---
sourceDocument: Australia Operational Sustainability Management (formerly Environmental, Social, and Governance)
sourceDocumentLink: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/environmental-social-governance

 Release :

    - australia

ft:locale :

    - en-US

ft:publication_title :

    - Australia Operational Sustainability Management (formerly Environmental, Social, and Governance)

ft:clusterId :

    - esgv

bundleId :

    - esgv

workflow :

    - Technology


---

# Historical data for metrics

# Historical data generation for metrics {#ariaid-title1}

Release version: Australia  
Updated September 30, 2026  
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## Summary of Historical data generation for metrics

Historical data generation for metrics in ServiceNow enables you to create metric definition data, metric data, and metric data tasks for past periods based on a specified historical start date.
This process is essential to backfill metric data for periods prior to today, ensuring comprehensive metric analysis and reporting.
If the metric is part of an active, published campaign, related campaign cycles are also created for those past periods.
Show full answer Show less  

## How Historical Data Generation Works

* Records are generated for each historical period at the metric's frequency, starting from the historical start date up to the last completed period.
* Current and future periods are excluded and continue to be generated as usual.
* Metric definition data is created for each historical period.
* Historical data is generated only when metric data is created (via scheduled jobs or execution commands), not simply by saving metric definitions.
* The **Create historical data** option is automatically cleared after generation to prevent duplication in future runs.

## Types of Records Created

* **Manual metrics:** Generate metric data and a metric data task.
* **Automated metrics that create tasks:** Generate metric data and a metric data task when task creation is enabled or when linked to a campaign.
* **Automated metrics without task creation:** Generate only metric data with a completed calculated value.

Initial states of generated records vary by metric type, typically starting as Pending or New and progressing accordingly.

## Handling Existing Historical Records

Historical data generation avoids duplicating records for periods already processed. Only missing periods between the historical start date and the most recent completed period will have records generated.

## Historical Data Generation for Campaign Metrics

* One metric data task is created per past period and added to the corresponding campaign cycle.
* If a campaign cycle exists for a period, the task is added to it; no duplicate cycles are created.
* If no campaign cycle exists, one is created even if the period predates the campaign's first run date.
* Periods with existing metric data tasks are skipped to prevent duplication of tasks and cycles.

## Behavior with Campaign Cycles in Approval or Closed State

The impact of adding historical tasks to campaign cycles that are already in Approval or Closed states depends on the bulk submission system property setting:

* **Bulk submission enabled:** The campaign cycle reopens to Data collection state, and all metric data tasks within that cycle revert to In Progress or Pending states, ensuring consistency.
* **Bulk submission disabled:** The campaign cycle and its metric data tasks retain their current states without reopening.

This property can be configured under **Operational Sustainability Management \> Properties**. Changes affect future processing only, not existing campaign cycles or historical data.  
Historical data generation creates metric definition data, metric data, and metric data tasks for past periods. If the metric belongs to an active, published campaign, the system also creates campaign cycles for those
periods.

To generate records for past periods, you select the Create historical data option on a metric and enter a Historical start date. The historical start date must be earlier than
today.

## How historical data generation works {#historical-data-generation-for-metrics__section_how_it_works}

Records are created for every period, at the metric's frequency, from the historical start date up to the most recent completed period. Current and future periods are skipped and continue to be generated on their regular
schedule. Metric definition data is also created for each historical period.

Saving the metric doesn't generate historical records. They're generated the next time metric data is created for the metric, in one of these ways:

* The scheduled job runs when the metric's Next run date is reached.
* You select Execute on the metric definition.  
  Note:  
  Selecting Execute on an individual metric doesn't generate historical records. It creates or updates data for the current period only.

{#historical-data-generation-for-metrics__ul_erf_r2n_5kc}  
For example, if the historical start date for a monthly metric is 1 January and its next scheduled run is in mid-April, historical records are created for January, February, and March only. April is still in progress, so its records are generated on the regular schedule.  
Note:  
After historical records are generated, the Create historical data option is cleared automatically, so that future runs don't generate them again.

The historical records created for each period depend on the metric type:

* Manual metric: Metric data and a metric data task.
* Automated metric that creates tasks: Metric data and a metric data task. An automated metric creates tasks when task creation is enabled on its metric definition or when the metric belongs to a campaign.
* Automated metric that doesn't create tasks: Metric data only, which is completed with the calculated value.

{#historical-data-generation-for-metrics__ul_records_by_type}  
The new historical records start in the following states.{#historical-data-generation-for-metrics__table_ij4_n45_skc__entry__3}

| Record | Manual metric | Automated metric |
|-|-|-|
| Metric data | Pending | Pending, or Completed when no task is created |
| Metric data task | New | In Progress |
| Campaign cycle (campaign metrics only) | Data collection | Data collection |
[Table 1. Initial states of historical records]

{#historical-data-generation-for-metrics__table_ij4_n45_skc}

If historical records already exist for a period, they aren't duplicated. For example, if the metric already has a January task from a previous run, historical records are created only for February and March.

## Historical data for a metric in a campaign {#historical-data-generation-for-metrics__section_dcb_gp5_skc}

Historical data generation creates one metric data task for each past period. If the metric belongs to an active, published campaign, each task is added to the campaign's cycle for the same period.

* When a campaign cycle already exists, the historical metric data task is added to it. For example, if the campaign already has a March cycle, the metric's March task is added to that cycle. A second March cycle isn't created.
* When a campaign cycle doesn't exist for a period, one is created, even if the period is before the campaign's first run date. For example, if the campaign's first run date is in March, then January and February cycles are created for the metric's January and February tasks.

{#historical-data-generation-for-metrics__ul_cycle_cases}

If the metric already has a metric data task for a past period, that period is skipped, so no campaign cycle is created for it. For example, if a metric already has a March task, the historical run skips March for this
metric. No task is created, and no cycle is created or linked.

## Historical data in campaign cycles that are already closed {#historical-data-generation-for-metrics__section_late_addition}

A historical metric data task might be added to a campaign cycle that's already in the Approval or Closed state. In such cases, the outcome depends on whether bulk actions are enabled by the bulk submission system property.  
Note:  
To change this property, navigate to AllOperational Sustainability ManagementProperties. Changing the property doesn't affect campaign cycles that were already processed or historical data that was already created.

When bulk submission is enabled
:   All metric data tasks in a cycle must be in the same state, so the cycle reopens to the Data collection state. Other metric data tasks in the cycle that are in the Awaiting Approval, Closed, or Estimated state move
    to In Progress, and their metric data moves to Pending.

When bulk submission is disabled
:   The cycle keeps its current state. Other metric data tasks in the cycle also keep their current state.

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