SPM Frequently Asked Questions

[Vinitha Chukkala]

SPM Frequently Asked Questions  

Welcome to our Frequently Asked Questions guide for Strategic Portfolio Management. This FAQ is developed for our new customers starting their journey with Strategic Portfolio Management. 

What is Strategic Portfolio Management? 

ServiceNow Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM) helps define leaders to translate strategy into outcomes that drive business value. It allows organizations to prioritize and fund what matters most, build a roadmap to guide investments, communicate plans, and track progress. SPM empowers teams to plan and execute work in any method while consolidating and centralizing business demand. 

• Roadmap strategy to maximize outcomes  
• Align investments to implement strategy  
• Deliver work using any methodology 

What are the latest capabilities? 

After every release we produce two important assets to highlight the released features enhancements. 

• What’s New in SPM ...? (Example: Washington Release Blog) 
• Strategic Portfolio Management Delta Decks (Example: Washington Delta Decks ) 

Are there release notes available? 

Yes, you can find the latest release notes on ServiceNow Product Docs 

Example: 

• Washington Release Notes 
• SPM Washington Product Docs 

Does Strategic Portfolio Management require a license? 

Yes, Strategic Portfolio Management requires a license. Contact your account team to understand licensing and packing questions. 

If I have a bug or defect in Strategic Portfolio Management, what do I do? 

If you believe you have encountered a defect with SPM, log a case using the Now Support portal.

How do I learn about best practices for Strategic Portfolio Management? 

We do a monthly SPM Academy (prev. Known as Last Thursdays) - where we review the latest release of features, best practices, industry content and demos etc.  

You can sign-up for upcoming SPM Academy from LiveOnServiceNow 

Or even check are previous webinar recordings here

How can I get started on Strategic Portfolio Management? 

You can review the Quick Start Guide on Strategic Portfolio Management for more details. Also, the Products Docs for Getting Started pages for each module. 

And view the following recording: 

• Getting Started with SPM 
• How to Get Started with Strategic Portfolio Management 

Are there training & certifications available for Strategic Portfolio Management? 

Yes, we recommend viewing the SPM Training blog to learn more about the suggested trainings & certification 

Integration 

Are there integrations are available for Strategic Portfolio Management? 

Yes, ServiceNow has extensive Web services to connect ServiceNow applications to other software applications, including: 

• Client JavaScript APIs ― to control how the ServiceNow Now Platform functions and is displayed within the Web browser 
• Server-Side JavaScript APIs ― to modify and develop applications 
• REST APIs ― to access and update data on the Now Platform. 

How can I connect and have visibility on third-party APIs with Strategic Portfolio Management?

ServiceNow Integration Hub enables execution of third-party APIs as part of a flow when a specific event occurs in ServiceNow. These integrations, referred to as spokes, are easy to configure and enable users to quickly add powerful actions without the need to write a script. Users can access 175+ spokes ― application-specific sets of automation actions and sub flows ― to simplify and accelerate integrations and process automation. 

What are some integrations available specific to Strategic Portfolio Management?

Many ServiceNow solutions, such as Strategic Portfolio Management, have product-specific integrations, such as import/export between Microsoft Project and ServiceNow, and bidirectional synchronization of records between ServiceNow Agile Development and Atlassian Jira and Azure DevOps. 

In addition, RPA Hub can emulate user actions and eliminate mundane and repetitive human activities on systems with an API. 

You can review the integrations offered in the Washington DC release from the SPM Product Docs 

Implementation Questions 

How do I start my SPM implementation journey? 

For a comprehensive implementation process framework that is proven to scale to the largest, most complex global deployments, check out our Process Guides, Scoping Guides, Success Packs and Implementation Sequence on Now Create. Success Packs tailor our core Now Create methodology, consisting of more than 700 leading practices, to deliver business outcomes aligned with specific product sets.  

Explore the recommended Strategic Portfolio Management Implementation Guide 

Also check our consolidated resources from Now Create: 

• SPM Process Guide 
• SPM Process Workshops  
• SPM Scoping Guide 
• SPM Product Architectures 

Reporting Questions 

Are there any reporting capabilities for Strategic Portfolio Management? 

Yes, ServiceNow Reporting, Dashboard and Performance Analytics (PA) visualizations empower administrators and other stakeholders with real-time data to address statuses and correctly evaluate trends. Visualizations are available on both the Web and mobile. Natural Language Query can be used to create reports. 

PA content packs contain initial best practice KPIs and dashboards to get started quickly. Analytics Hub provides an exploratory view of KPIs for more detailed analysis, allowing users to see trends, predictions, breakdowns and associated records for a specific indicator. 

What type of reporting capabilities are offered for Strategic Portfolio Management? 

• The SPM Benchmarks application provides insight into KPI performance against industry averages of peers. 
• The Export to PowerPoint for SPM add-in helps generate and download project status reports from an instance as a Microsoft PowerPoint file to share across stakeholders or teams for collaboration, even if they don’t have access to an instance. 
• PA on external data sources enables users to perform detailed analysis on data that is not in their ServiceNow instance.   
• Third-party business intelligence tools such as PowerBI and Tableau integrate with ServiceNow. 

You check the SPM Product Docs for details on each of the reporting capabilities offered 

📌Please subscribe to this blog for additional FAQs and updates

[tvijay_wf]

Hi Folks,

I have a basic question (don't get me wrong - I feel most of the DEVs could have the same question as well), Why SPM/ITBM is in global scope rather a separate scope like other products?

Would be helpful for any quick responses?

@Maik Skoddow - Would love to hear your thoughts.