Performance Analytics - Are there any more detailed guides available?

[JeffLean]

I've been trying to understand how to use Performance Analytics for a few weeks now and I'm struggling to get it working. Are there any decent guides beyond the ServiceNow documentation that would explain how to set create a dashboard with a range of PA widgets?

I can understand how to put a widget together, but it's the underlying data elements that are causing me trouble. It feels like there is a long line of dependencies with a load of constraints about how they should be employed. Indicators > indicator sources > breakdowns > breakdown sources > historical and scheduled data collection jobs.

The whole platform just feels like layer upon layer of abstraction. I've worked through the free courses on PA but they haven't explained much beyond the creation of widgets.

[AndersBGS]

Hi @JeffLean ,

I would in general always recommend the official training material provided by ServiceNow, to get the right foundation knowledge. https://nowlearning.servicenow.com/lxp/en/pages/now-learning-get-certified?id=amap_detail&summary_id...

If my answer has helped with your question, please mark my answer as accepted solution and give a thumb up.

Best regards 
Anders

[jeffrubinoff · Accepted solution]

What Anders said. I write the documentation for this, and I wouldn't expect anyone to start from 0 and be able to develop Performance Analytics solutions in 2 weeks based on the doc! There are basically two different forms of expertise in Performance Analytics: business analytics expertise, to understand what KPIs are needed; and technical knowledge of the platform in general and PA specifically, to have an efficient set of collection jobs gathering data for sources that populate indicators.
You seem to already have the basic idea down--yes, it is a Russian doll of abstractions!--but have you taken the Performance Analytics Essentials training? It's free, and it's in the list of trainings at https://nowlearning.servicenow.com/lxp/en/pages/lxp-search?id=search&q=performance%20analytics&spa=1. If you want to go on and be able to fill the pa_power_user or pa_admin role, get your employer to pay for PA Fundamentals and PA Advanced training.
I would also add, and this is very important, that the various business units of ServiceNow already provide a slew of prepackaged Performance Analytics Solutions for their products/applications, and these provide a good starting point for a great many use cases.