Self-service usage calculation
Summarize
Summary of Self-service usage calculation
Self-service usage calculations in ServiceNow allow you to monitor how users and customers interact with self-service features such as Service Portal, Engagement Messenger, Community, and Web Embeddables. These metrics help track aggregate sessions generated monthly by external and guest users, excluding internal user activity, to support accurate billing and usage insights.
Show less
Service Portals, Engagement Messenger, and Community Usage
Usage is measured by counting aggregate portal sessions each month, including sessions from unauthenticated guest users and authenticated external users with specific roles (e.g., snesmuser, sncustomerservice.requester, sncommunities.communityuser). Internal users are excluded. Sessions created by search engine bots are deducted from the count.
Sessions are defined as periods of activity that time out after 30 minutes of inactivity by default (configurable via system properties). Each session starts with the first portal page call and is tracked per session, per day, and per portal. Multiple logins from different devices or browsers by the same user are counted as separate sessions.
You can view usage data on the Customer Portal Usage dashboard located under All > Customer Service > Administration > Portal Usage.
Web Embeddables Usage
Web Embeddables sessions are similarly tracked and billed based on aggregate monthly sessions by external users with roles snesmuser or sncustomerservice.requester, as well as unauthenticated guest and visitor users (Guest and sncvisitor roles).
Sessions start with the first interaction with an embeddable component on third-party sites. Session tracking and timeout follow the same 30-minute default rule as portals, and usage is aggregated per session, per day, and per module. Multiple logins from different devices or browsers count as separate sessions.
Web Embeddables usage is also visible on the same Portal Usage dashboard mentioned above.
Key Usage Scenarios
- Repeated Logins: When a user logs out and immediately logs back in, it counts as two billable sessions if the first visit was as a guest or anonymous user.
- Sessions Crossing Midnight: A single session spanning past midnight is counted as one session for billing.
Practical Implications for ServiceNow Customers
- You can monitor and optimize self-service channel usage by reviewing aggregated session data across portals and embeddables.
- Understanding session counting rules helps anticipate billing impacts related to user behavior such as multiple logins or prolonged sessions.
- Adjusting the session timeout via system properties allows tailoring session tracking to your organization’s user patterns.
- The dashboards provide centralized visibility into customer interactions, supporting informed decisions on self-service feature adoption and capacity planning.
Service portals, Engagement Messenger, and Community usage calculation
Service portals, Engagement Messenger, and Community are billed for the aggregate number of portal sessions in a month generated by unauthenticated-guest and authenticated-external users (internal users are excluded). Total portal 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 portals is tracked as follows: per session, per day, and per portal. If the same user logs in from multiple browsers or devices, each login is counted as a separate session. Each first call of a portal page 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 a user who logs in, logs out, and then logs in again Step User activity Billable count incremented 1 User visits the portal as an anonymous or guest user Yes 2 User logs in No 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 a user who logs in and continues the session past midnight Step User activity Billable count incremented 1 User visits the portal as an anonymous or guest user Yes 2 User logs in No 3 User session continues past midnight Yes 4 User logs out No