The CreatorCon Call for Content is officially open! Get started here.

Michael Fry1
Kilo Patron

 

Many of my colleagues have completed Performance Analytics training, but they often struggle to understand the sequence of steps needed to build all the required components. For example, when working with a new custom table, it’s not always clear where to start or what should be created first — such as whether to begin with an indicator source, breakdowns, or data collectors.

 

This will be my series, in order of what to start with and what comes next, to build out Performance Analytics. This is not meant to replace any ServiceNow training, just to enhance and bring order to development. I will show screenshots based on Incident for reference purposes but the logic if you were building for a new table would be the same. Assuming you’ve already defined what success looks like, let’s get started.

 

The first step is to create a new Indicator Source, which acts as a defined pool of data for your Performance Analytics indicators. In this example, the source captures Incidents created after a specific date, with data collected on a daily schedule. You can also refine the dataset by adding additional filter conditions, for example, limiting results to records where the State is Open or matching other relevant criteria.

MichaelFry1_0-1761004361040.png

 

When setting up your Indicator Source, take a moment to think about naming and reusability. A clear, consistent naming convention makes it easier for others (and your future self) to understand what each source represents and how it’s used.

For example:

  • Incidents – a broad source including all incident records.
  • Incidents.New – a filtered source capturing newly created incidents.
  • Incidents.Open – a focused source containing only active or open incidents.

 

Using descriptive, structured names helps maintain clarity as your Performance Analytics library grows and allows you to quickly identify which indicators or dashboards rely on which data sources.

 

In the next step we will talk about Breakdown Sources.