Usage calculation of self-service experiences
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Summary of Usage calculation of self-service experiences
This content explains how ServiceNow calculates usage for self-service experiences such as Service Portals, Engagement Messenger, Community, and Web Embeddables. Usage is measured by aggregating user sessions within a monthly period to support accurate billing and usage tracking.
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Service Portals, Engagement Messenger, and Community Usage Calculation
Usage is billed based on the total number of sessions generated by unauthenticated guest users and authenticated external users (internal users are excluded). Sessions created by search engine bots are deducted.
Sessions are tracked for specific user roles:
- External roles: snesmuser, sncustomerservice.requester, sncommunities.communityuser
- Internal role: sncustomerservice.selfcontributor
- Unauthenticated role: Guest
A user session represents a continuous period of activity and ends after a default timeout of 30 minutes of inactivity (adjustable via system properties). Each new login from different devices or browsers counts as a separate session.
Usage is calculated per session, per day, and per experience. The Customer Portal Usage dashboard provides visibility into these metrics and can be accessed via All > Customer Service > Administration > Portal Usage.
Session Calculation Examples
- Multiple logins and logouts within the same day count as separate billable sessions except logout actions themselves do not increment counts.
- Sessions continuing past midnight are counted as continuing sessions without additional increments.
Web Embeddables Sessions Usage Calculation
Web Embeddables usage is similarly billed based on sessions generated by external users (with roles snesmuser or sncustomerservice.requester) and unauthenticated users (Guest and sncvisitor roles).
Sessions are tracked per session, per day, and per module. Each new session starts on the first call to a Web Embeddables component on a third-party website, with the same default 30-minute timeout applied.
The Web Embeddables usage dashboard is accessible at the same navigation path as other portals (All > Customer Service > Administration > Portal Usage).
Session Calculation Examples for Web Embeddables
- Visits as a guest and authenticated logins each start billable sessions; logging out does not increment sessions.
- Sessions extending past midnight continue without creating new billable increments.
Practical Implications for ServiceNow Customers
- Understanding session calculations helps in forecasting and managing usage costs for self-service experiences.
- Adjusting session timeout settings can tailor session tracking to better fit organizational usage patterns.
- Monitoring usage via the Customer Portal Usage dashboard enables proactive management of self-service channels, ensuring accurate billing and resource allocation.
Calculates usage across self-service experiences, including Service Portals, Engagement Messenger, Community, and Web Embeddables. The dashboard displays the total of aggregated sessions across all self-service experiences.
Service portals, Engagement Messenger, and Community usage calculation
Service portals, Engagement Messenger, and Community are billed for the aggregate number of sessions in a month generated by unauthenticated-guest and authenticated-external users (internal users are excluded). Total sessions in a month is the sum of guest user sessions and external user sessions after deducting search engine bot sessions.
To view the Customer Portal Usage dashboard, navigate to .
- External roles: sn_esm_user, sn_customerservice.requester, sn_communities.community_user
- Internal roles: sn_customerservice.self_contributor
- Unauthenticated roles: Guest
- Guest session: Session where the user isn't logged in
- Bot session: Separate count of sessions generated due to bots and crawlers
- External session: Session where the user is an external user, typically a customer, or consumer who is logged in
A user session times out after a specific period of inactivity.
User access to the self-service experiences is tracked as follows: per session, per day, and per experience. If the same user logs in from multiple browsers or devices, each login is counted as a separate session. Each first call of a page in an experience starts a session and, the usage metrics are calculated for the 24 hours window.
The default session timeout is 30 minutes. This setting can be adjusted using a system property. For more information about modifying the session timeout setting, see Manage user sessions.
- Site session calculation examples
- A user logs in, logs out, and then logs in again.
Table 1. Example of a site session calculation for the following user journey Step User activity Billable count incremented 1 User visits the experience as an anonymous or guest user Yes 2 User logs in Yes 3 User logs out No 4 User logs in immediately after logging out Yes A user logs in and continues the session past midnight:Table 2. Example of a site session calculation for the following user journey when they continue the session past midnight Step User activity Billable count incremented 1 User visits the experience as an anonymous or guest user Yes 2 User logs in Yes 3 User session continues past midnight Yes 4 User logs out No
Web Embeddables sessions usage calculation
Web Embeddables sessions are also billed for the aggregate number of sessions in a month generated by external users (users with sn_esm_user role or sn_customerservice.requestor) and unauthenticated guest or visitor users (snc_visitor role).
To view the dashboard, navigate to .
- External roles: sn_esm_user, sn_customerservice.requester
- Unauthenticated roles: Guest and snc_visitor
- Web Embeddables authenticated external session: Session where the user is logged in and role is sn_esm_user role or sn_customerservice.requestor accessing through an embeddable component.
- Web Embeddables guest session: Session where the user is not logged in or is OTP verified to access the submitted requests.
User access to the Web Embeddables component is tracked as follows: per session, per day, and per module. If the same user logs in from multiple browsers or devices, each login is counted as a separate session. Each first call of a Web Embeddables component starts a session, and the usage metrics are calculated for the 24 hours window.
The default session timeout is 30 minutes. This setting can be adjusted using a system property. For more information about modifying the session timeout setting, see Manage user sessions.
- Site session calculation examples
- A user logs in, logs out, and then logs in again.
Table 3. Example of a site session calculation for the user journey below Step User activity Billable count incremented 1 User visits the Web Embeddables as an anonymous or guest user Yes 2 User logs in Yes 3 User logs out No 4 User logs in immediately after logging out Yes A user logs in and continues the session past midnight:Table 4. Example of a site session calculation for the user journey below when they continue the session past midnight Step User activity Billable count incremented 1 User visits the Web Embeddables as an anonymous or guest user Yes 2 User logs in Yes 3 User session continues past midnight Yes 4 User logs out No