggestions that improve visualizations, highlight key insights right on the dashboard, and flag outdated or unused content. It’s a quieter, more proactive way to keep your analytics ecosystem clean and trustworthy.

A better experience overall

From unified filters and improved accessibility to faster KPI load times and optimized snapshot processing, the end‑user experience is smoother, faster, and more intuitive across the board.

Getting Ready for Platform Analytics: Gaps & Fixes (2026)

As customers move from classic Reporting / Dashboards to Platform Analytics, most experience a smoother, more modern analytics experience—with better performance, richer visualizations, and improved export options. Starting with the Australia release (planned for May 2026), Core UI analytics dashboards and reports will no longer be supported beyond security fixes, making this transition increasingly important. Core UI dashboards are reports remain available for you to use until you choose to migrate them. However, you will not be able to create NEW Core UI content once your instance is upgraded to Australia.

NOTE: Don't let Core UI migration block your Platform Analytics experience adoption. You can start building new content in Platform Analytics experience immediately while your legacy Core UI dashboards and reports continue to work. Migration is optional and flexible—migrate everything, migrate selectively, or keep legacy content as-is (Legacy content is available but unsupported Australia-forward). The Migration Center will continue to be available and updated in Australia and future releases.

Legacy dashboards can be complex. Many are heavily customized and use features that behave differently in Platform Analytics. To reduce uncertainty, the remainder of this post summarizes:

• Known gaps and behaviors during migration
• How common they are
• Their fix status and target release
• Relevant PRB/KB references — and whether they are internal (via ServiceNow Support)

Note: PRB and KB numbers marked as “internal” are not directly accessible to customers. Share them with your ServiceNow support engineer if you need to reference a specific gap or behavior.

Reach Labels

To help set expectations, each gap is tagged with a “Reach” label from our internal analysis.

• Common – Many customers encounter this
• Occasional – Seen in certain configurations or content types
• Rare – Only appears in edge cases or specialized setups

This is not an exhaustive list. Items will be added/edited regularly.

1. Visualization, Editing & UI Behavior

These gaps focus on how dashboards, data visualizations, and filters behave before and after migration.

Gap	Reach	Customer Impact	PRB / KB	Fix Status	Release / Plugin	Backport Status	Workaround
Limited dot‑walking options in Visualization Designer	Common	Some related‑table fields don’t appear in list visualizations compared to classic Reports.	None (feature gap)	Planned enhancement	Post‑Australia (TBD)	N/A	Review data models; denormalize key fields where necessary to expose them directly.
Additional clicks required to add filters	Common	Configuration feels slower compared to Core UI dashboards.	None (UX gap)	Known UX issue	Post‑Australia (TBD)	N/A	Use saved report/data sources as templates to reduce repeated filter configuration.
Misalignment or blank content after migration (content blocks / JSON)	Occasional	Migrated dashboards with content blocks or static components require manual layout fixes; warning banners may appear.	PRB1951508 (internal); KB1885146 (internal)	In progress / partially fixed	Install the latest Migration Center plugin from the Store	N/A	Manually adjust layouts; where appropriate, use the "hideWarnings": true JSON workaround as described in KB1885146 (via ServiceNow Support).
Dashboard requires browser refresh to load content	Rare	Intermittent load failures; dashboard appears blank until refreshed.	Linked to specific cases (e.g., CS8861910) – no global PRB yet	Under investigation	TBD	N/A	Refresh page; verify properties, roles, ACLs, and cache using the Platform Analytics post‑migration checklist.
Time‑series drilldown fails with group‑by after migration	Common (for grouped TS drilldowns)	Drilldowns show no or incorrect records when a group‑by is applied.	PRB1908756 (internal)	In progress	March Store 2026 – Platform Analytics plugin	TBD	Use alternate list‑based drilldowns or KPI detail pages for critical KPIs until the fix is applied.
Time‑series widget with 2nd Y‑axis migrates blank	Occasional	Dual‑axis time‑series widgets appear empty after migration.	PRB1941482 (internal)	Fixed	Feb Store 2026 – Migration Center plugin	Delivered via plugin	Upgrade Migration Center; re‑run migration for affected dashboards.

2. Exporting Behavior

This section covers scheduled exports, PDF/PowerPoint exports, and export formats.

Gap	Reach	Impact	PRB / KB	Fix Status	Release / Plugin	Backport Status	Workaround
Scheduled exports do not honor filters	Common	Scheduled reports may send unfiltered or incorrectly scoped data.	PRB1943625 (internal)	Fix planned	Australia	No backport	For critical exports, run filtered manual exports or explicitly validate data during UAT.
PDF export excludes data tables	Occasional	Executive PDFs may omit underlying tables.	KB2137534 (internal)	Known issue	Post‑Australia (TBD)	N/A	Attach Excel/CSV exports of key tables alongside PDFs, or export tables directly from list/DV views.
Pivot table export unsupported	Common	Pivot layouts cannot be exported from Platform Analytics dashboards; permanent parity gap.	As designed (no PRB)	Permanent behavior	N/A	N/A	Use list/table visualizations with equivalent logic when downstream export is required.
Limited export formats compared to Core UI	Occasional	CSV/XML may not appear in all PAe export menus, especially on older families.	(No PRB)	Partially delivered	Zurich + Australia	No backport to pre‑Zurich	Use list report exports, or open the Data Visualization directly and export from there.
Scheduled export interval shows 00:00:00	Rare	Schedule UI shows a zero interval even when a schedule is configured.	TBD	Under review	TBD	N/A	Confirm the true timing in underlying job/trigger records and recreate schedules if needed.
Export widget ordering incorrect	Rare	Exported widget order does not match dashboard layout.	PRB1920458	Fixed	Platform Analytics export plugin	Delivered via plugin	Upgrade to the latest Platform Analytics export plugin.
Export fails when filter/query URI too large	Occasional	Exports fail with “URI too long” or similar errors for very complex filters.	PRB1967492 (internal)	Fixed	Australia (+ potential Zurich backport)	Backport under discussion	Shorten filters or use alternative patterns; adopt Australia when available.

3. Migration Fidelity

These gaps are about how faithfully dashboards migrate, and where manual intervention is expected.

Gap	Reach	Impact	PRB / KB	Fix Status	Release / Plugin	Backport	Workaround
“Unexpected issue occurred” on some migrated reports	Occasional	Specific widgets fail to load after migration.	Case‑specific PRBs (internal)	Partially fixed	Zurich + Store updates	Case dependent	Rebuild the visualization in Data Visualizations and re‑attach; log a case referencing migration behavior.
Missing dashboard portal records (“Could not find portal page with ID”)	Rare	Dashboards may fail to load until references are corrected.	Under investigation	Under investigation	TBD	N/A	Validate that the migrated dashboard record and any workspace/portal references exist and are active.
Duplicate API calls in Migration Center	Occasional	Migration Center loads slower due to redundant calls.	PRB1932038	Fixed	Install latest version of Platform Analytics Migration Center	N/A	Upgrade to latest version of Platform Analytics Migration Centerbefore running large migrations.
Migration requiring significant manual rework for complex dashboards	Common (for highly customized dashboards)	Additional effort for formatting, unsupported widgets, and script behaviors.	Multiple	Ongoing improvements	Multi‑release	N/A	Plan to rebuild a small number of complex, high‑value dashboards natively in Platform Analytics instead of forcing 1:1 migration.

4. Data Source, Filtering & Cache Behavior

This section addresses how new tables, caches, and large exports behave in a PAe environment.

Gap	Reach	Impact	PRB / KB	Fix Status	Release / Plugin	Backport	Workaround
Newly created tables not appearing until cache clear	Occasional	New tables sometimes don’t show up as data sources immediately.	None (behavioral note)	Known	TBD	N/A	Clear both server and browser cache after schema changes and migrations.
Filters clear when switching between data sources	Occasional	Workflows combining multiple sources require filters to be reapplied after changing the data source.	None (design gap)	Planned redesign	Post‑Australia (TBD)	N/A	Assume filters will need to be reapplied after changing the data source.
Scheduled reports continue after migration	Rare	Duplicate exports from legacy schedules.	None (operational)	Fixed operationally	N/A	N/A	Identify and delete orphaned triggers (sys_trigger) for retired dashboards/reports.
Large downloads fail due to size limits	Occasional	Exports for large reports are not delivered due to system limits.	None (configuration)	Fixed via configuration	N/A	N/A	Increase max attachment/payload size properties or reduce export size.
Filters clear when switching from list to chart	Common	Users must reapply filters when changing visualization type.	PRB1944190	Fixed	Feb Store 2026 – Platform Analytics plugin v7.2.4		Upgrade to Zurich plus the latest Platform Analytics Store plugin.
Filters in Data Visualization do not carry to list view drilldown	Occasional	Users see an unfiltered list after clicking a filtered chart.	PRB1885615	In progress	March Store 2026 – Platform Analytics plugin	TBD	Document this limitation; link directly to pre‑filtered list views for high‑importance dashboards.
PA filters cannot apply to ^NQ data source	Occasional	Complex NQ‑based filters silently fail, returning un‑scoped results. Most common example is a filter with a "big OR" condition that starts a new set of query conditions.	PRB1951042	Fixed	Jan Store 2026 – Data Visualizations plugin	Delivered via Data Viz plugin	Upgrade the Data Visualizations plugin; avoid NQ‑based filters on older plugin versions.
"Follow filter" (Casdcading fiilter) not available for Choice type fields	Occasional	Example: A Subcategory filter cannot follow/cascade from a Category filter, because they are Choice-type fields. Reference fields with defined relationships like Group-Assigned to can apply cascading filters.	None	Planned enhancement	Post‑Australia (TBD)	N/A	None

5. Accessibility (508 Compliance)

Accessibility behavior is especially important for organizations with formal compliance requirements.

Gap	Reach	Impact	PRB / KB	Fix Status	Release	Backport	Workaround
Screen reader not notified when details panel opens	Occasional	Assistive technologies may not announce detail panels properly.	PRB1890607, PRB1890677, PRB1890687 (internal)	Fixed	Australia	N/A	Upgrade to Australia or later; validate behavior with screen‑reader testing on key dashboards.
Required field visibility not announced	Rare	Required fields may not be communicated clearly to screen readers.	Same PRB cluster as above (internal)	Fixed	Australia	N/A	As above.
Invalid date ranges not announced	Occasional	Users relying on assistive tech may not get feedback when date ranges are invalid.	Same PRB cluster as above (internal)	Fixed	Australia	N/A	As above.

What This Means for Your Migration

Taken together, the gaps above show a consistent pattern:

• Most Common items are already fixed or targeted in Zurich, Australia, or Store plugins, with clear workarounds.
• Occasional and Rare items tend to be tied to advanced filtering, highly customized dashboards, or large data volumes.

For planning purposes:

• Treat the Australia release as a major milestone for Platform Analytics migration (Core UI deprecation, better exports, accessibility fixes). 
• Expect to run Core UI and Platform Analytics side‑by‑side during transition and to rebuild a small set of complex dashboards rather than migrating everything automatically.
• Use the post‑migration checklist to catch most configuration‑related issues quickly (properties, roles, ACLs, cache, Migration Center review).

When in doubt, share the relevant PRB/KB IDs (marked internal) with your ServiceNow support engineer; they can confirm whether a known fix, store update, or patch applies to your instance.