Value calculation for Impact Value Reports
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Summary of Value calculation for Impact Value Reports
This feature enables ServiceNow customers to quantify measurable business impact by translating operational performance data into business value, often expressed in monetary terms. It supports tracking progress toward business objectives by linking high-level goals to specific outcomes and corresponding metrics, which include baseline, goal, and current values measured quarterly.
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Tracking Progress and Metrics
Business objectives are connected to measurable outcomes, each tracked through defined metrics. For example, to measure progress in increasing automation, a useful lagging indicator is the reduction in incident volume handled by the service delivery team. Metrics such as the number of incidents closed per quarter help quantify this impact. Each metric includes:
- Reference value: The baseline metric value from a specified quarter.
- Goal: The target improvement relative to the baseline.
- Current: The most recent metric value, showing progress toward the goal.
Quarterly comparisons of current values against the baseline are used to calculate overall value impact. These calculations can be collaboratively reviewed and adjusted by your team to ensure they accurately reflect your operational context.
Business Value and Reporting
Business value represents the monetization of outcomes and success metrics and is delivered through the Value Report, available to Advanced and Total Impact customers. The Value Report includes:
- Actuals: Operational data for the metric within the selected reporting period.
- Comparison: Baseline operational data for a defined comparison period.
- Actual Date Range: The annual or quarterly period used for current business value calculation.
- Comparison Date Range: The baseline period used for comparison.
At the end of the reporting period, your Impact squad reviews these operational metrics, which feed into the business value calculation. Collaboration within the squad allows adjustment of input values to better represent the operational environment.
Note that negative business values may occasionally occur if current performance declines relative to the baseline. In these cases, your squad helps interpret the results and recommend actions to align with business objectives.
You can use value calculation for measurable business impact and track value using metrics.
Value calculation translates operational performance into measurable business impact typically in monetary terms. Each business objective is linked to specific outcomes tracked through defined metrics. These metrics include a baseline (reference), goal, and current quarterly values.
Tracking your progress
Business objectives are your high-level business goals. To help measure your achievement toward that goal, each objective is connected to several measurable outcomes. The outcomes are in turn tied to metrics that record your progress from quarter to quarter.
Measuring Progress toward Automation Goals
If your business objective is to increase automation within your technology service operations, one way to track progress is through a lagging indicator that reflects the impact of automation efforts. An effective outcome to measure is the reduction in incident volume handled by the service delivery team. The corresponding metric is the number of incidents closed over a defined period. As automation reduces the overall number of incidents, the service delivery team experiences a decrease in manual workload—freeing up time for higher-value tasks.
Operational performance
- Reference value
- The actual recorded value of a specific metric during the reference (baseline) quarter.
- Goal
- The target improvement is set relative to the reference value.
- Current
- The most recent value of the metric for the current reporting quarter, indicating progress toward the goal.
Each quarter, the current metric value is compared against the reference (baseline) value. This comparison is used as an input in the calculation that determines the overall value impact. The calculation may also include additional inputs. You can collaborate with your squad to review and adjust these inputs as needed to confirm that they accurately reflect your operational context.
Outcome of reducing incident volume worked and metric of number of incidents closed
| Date | Number of incidents (per quarter) | Compare to reference value |
|---|---|---|
| Reference value | 100,000 | |
| Goal | 80,000 | 20,000 |
| Q1 2024 | 110000 | (10000) |
| Q2 2024 | 90000 | 10000 |
| Q3 2024 | 80000 | 20000 |
| Q4 2024 | 75000 | 25000 |
Business value
- Actuals
- Operational performance data for the metric within the selected date range.
- Comparison
- Operational performance data for the metric within the defined comparison date range.
- Actual Date Range
- The annual period (typically four quarters) chosen for calculating business value.
- Comparison range
- The annual period (typically four quarters) used to obtain baseline operational performance data for business value calculation.
At the end of the year (or your chosen reporting period), your Impact squad reviews the operational performance results. These performance metrics are used as inputs in the calculation, combined with other factors, to generate the corresponding dollar value impact. You can collaborate with your squad to adjust these input values to better reflect your current operational context.
Occasionally, a negative value may be reported if the current performance deviates unfavorably from the baseline. In such cases, your squad assists in interpreting the results and identifying actions to help you achieve your business objectives.