Data types for assessments

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Data types for assessments

    This content outlines various data types available for use in ServiceNow assessment questionnaires, detailing how each type interacts with assessment metrics and user inputs. Understanding these data types helps customers design effective assessments that capture the desired information accurately and enable appropriate metric calculations.

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    Key Features

    • Attachment: Allows users to attach one or more files to a questionnaire question.
    • Checkbox: Users can select or clear a checkbox; setting the Scale definition to High marks a selected box as a positive score.
    • Choice: Users select an option from a custom list; each answer option requires a corresponding metric definition.
    • Date & Date/Time: Users select a date or both date and time values in the questionnaire.
    • Duration (Script): Uses a script to populate duration values on the Metric Result form based on script variables.
    • Likert Scale: Users choose from a custom scale of options represented as radio buttons; metric definitions correspond to each option. Metric templates can be used to reuse answer series across metrics.
    • Number & Percentage (Assessment and Script): Users enter numeric values; scripts can populate actual and scaled metric values automatically.
    • String: Users enter text input; the field size varies according to the selected string option.
    • Template: Users select from predefined answer options within a template, requiring at least one template definition with options represented by radio buttons.
    • Yes/No: Users select Yes or No; setting the Scale definition to High treats Yes as a favorable score.

    Practical Application for ServiceNow Customers

    By choosing appropriate data types for assessment questions, customers can tailor questionnaires to capture precise data formats—such as files, dates, numeric values, or predefined choices. Metric definitions linked to these data types enable meaningful evaluation and scoring of assessment results. Script-based data types allow automated calculation and population of metric results, improving efficiency.

    For reusable answer options, metric templates simplify management and consistency across multiple metrics. Setting scale definitions correctly ensures that scoring aligns with the desired assessment logic (e.g., marking 'Yes' or checked boxes as positive).

    Related Tasks

    • Create and configure assessment metric definitions for each answer option.
    • Update metric minimum and maximum values to align with templates for consistent scoring.

    Metric data types have functions that depend on the method that you select.

    Table 1. Assessment data types
    Data type Compatible methods Description
    Attachment Assessment

    On questionnaires, users attach one or more files to a question.
    Checkbox Assessment
    On questionnaires, users select a check box next to a statement or leave it cleared.
    Figure 1. Check box
    Check box

    Set the Scale definition field to High if a selected check box equates to a good score.
    Choice Assessment On questionnaires, users select a value from a list of custom answer options. Create a metric definition for each answer option.
    Figure 2. Choice
    Choice
    Date Assessment On questionnaires, users select a date.
    Figure 3. Date
    Date
    Date/Time Assessment On questionnaires, users select a date and time.
    Figure 4. Date/Time
    Date/Time
    Duration Script When the script runs, the system populates the Duration value and Scaled value fields on the Metric Result form with the appropriate values from the actual_result and scaled_result variables in the metric script.
    Likert Scale Assessment On questionnaires, users select a value from a custom scale of answer options. Create a metric definition for each answer option, which is represented by a radio button on the scale. A Likert scale metric that evaluates an application's ease of use might have the metric definitions Easy, Average, and Difficult.
    If you want to reuse a series of answer options for multiple metrics, create a metric template and use the Template data type instead of the Likert Scale data type.
    Figure 5. Likert Scale
    Likert Scale
    Number Assessment, Script Assessment: On questionnaires, users enter a number.
    Figure 6. Number
    Number

    Script: When the script runs, the system populates the Actual value and Scaled value fields on the Metric Result form with the appropriate values from the actual_result and scaled_result variables in the metric script.
    Percentage Assessment, Script
    Assessment On questionnaires, users enter a number.
    Figure 7. Percentage
    Percentage

    Script When the script runs, the system populates the Actual value and Scaled value fields on the Metric Result form with the appropriate values from the actual_result and scaled_result variables in the metric script.
    String Assessment
    On questionnaires, users enter text. The size of the string field depends on the String option you select:
    Figure 8. String
    String
    Figure 9. String single line wide data type
    String single line wide data type
    Figure 10. Additional comments
    Additional comments
    Template Assessment On questionnaires, users select a value from a predefined series of answer options. There must be at least one template defined to use this data type. For a template, there is a template definition for each answer option, which is represented by a radio button.
    Yes/No Assessment

    On questionnaires, users select Yes or No from a list.

    Figure 11. Yes/No
    Yes/No

    Set the Scale definition field to High if selecting Yes equates to a better score.