Last X Months - What is the intended logic?

[Geoff Fuller1]

Greetings All,

                I have a question about the definition of Last 3 Months in reporting. I often will create reports that use Resolved Date On This Year/Last Month/This Month, etc. What I found when I used Last 3 Months however, is that the data returned is the Last 3 Months AND current month.

Using 7/19/2019 as a reference point, if I run a report based on Resolved Date On Last 3 Months, I get results from April, May, June and July. The April data starts on the 1^st of April and the July data is through to the current date. My expectation would be that Last 3 Months means the last full 3 months. Of note, if you select Last Month, it only gives you June.

I have no issue working around this, but my questions are:

• OOB, what does ServiceNow truly define Last 3 Months as?
• What would others expect Last 3 Months to mean?
  • Only the last 3 full months?
  • 3 full months and current month data?
  • Something else?
• Why would Last Month and Last 3 Months not follow the same behavior.
• Do other individuals running reports see this same behavior?

My initial reaction to how this is working is that it is not correct. Thoughts?

[sachin_namjoshi]

Please see explanation below for all date/time field filters.

https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/london-platform-user-interface/page/use/common-ui-elements/concep...

It has details for last 3 months meaning also.

Regards,

Sachin

[Geoff Fuller1]

Hi Sachin,

I appreciate the response with the link. Based on the link, this is intentional, but I have to still ask "Does the logic not seem off based on the definitions provided?"

The "Last" part of these ranges is what appears to be non-logical to me.

• Last Week - Does not include current week
• Last Month - Does not include current month
• Last Year - Does not include current year
• Last 3 Months - Includes 3 full months AND current month
• Last 6 Months - Includes 6 full months AND current month
• Last x Months - Includes x full months AND current month

In my opinion, Last should be consistent on what it means. I don't know if it makes sense to leave this here or not, but I'd love to just hear more users thoughts.

Thanks

[Slawek_Radziewi]

Seems inconsistent because of wording usage. 

First 3 means actually Previous.

I think you can contact ServiceNow about changing wording here. 

[Friedrich Gehri]

I completely agree with you on this.
Having in mind my experience with the filter for "Last Month/Week/Year", I expect for sure that "Last 3/6/x Months" works the same way, thus excluding the current month.
I was completely surprised to read here, that this is working differently (for what reason?).
Also it is nice to have a documentation about this. But, although the behaviour for "Last 3/6/x Months" is described there, there is no explanation whatsoever, how "Last Month/Week/Year" works (without a number) and that it is different from the filters with a number.

At least I would expect this to be mentioned in a complete documentation - similar to what you outlined above. Also I would be courious to know, what the reasoning behind this is. Because I believe, we are not the only two users, who are confused by this.