K20 - LAB 1163 - Get Started with Reporting - Q&A

[anna_scheib]

This article is for questions and answers for LAB1163 - Get Started with Reporting. This lab is being presented multiple times throughout the live K20 event May 5 - 7, 2020. During the live event, post your questions in the comments of this article, and one of our lab gurus will be happy to answer it.

[Tom Dunnam]

Sorry we didn't get to you quick enough -- glad you found the Gadgets!

[stormer]

By chance are you able to filter on a tickets history?  being able to report how many times an agent has updated  tickets would be beneficial for us.

[Ketan Shah]

Where do you get the slides presented, not the lab?

[Tom Dunnam]

The on-demand presentation will be available on NowLearning after these sessions have completed.  You can access at https://nowlearning.service-now.com and search for Get Started with Reporting.

[Adam Stout]

You don't want to query sys_audit on a regular basis.  You could look at reporting on metrics for this.  I would think you would need a scripted metric that increments when a qualifying event happens.

https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/orlando-platform-administration/page/use/reporting/concept/c_Metr...

[Adam Stout]

Creating new Interactive Filters does require a Performance Analytics entitlement for the data you are using them on.

[David Giammona1]

Great to have you in the lab, Betty! Lots of good tips here to create great reporting solutions. Enjoy!

[debsatka]

Many of the users in my company do not like using Dashboards because they are so slow to load. They prefer PowerBI because even though the data may be stale it's quickly presented...they value that more than real-time data. So, my question is, how can I troubleshoot dashboards and make sure they are rendering as quickly as possible? I already ensure that there are minimal charts on the dashboard.

[Fredrik Thomsen]

Here is two things i like to check to improve performance.

One thing that could be of use is to optimize widget rendering on dashboards: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/orlando-performance-analytics-and-reporting/page/use/dashboards/t...

1. Limit number of columns in the report.
2. Remove extraneous reports in your personal dashboards.
3. Set your list limits to 100 or lower.
4. Set your filter in the report to limit rows returned.

[Aka Guglielmo]

This is a really good point.

User Experience is part of the game, even when we're talking about dashboards and reports. A slow report/dashboard is a poor experience.

With ServiceNow you can access to the usage statistics of reports. It will show you detailed info about how long it takes to load a report.

More details here: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/orlando-performance-analytics-and-reporting/page/use/reporting/re...

This is the starting point to investigate where're the bottle necks, and this will help you to drive the right adoption of this feature.

HTH!

[RJ Barmentloo]

Yes, to echo Fredrik there. There are some good tips and tricks to optimize this rendering time within Documentation and Communities.

Next to that, within every release performance is one of the main key points we are focusing on within our product development, for a single report to load or the combination of widgets on a dashboard.

[debsatka]

I noticed that you are using the new UI for reporting and that the button for switching to the classic UI is not shown. Are you taking away the classic UI view for reporting in future releases? (We are currently using New York).

[Megan C]

Is there a way to zoom in on the chart within ServiceNow?

[Viktor Schopf]

Zoom in like a drill-down? Yes, this should be possible so that you see the underlying data. Just click on the data or a piece of it. Hope that helps

[Marc Cerli]

Hello, you can switch the UI using the parameter option in the top right corner and then switch to UI15:

[Patrick78]

For Stacked and Grouped bar chart reports, is there an option to "show values" and percentages on the bars like you can in Excel? I know I can put the data table, but execs like to see the picture with a % or value.

Thanks... Lab works well for this remote format.

[Megan C]

No I just mean - make it bigger - I'm on a large screen but there is a lot of wasted real estate on the screen

[RJ Barmentloo]

Hi,

Yes we are using the new report designer guided workflow as a default. We don't expect to fully remove the classic UI (single) view in a near future release no, but do know that new capabilities will most likely only be surfaced within this new UI.

Examples of current features only in this guided workflow are the related list conditions (simple joins) within the condition builder, an improved way of dotwalking within fields and the ability to use Excel as input during your report creation (PA feature).

Hope that helps.

[Fredrik Thomsen]

You can change the width on the style section in the report designer. On a dashboard can you adjust the size the chart consumes.

[Marc Cerli]

Yes you can. This is in the configuration part of the guided setup. There are option to add labels, values etc...

[Viktor Schopf]

Right. This should be possible when it's in a dashboard, by resizing the wigdet on the dashboard. 

[Bobby Maddox]

Good Morning, 

My name is Bobby Maddox and I am an IT Operations Manager for the BAE Systems Service Desk.  My transitioned from Remedy in November.

[Aka Guglielmo]

If you mean "make it bigger", you can edit the chart size in the style section:

  

or you can make it bigger when you add it to a Dashboard; in that case the chart size can be adapted as you wish just dragging-and-dropping the border of the chart.

[Marc Cerli]

Sorry this is in the style part the option Display the data labels:

[RJ Barmentloo]

To add to my previous answer. In your example, you will, upgrading to Orlando, or Paris, still have the ability to show the URL to switch the new UI into the classic UI. 

[David Giammona1]

You can also display a data table with percentages and values in the report on the Configuration tab.

[Aka Guglielmo]

...and the percentage should be visible when you point the mouse over the individual bars/slices

[debsatka]

Are there any links/documentation you can provide for additional help on using related list conditions? I.e., when to select "greater than equal to 1" versus "less than equal to 1". When to change the number 1, etc.

[David Giammona1]

https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/orlando-platform-user-interface/page/use/using-lists-v3/task/crea...

[RJ Barmentloo]

Within Reporting we indeed use the basic platform list capability for these 'joins' / related list conditions within the condition builder of the report designer guided workflow.

Within the Advanced Reporting lab here at K20DE we are doing an exercise on them, where we are jumping a little bit deeper into the modifying of the dataset. Maybe you have the option to follow that one later this week, or when not possible, also those will be added to the Now Learning library for your own self-paced training.

[debsatka]

Thanks! I've been trying to get into the Advance Reporting lab, it filled up almost immediately. I will keep checking in case a spot opens up...or do the self-paced learning once the lab gets added to the library. 

[debsatka]

Question about adding additional datasets...when you have a report that has an additional dataset, and then select the "Display Data Table"...it does not include the data table for the dataset. Is there a way to show the data table for the dataset? 

[Let]

If I want to create a report from a catalog item which has macro with label variable. The variable is captured like a table data with multiple rows and multiple columns. For this scenario, I wonder how I can bring the table data in the report. Do you mind guiding me where to find and how to do it.

[David Giammona1]

From documentation "Note: The Display data table option is not available from the Add dataset module, but is only available from the Configure tab of the main Report Designer. If the Display data table option is selected, only the first dataset will display on the data table." https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/orlando-performance-analytics-and-reporting/page/use/reporting/ta...

[David Giammona1]

This product documentation might give you a good place to start: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/orlando-performance-analytics-and-reporting/page/use/reporting/co...

[RJ Barmentloo]

Yes. And to add to this. Basically visualizing the datasets is always directly tied to that primary dataset. Which means, on your top-level report, it will always just show the dataset of the data your build that report on. If you would go to the other dataset (through the report navigation) and would apply the dataset there, it should just show that dataset.

But indeed, unfortunately not together in a single dataset.

If you would have the need to visualize different datasets in a single table structure, I would think to maybe find the solution in merging that data together in a single view. And then build a single report on top of that dataset.

[Thomas_Davis]

Useful Links

Idea Portal - https://community.servicenow.com/community?id=ideas_list&sysparm_module_id=enhancement_requests

Community - https://community.servicenow.com/community?id=community_forum&sys_id=b5291a2ddbd897c068c1fb651f9619e...

Useful Community Articles - https://community.servicenow.com/community?id=community_article&sys_id=7d7ab9311be44010d01143f6fe4bc...

PAR Office Hours - https://community.servicenow.com/community?id=community_event&sys_id=169b4b61db682f8ca39a0b55ca9619a...

Available Training - https://community.servicenow.com/community?id=community_article&sys_id=44c3a3ecdbf43f84d82ffb2439961...

Now Learning - https://nowlearning.service-now.com/

KPI Composer - https://store.servicenow.com/sn_appstore_store.do#!/store/application/62a50aba0f800010ad8350feb6767e... 

Content Pack Documentation - https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/orlando-performance-analytics-and-reporting/page/use/dashboards/c...

[Aka Guglielmo]

A first step could be to create a list report based on the variables of the configuration item. This will make you understand how variable data can be reported:

https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/istanbul-performance-analytics-and-reporting/page/use/reporting/t...

[Aka Guglielmo]

And I would consider also to replace the macro variable with a multi-row variable set; this should be a more consistent configuration, and it should be easier to report on it:

https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/orlando-it-service-management/page/product/service-catalog-manage...

[debsatka]

Will reports that use a datasource, versus a table, render faster in a dashboard?

[Adam Stout]

The performance is the same if the conditions are the same.  However, we get a better user experience since we can name the sources and we have an easier time maintaining the reports since we only have one place to update.  This is especially useful if we have a performance improvement in the conditions in the report source since we can ensure it is applied to all reports and that we don't miss any.

[Nick Marzullo]

I am accustomed to using the Classic UI when I'm building reports. Would it be beneficial for me to learn to use the new UI - are there any features I'm missing out on?

[jessi_graves]

Hi Nick - at first I wasn't so sure about using the new UI, as I was very used to the classic.  However, I now love it - it really walks you through the whole process of building a report.  I would say give it a whirl, you can always revert to classic if you would like.

[jessi_graves]

And here's a great link that talks about both:

https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/london-performance-analytics-and-reporting/page/use/reporting/con...

[RJ Barmentloo]

Hi Nick, great question. For customers that before had access to the so-called 'classic UI' we will keep that experience to be an option for report creation. But indeed, also this new designer UI was introduced. Although it's not expected that we would fully remove the classic UI for report creation, it is indeed the case that new additions will be added to the new designer UI only. A few examples of possible features you would by now missing out on would be the improved dot-walking in the condition builder and any other field (with related fields), the simple join related list conditions as well as the Import excel feature (which is only on a Performance Analytics premium license).

Also we have added performance improvements to the new designer UI. It is also expected that for the coming release(s) some new features will come to Reporting, but will only surface within this new UI.

Hope that helps

[Nick Marzullo]

Thanks - this is very helpful. I'll give it a looky-loo

[BishopTinsly]

With the Single Count, can you set it to display different colors based off the number? Thinking something like if the system has have 50 opened it turns red.

[David Giammona1]

Yes, it is possible to set color rules for the single score report. Here's some product documentation with the steps: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/orlando-performance-analytics-and-reporting/page/use/reporting/ta...

[RJ Barmentloo]

Correct. The solution with having the single score show live data (record watcher) what was just shown, together with these color rules are very powerful on dashboards.

[LearnMoreDoMore]

The On Demand version of this K20 Lab Session is now available on Now Learning! Feel free to enroll if you want to view the lecture and demonstrations, and/or work through any of the lab exercises again. Also feel free to share it with others who could not attend the live session. 

K20 LAB1163 Get Started with Reporting