Thresholds for metrics

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Thresholds for metrics

    Thresholds for metrics in ServiceNow are predefined values or limits used to evaluate metric performance against specific criteria or objectives. These thresholds help you quickly understand whether a metric is performing well, requires attention, or is in a critical state through color-coded indicators. You can customize these colors to align with your organization’s monitoring needs.

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    Thresholds apply exclusively to quantitative metrics and enable ESG administrators, program managers, and metrics managers to define multiple performance levels with unique colors. When metric data meets threshold conditions, the system triggers configured actions such as notifications or issue creation.

    Key Features

    • Customizable Color Indicators: Assign unique colors to different threshold levels to visually represent metric status in dashboards, lists, and record pages.
    • Threshold Condition Builder: Define precise conditions for threshold breaches, such as specific value ranges or percentage changes.
    • Two Types of Thresholds:
      • Static Thresholds: Fixed numeric values used as limits for tracking metric performance.
      • Dynamic Thresholds: Percentage-based thresholds that monitor variance compared to previous period data, enabling contextual tracking of changes over time.
    • Automated Actions: When thresholds are breached, the system can automatically trigger notifications or create issues to ensure timely responses.

    Practical Application

    For example, you can monitor pollution levels by setting thresholds where pollution above 100 units triggers a critical alert, while levels between 50 and 75 units indicate caution. Similarly, dynamic thresholds allow you to track changes like electricity consumption increases or decreases relative to prior periods, with actions initiated when defined percentage changes occur.

    Important Note: Threshold evaluations and metric status do not apply to ad hoc metric data tasks.

    In the context of metrics, thresholds refer to predetermined values or limits used to assess the performance of a metric. These thresholds are typically defined based on specific criteria or objectives and serve as reference points to determine whether the measured value or performance meets, exceeds, or falls below the desired level.

    Thresholds use color-coded indicators to signify different levels of performance or status. These colors help users quickly assess metric performance at a glance. While green traditionally signifies the metric is performing well, amber signals caution, and red signifies a critical situation, you can now customize colors for each threshold level to match your organization's monitoring requirements. ESG administrators, ESG program managers, and ESG metrics managers can define multiple threshold levels and assign unique colors to each level for precise performance monitoring. For example, you can create a threshold to monitor pollution levels. Using the condition builder, you can define when threshold breaches occur, such as when pollution values exceed 100 units or fall between 50 and 75 units. Each threshold level can be assigned a unique color to provide visual indicators in dashboards, list pages, and record pages. When pollution data meets these conditions, the system triggers configured actions. Thresholds only apply to quantitative metrics.
    Important:

    Threshold fields and metric status are not evaluated for ad hoc metric data tasks. For more information, see Ad hoc metric data task limitations.

    Types of thresholds

    The two types of threshold for a metric are static and dynamic:
    • Static: A static threshold for a metric or a metric definition refers to a fixed value used as a limit for tracking a metric.
    • Dynamic: Dynamic thresholds are specified in percentages and calculate variance based on previous period data. For example, if you track electricity consumption and the value in January 2026 is 700 kWh, you can define threshold conditions to monitor changes in subsequent periods. Using the condition builder, you can specify conditions such as "percentage change is between 5% and 10%" or "percentage change exceeds 15%." Each threshold level is assigned a unique color to provide visual indicators. When February 2026 data is collected and the percentage change from January falls within your defined conditions, the system displays the corresponding color indicator and triggers any configured actions such as sending notifications or creating issues. When the previous period value is null or zero, the system uses a configured variance base value to calculate the percentage change instead of skipping the calculation. For more information, see Metric definition setting record fields.