Report permission issues
Summarize
Summary of Report Permission Issues
This content addresses common permission issues that may prevent users from accessing reports in ServiceNow. Understanding these issues is essential for ensuring that users can view the data they need for effective decision-making.
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Key Features
- Report Sharing: Newly created reports are not shared by default, making them accessible only to the creator or users with admin roles. Reports can be shared with individuals, groups, or roles to grant access.
- Row Visibility in List Reports: Users may see different numbers of rows in a list report due to read access control lists (ACLs) that filter data based on permissions.
- Data Integrity in Non-List Reports: Graphical reports may show incomplete data due to Before Query business rules that limit what records are included based on user permissions.
Key Outcomes
By addressing these permission issues, ServiceNow customers can ensure that users have the appropriate access to reports. Administrators can share reports to enhance visibility and correct discrepancies in data presentation based on user permissions. This fosters better collaboration and data-driven decision-making across teams.
There are several reasons why a report is showing less information than expected or possibly no data at all. These include insufficient permissions on the report and the report not being shared.
Report not shared
A common reason that a report may not be viewable is that the report hasn’t been shared with the users who are attempting to access it. By default, a newly created report won’t be shared and therefore inaccessible to anyone except the report creator or users with the admin role. A report can be shared with an individual user, with one or more groups, or assigned to one or more roles.
Unshared reports don’t appear in lists of reports a user has access to or in other options in which a report might be opened or selected. When users are able to see a dashboard the report has been added to, but not the report itself, a message indicates that the "Report is visible only to a specific user or group".
To correct this issue, the owner of the report (or an administrator) can share that report with the individuals who should have visibility and access to that report. You can share a report directly from the report's sharing icon. For more information, see Share a report.
List reports show fewer rows than expected
Another common issue is that fewer rows appear in list reports than the viewer expects. For example, one user sees 100 rows in a list report, but another user, viewing that same report may see fewer rows or even no rows at all. When one or more rows have been removed from the report, a message indicates the number rows removed due to security constraints.
The usual cause is that each row of a list report is first compared against any read access control lists (ACLs) defined on the report's source tables.
The ACL is considered for each list row that might be displayed in a report. For more information, see Report_view access control.
Non-list reports show incomplete data
Graphical reports (defined as any non-list type report) may show an incomplete set of data for one user, as compared to another user reviewing that same report.
This issue is caused by the fact that Before Query business rules are performed on the data from the source table before a report is generated and rendered. Business rules, found on a report's source tables, limit the data based on permissions or similar criteria. Any records that don’t fulfill the rule's criteria aren’t included in the report. Therefore, users with differing permission levels (due to group or role permissions mainly) see the same report showing different results. For more information, see Before Query business rules.