Customize Service Observability dashboard templates

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Customize Service Observability dashboard templates

    ServiceNow enables you to customize Service Observability dashboards found on the Overview and Observability tabs of the Service Details page. These dashboards are constructed from templates tailored for each Application Performance Monitor (APM) vendor and entity tab, using Platform Analytics. Customizing these templates allows you to add or modify metrics and data to better align with your business requirements.

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    Key Features

    • APM Vendor-Specific Templates: Templates exist for various APM vendors such as Amazon CloudWatch, AppDynamics, Azure Monitor, Datadog, Dynatrace, New Relic, Prometheus, SolarWinds, and Splunk. Each template has a default set of displayed metrics, which can be customized.
    • Template-Level Customization: Changes affect the template itself, impacting dashboards for all services using the same data source. A backup copy of the original template is automatically saved to allow reversion if necessary. Default dashboards are identified by a Certified tag.
    • Multiple Data Sources: Besides APM data, you can add charts based on data from ServiceNow tables (e.g., problem and business application records), MetricBase, and Health Log Analytics applications. All data is scoped to the selected service.
    • Query Creation and Editing: When adding or editing charts, queries are built via the Platform Analytics Edit data source page. You can use the simple built-in query editor or Advanced mode to paste queries from your APM instance. Template variables enable dynamic queries applicable across multiple services and time ranges.

    Practical Application for ServiceNow Customers

    • Customize dashboards to surface specific metrics from your APM vendor that are not shown by default, enhancing visibility into service performance.
    • Incorporate ServiceNow operational data, such as problem records and business application status, directly into observability dashboards for a comprehensive service health view.
    • Leverage MetricBase and Health Log Analytics data within the dashboards to correlate metrics and logs, improving troubleshooting and analysis.
    • Maintain consistency across services by customizing templates rather than individual dashboards, ensuring uniformity and easier maintenance.

    You can customize the Service Observability dashboards on both the Overview and Observability tabs of the Service Details page. You can change or add metrics and related data to fit your business needs.

    Service Observability dashboards are built using templates specific for each Application Performance Monitor (APM) vendor and entity tab. They're built using Platform Analytics, letting you customize templates to meet your business needs. For example, you might want to display metrics from your APM vendor that aren't available by default.

    The Service Observability dashboards use APM-specific templates. You can see what each template displays by default from its respective reference topic.

    Note:
    When you make a customization, you're changing the template and not the individual service's dashboard. This means that dashboards for any services that also use the same data source are also changed.

    Along with APM data, you can also add charts for data from ServiceNow tables and also from data stored in the MetricBase and Health Log Analytics applications.

    When you customize a template, a copy of the original is saved so that you can reimplement it if needed. Default dashboards display a Certified tag.

    Creating APM queries for a chart

    When you edit or add a chart on a dashboard, you use the Edit data source page of Platform Analytics to create a query. You use the built-in query editor for simple metric queries and the Advanced mode to paste a query copied from a chart in your APM vendor instance.

    Service Observability dashboards are scoped to the service currently displayed in the Service Details page. If you want to use a single query for multiple services and entities and any time range, you can replace hard-coded values with Service Observability template variables.

    Add ServiceNow Tables

    You can include data from ServiceNow problem records and business application records to dashboards and the data is scoped to the selected service.

    Add MetricBase data charts

    You can add charts based on data stored in the MetricBase application. The data is scoped to the selected service.

    Add Health Log Analytics data charts

    You can add charts based on data stored in the Health Log Analytics application. The data is scoped to the selected service.