Types of metric definitions
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Summary of Types of Metric Definitions
The GRC: Metrics application in ServiceNow allows metrics managers to define metric templates called metric definitions. These definitions establish the core properties such as unit, direction, nature, precision, and category, which guide how metric data is collected and processed. There are three main types of metric definitions designed to accommodate different data collection methods: automated, manual, and calculated.
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Automated Metric Definition
Automated metric definitions collect data automatically based on predefined conditions including source tables, scripts, and filtering criteria. Metrics managers can configure data collection frequency, approval workflows, and supporting data collection. When enabled, metric data tasks are generated and assigned to data owners who receive email notifications. Data owners can verify and override data before submitting it for approval. Note that for methods labeled "External" or "Scripted," supporting data collection is not available.
Manual Metric Definition
Manual metric definitions rely on data owners to input metric data following manager-provided instructions. Managers set the metric properties, instructions, schedule, data owner roles, and approval details. Metric data tasks are created based on the schedule and assigned to data owners, who are notified via email and can submit data using the Metrics tasks module. Manual definitions support both quantitative and qualitative metrics and can be converted to automated definitions and vice versa, provided all open tasks are closed before conversion. The due dates for tasks follow a default schedule but can be customized by ESG administrators.
Calculated Metric Definition
Calculated metric definitions aggregate scores from child metrics, which can be automated, manual, or other calculated metrics sharing the same frequency. Managers specify the calculation method and frequency. Activating or deactivating a calculated metric affects all associated child metrics. The rollup property defines the formula and schedule for aggregating child metric scores.
Applying Metric Definitions to Entities
Metric definitions are reusable templates that can be applied across different organizational entities to simplify metric management. For instance, a single metric definition for greenhouse gas emissions can be applied to multiple entities, avoiding the need to create separate metrics for each. Automated metrics such as “purchased goods” can be assigned to specific entities like Products and IT, while manual metrics such as “Employee Travel” can apply broadly at the enterprise level.
A metrics manager defines the metrics by creating a metric definition. A metric definition is a template-level record. In the metric definition, you set the core properties of the metric, such as unit, direction, nature, precision, and category. The metrics collect the scores, and these scores get rolled up into the metric definition.
- Automated metric definition: Data is collected automatically.
- Manual metric definition: Data is collected manually.
- Calculated metric definition: Data is collected by aggregating scores from other child metrics.
Automated metric definition
In automated metric definitions, the data is collected automatically based on the conditions defined in the metric definition, such as metric properties, method, and schedule. For the method, the metrics manager specifies the source table or the script that is used for collecting the metric data and the filtering criteria to filter the metric data.
Manual metric definition
In manual metric definitions, the mode of data collection is manual. The data owner for a particular metric provides the metric data by going through the instructions. As the metrics manager, you have to define the metric properties, method, and schedule for the metric definition. In the method, specify the instructions for the metric definition as the metrics manager. Also, specify the data collection details such as data owner type, data owner, and approval details.
In a manual metric definition, a metric data task is generated depending upon the frequency defined in the metric definition. As a metrics manager, you can assign the task to a data owner who provides the data for the task. See Create a manual metric definition for more information. When a metric data task is created, a system-generated email notification is sent to the task owner. As a metric data owner, you can provide the data for
multiple metrics using the Metrics tasks module (
). For more information, refer to Provide data for multiple metrics.
Each metric data task has a due date defined in the manual metric definition form. By default, the due date follows the schedule of 8-5. However, an ESG administrator can also modify the schedule. For more information, refer to Create a new schedule. If the ESG administrator wants to overwrite the schedule, then the ESG administrator can modify the sn_grc_metric.metric_data_task_schedule property.
Both quantitative and qualitative category of metrics can be created using the manual metric definition.
It’s possible to convert a manual metric definition to an automated metric definition and an automated metric definition to a manual metric definition. In the event that a manual metric definition has open tasks, it’s necessary to first close them prior to converting the manual metric definition.
When a manual metric definition is executed, the first metric data is created and then metric data task is created. This task is then referred to the metric data.
Calculated metric definition
A calculated metric definition calculates the scores from its children. It can include the automated and manual metric definitions, metrics (quantitative), and other calculated metric definitions of identical frequency. As the metrics manager, you have to specify how you want to calculate the metric definitions score and how frequently you want to calculate them. Deactivating or activating a calculated metric definition automatically deactivates or activates all its associated metrics.
The calculated metric definition rolls up the scores from its children. The rollup property defined in the calculated metric definition consists of a rollup formula and schedule for the rollup frequency. A calculated metric definition can include those automated and manual metric definitions, and metrics as its children, which are of the same frequency as that of the parent calculated metric definition. See Create a calculated metric definition for more information.
Applying the metric definition to the entities
You can apply the metric definitions to the entities in your organization. Instead of defining the metric for each entity, you can define the metric definition once and then apply that metric definition to your entities.
For example, assume that you want to measure the greenhouse gas emissions for the entities in your organization. Defining the metric for each entity is a time-consuming process. By creating a metric definition, you can define the metric once and then apply that metric definition to your entities.
The following illustration shows how you can apply the metric data definition to an entity. If you have an automated metric definition for the purchased goods metric category, the metric can be applied to the Products entity and IT entity in your organization. If you have a manual metric definition such as Employee Travel, the metric can be applied to the Enterprise entity in your organization as the travel policy applies to everyone across the enterprise.