Platform Analytics Migration in Xanadu Release

[dan_linton]

Starting with the Xanadu release, new ServiceNow instances will rely solely on platform analytics, meaning traditional reports and dashboards will not be available. This change affects newly provisioned instances in the following ways:

• No Report menu or modules
• Performance Analytics is now under Platform Analytics Administration
• Dashboards (Self-Service > Dashboards) redirect to platform analytics instead of using the pa_dashboards table

Note: Upgraded instances will retain the reporting menu, Dashboard, and Performance Analytics functionality unless migrated to Platform Analytics.

Migration Process

In this post we will review what the migration looks like and what happens after complete.

1. To start I created a custom dashboard for my test.
   1. 
2. Next, upgraded your instance to Xanadu (hope you are not trying this in PROD).
3. Upon the upgrade completing validate your dashboard loads as you would expect through Self-Service > Dashboards.
4. Open the Migration Center
   1. This can be done from the dashboard page Self-Service > Dashboards OR
   2. Navigate to Performance Analytics > Migration Center
5. At this point you may be prompted to install the latest version
   1.     
   2.     
6. Once on the latest version navigate back to the Migration Center (Performance Analytics > Migration Center)
   1. There are 2 options, either is valid however we will explore the first option
      1.       Move all your content (all dashboards)
      2.       Try with selected content
      3.  
7. Click the Start moving button
   1. Once completed you will be redirected to this page. I did notice the totals did not populate on first load, reload if necessary.
   2.                     
8. There are 2 main categories “Fully migrated” and “Compatibility mode”. Fully migrated means there was no issue migrating to Platform Analytics dashboards, but what does “Compatibility mode” mean? At this point some content is not migrated which will place these items in compatibility mode, the documented list is here: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/xanadu-now-intelligence/page/use/par-for-workspace/reference/data...
   1. The banner message describes it well, “Dashboards with visualizations or other widgets migrated in compatibility mode may take slightly longer to load. For an optimal experience, consider replacing content migrated in compatibility mode with supported content.”
   2. Within compatibility mode I located my dashboard (Dan’s Dashboard) and clicked on “Compare”, this launched a view to compare between the migrated dashboard and the Core UI dashboard (legacy).
      1.       Note: in this view the reports are not drillable (click within the data). The report/dashboard is not broken.
      2. 
      3. Notice when comparing some other dashboard errors will occur.
      4. 
      5. In these scenarios, logs are typically available to review
      6.  
9. When all the dashboards are reviewed and you are ready to migrate, click on the Activate button.

                    

[Gene Lawhun]

We just upgraded to Xanadu and had a user do this migration in our UAT instance and didn't realize the impact.  Since they were not in Polaris/Next experience they literally had no way to navigate out from the Platform Analytics workspace.  There is not the filter navigator and when you try to go back to the root URL it keeps defaulting to the Platform Analytics workspace.  So they were stuck.

A couple questions here:

1. Is there a way to back out?  This is a huge issue as not all users are using the Polaris experience.

2. Is there a way to have it not default to the Platform Analytics workspace?

3. We are using Upgrade Plans to next do our Dev instance upgrade to Xanadu can we make this part inactive in our migration plan?

       3.1. Or does this have to be initiated in every instance and it won't be migrated in the Dev instance through the upgrade plan?

[dan_linton]

Hello Gene,

Please see the post below on a way to get back and to have Performance Analytics/Reporting reinstated. Unfortunately all dashboards inactivated will remain inactive after this move back so you will need to re-activate dashboards.

https://www.servicenow.com/community/performance-analytics-blog/platform-analytics-migration-what-is...

I don't have the information at my finger tips on Upgrade Plans and this migration.

[martapenzo]

Hi @Gene Lawhun,
you have few options:
- if you would still like to have all the analytics migrated to Platform Analytics experience you can make sure that all your users have Next Experience UI enabled. We suggest to have Next Experience UI for all your users enabled before moving to Platform Analytics experience;
- you could check if setting the global user preferences to another page that is not the Platform Analytics pages so it will not redirect for users with Next Experience UI disabled and will not hide the menus;
- If you would like to rollback to the Core UI experience instead of the Platform Analytics, you can contact the support team and we will rollback the migration.

Thanks,
Marta

[Gene Lawhun]

Thank you.  We ended up restoring a backup from the day before and since it was a weekend there wasn't anything done in the instance besides the migration.

[KV_CTS]

@Gene Lawhun - 

Platform Analytics is a relatively new feature/application that was released with Washington release and when we upgraded from Vancouver to Xanadu (of course, we got it with the upgrade). 

A good starting point to read about Platform Analytics and how it differs from Performance analytics would be here:
https://www.servicenow.com/community/performance-analytics-blog/platform-analytics-enablement-toolki...

Key difference apart from the ones @dan_linton mentioned is that now both Reports and Performance Dashboard will be deactivated and instead we will see only Platform analytics and under Platform analytics, we have a module called Data visualizations which ServiceNow says brings it together.

So, if you are a dashboard user, then you will not notice anything significant but if you are a dashboard creator/administrator then the way these dashboards were created so far have significantly changed.

And of course, the UI has now changed from CoreUI to Next Experience UI.

Rollback: For some reason if you wish to do a rollback, then the safest way is goto sys_properties and set com.glide.par.unified_analytics.enabled = false and then goto "par_dashboard.LIST" and select all dashboards page by page, and use the rollback option via the actions menu on the table list view. ServiceNow has confirmed this is the best way to do a rollback (if needed so). Note: Not all dashboards once migrated can be rolled back to former state. I think ServiceNow calls these specific ones "technical dashboards" based on what I remember reading.

Similarly, if you wish to re-migrate these to Platform Analytics after rollback, then you can do the reverse which is to set com.glide.par.unified_analytics.enabled = true and then goto "pa_dashboards.LIST" and select all dashboards page by page, and use the migrate option via the actions menu on the table list view.

But to migrate first time, simply using Migration center provided by ServiceNow.

Please mark my reply as Helpful/Correct, if applicable. Thanks! Might take a second for you and will help me 🙂

[ManonVT]

Hi,

Thanks for the nice blog. I am having some questions about the last line:

" When all the dashboards are reviewed and you are ready to migrate, click on the Activate button."

1a: How do I know that I am ready to migrate? What are good criteria? 

1b: Is there an option to solve the logs and prepare the migration again? (So I will have less dashboards/reports in the compatibility mode)

2: Since I am in the Migration Center now and have my Activate button, how do i get back to the first page of the center? To learn more about the migration and try it again.

Thanks!

Manon

[KV_CTS]

@ManonVT  - Thanks for acknowledging. Always helps to see people finding content helpful. Would also help if you can mark my post/replies helpful. That being said, the answer to your questions:

1a. Migrating from Performance Analytics to Platform Analytics in ServiceNow is a strategic decision. So, whether you like it or not, we all have to move to it at some point in time 🙂 But, certain factors that can aid decision making are:

 - Your business & Reporting Needs, you need real-time insights instead of scheduled PA jobs.

 - Current PA Limitations

 - Your instance is running ServiceNow Washington DC release or later (where Platform Analytics is fully supported).

1b. As mentioned above in my first post, there is no way to undo the entire migration but you can manually rollback (most, but not all, depending on elements on the old PA dashboard used). Hence, best suggestion is to go through existing reports (before migration), take away obsolete elements and replace it with what ServiceNow has made a decision to stick with and then migrate. 

2. ServiceNow confirmed once you click on Migrate, you cannot get the option again to do it, but you can, however, at a dashboard level (select all) and perform a rollback/migrate. 


My responses are based on the best understanding of your case, screenshots helps in case you feel something was unanswered or perceived differently than intended. Once again, you marking my responses helpful would be helpful to me and my time invested in trying to help you out. Thank you in advance and do have a great one. 🙂