OK, you're ready to start loading data in Performance Analytics, but the articles have taken you here to configure data sources. Why do I have to do this? What doesn't the out-of-the-box content just handle this for me already? There is a perfectly valid reason why Performance Analytics might not be able to immediately pick up your data . . . and it comes back to the power of the ServiceNow platform.
The ServiceNow platform provides you with a framework for some standard IT service management processes including Incident, Problem, Change, and Request (among others). You may also be using it for IT Business Management, IT Operations Management, etc. The applications themselves include some recommended fields for implementing the processes; however, you have the power to configure each application to suit your organization's specific needs. When you turn on Performance Analytics, though, the product makes some assumptions about where it can find the data to build the trend information--namely those recommended application fields. If you are using different fields, you just need to configure Performance Analytics to point to those locations.
This article provides a common example you can use to configure any out-of-the-box indicator source so that it matches the fields you are using for your applications. In most cases, you will not need to do any configuration, and this is simply a review. In some specific cases, you will need to make a modification to the source fields. Let's get to work . . .
It is likely that you will NOT need to make any changes to the Indicator Sources. However, it is helpful to review and understand exactly what is being measured in your processes. |
Step 1: Review The Indicator Sources
Before you get started, you should determine which fields contain the data you are looking for in each application you are enabling for Performance Analytics. For most transactional applications (Incident, Problem, Change, Request, HR, Customer Service Management, Security Incident Management, etc.), there are usually three (3) indicator sources of interest. It is these three indicator sources that segment the data into smaller data sets that can be processed by the indicators:
- <Application>.New: This Indicator Source determines which records for that process were created on a specific day. This Indicator Source should be pointed to the time stamp field on the record that defines its creation day. In the out-of-the-box content, the Indicator Source looks at the Opened field for Incident Management and Change Management. For Problem Management, the Indicator Source looks at the Created field. You need to determine if these are the correct time stamp fields for your process (in other words, is a new record measured in your organization by the Created time stamp or the Opened time stamp?).
- <Application>.Open: This Indicator Source determines which records were open on a specific day. This is what will drive statistics around your work backlog. You can only know if a record was open by looking at the date it was new and the date it was closed. In the out-of-the-box content, the Indicator Sources look at some combination of Created, Opened, Resolved, or Closed to determine whether or not the record was part of the backlog on a given day. You need to determine if the fields that come with the out-of-the-box indicator sources provide the correct measurements for your organization's processes.
- <Application>.Closed: This Indicator Source determines which records were resolved on a specific day. This Indicator Source should be pointed to the time stamp field on the record that defines when it was closed. In the out-of-the-box content, the Indicator Source looks at the Closed field for Incident, Problem, and Change Management. Note there is a separate Indicator Source for Incident Management called Incidents.Resolved that looks at the Resolved timestamp.
You want to make sure that the Indicator Sources provided with the out-of-the-box content are really pointing at the fields you want to use to measure the performance of your processes.
To review the list of Indicator Source definitions and to make modifications, perform the following steps:
- In the left-hand navigation pane, click Performance Analytics > Sources > Indicator Sources. The list of Indicator Sources appears in the main content pane.
- Click on an Indicator Source from the list to see the details. The time stamp fields leveraged by the Indicator Source are listed in the Source section of the page. In the example below for Changes.New, you can see the Indicator Source is using the Opened field.
- If you need to make a modification to the time stamp field, select it from the dropdown list.
- Click Update to save your changes.
Step 2: Update Performance Analytics Scripts
Performance Analytics scripts are included to help with supporting calculations on records. For example, scripts are used to calculate how long it took to resolve incidents or how long it took to close changes. The scripts need to use the specific time stamp fields from the indicator sources to obtain the correct calculations. This means if you made a change in the Indicator Sources (Step 1), you may need to make a modification to supporting scripts for that process.
If you did not update any Indicator Sources, you can skip this step! |
Perform the following steps to review the scripts and make necessary modifications:
- In the left-hand navigation pane, click Performance Analytics > Automation > Scripts. This list of Scripts appears in the main content pane.
- Click on a script to open the details for that script. In this example, Change.CloseTime.Hours was selected. This script is used to calculate the duration of a change based on the Opened and Closed fields.
- Click on the Lock button next to Fields to modify the specific fields that are passed into the script. The slush bucket selector appears.
- Use the slush bucket feature to move the desired field into the list of fields passed to the script. For example, if your organization is using the Created time stamp field to define a new change, you would need to replace Opened with Created.
- Scroll down to the Script section of the form.
- Replace the field in the script with the database name of the new field (not the display name). For example, if you replaced the Opened time stamp with the Created time stamp, you need to replace "opened_at" in Line 3 of the example script with "sys_created_on". In this case, "sys_created_on" is the true database field name for Created.
- Click Update to save your changes.
You only need to modify the fields in the scripts if you have made changes to the defined fields in the Indicator Sources. If you do make changes to the Indicator Sources and do not make the script changes, you will see bad data (or possibly no data) in the Indicators that rely on these scripts. |
Step 3: Review The Breakdown Sources
Breakdown Sources represent the elements that will be used to examine a KPI in more detail. For example, the Assignment Group automated breakdown provided out-of-the-box uses the Groups Breakdown Source. This Breakdown Source returns ALL active groups in your instance in the list that will be used to examine your data. In other words, if you are looking at the Number of Open Changes Indicator, and you examine the Assignment Group breakdown, you are going to see all groups in your instance instead of just the groups that are actually working your Change requests.
It is likely that you will NOT need to make any changes to the Breakdown Sources. However, it is helpful to review and understand exactly what is being measured in your processes. |
Modifying the Breakdown Source allows you to limit the element list to only those items that are meaningful for the data analysis. There are a few benefits to going through this process:
- Smaller element lists make it easier for consumers to find the data they need. It is easier to comprehend a list of 25 groups associated with a particular process rather than trying to sort through thousands of groups.
- Smaller element lists lead to less data collection and more efficient use of data. Rather than having the Data Collector crunch through 1,000 different groups to categorize your data, the data collector can analyze the 25 groups that are meaningful to supporting the process.
You also want to make sure the out-of-the-box Breakdown Sources are returning the correct element lists for your breakdowns. Again, ServiceNow makes assumptions about your data structures, and you just want to be certain the provided configurations actually match your instance.
To review the list of Breakdown Sources and their definitions and to make modifications, perform the following steps:
- In the left-hand navigation pane, click Performance Analytics > Sources > Breakdown Sources. The list of Breakdown Sources appears in the main content pane.
- Click on a Breakdown Source from the list to see the details. In the example below, the Change.Impact Breakdown Source is displayed.
- Under the Source tab, you can see the definition for the breakdown elements including the table that contains the unique list of sys_ids. In the example, the unique list of values contained in the Change Request Impact field come from the sys_choice table. The Conditions provide additional filters to ensure that only the Change Impact fields from the sys_choice table are returned.
- Click the Preview button to see the number of elements returned by the query. In the example, three (3) records are returned.
- Click on the link (for example, 3 records match condition) to see the specific values that were returned. The list of elements will appear in a new browser tab.
- Verify the records returned match what you expect to be in the breakdown element list. Close the browser tab.
- If the records were different, modify the conditions in the Source tab to match your environment. Repeat steps 4-6 until you get the desired list of elements.
- If you made any modifications, click Update to save your changes.
Once you have completed these 3 steps, you are ready to start collecting your data! Go to the Collect Data page for more information.
