Overview of reporting and analytics for developers

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  • Updated July 31, 2025
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    Summary of Overview of reporting and analytics for developers

    ServiceNow developers often need to create reports and analytics to provide actionable insights from application data. Reporting typically involves displaying data from tables likeIncident [incident], while key performance indicators (KPIs) can track trends over time using the Performance Analytics (PA) application. ServiceNow currently offers two user interfaces for reporting and analytics: the olderCore UIand the newerPlatform Analytics.

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    Core UI Reporting vs Platform Analytics

    • Core UI: Includes the Reporting application for table-based data and PA Widgets for Performance Analytics indicators. Both can be placed on responsive dashboards. This UI is based on older Core UI technology.
    • Platform Analytics: Provides Data Visualizations that can report on data from any source, placed on Platform Analytics dashboards with filters. It uses the Next Experience UI Framework and is available to developers, but non-developers can also build visualizations without UI Builder.

    For clarity, "report" and "reporting" usually refer to Core UI Reporting, while "visualization" refers to Platform Analytics data visualizations.

    Best Practices for Building Reports and Visualizations

    • Avoid querying large tables without filters; always limit data by date range or other criteria to maintain performance.
    • Be cautious grouping by fields with many values, as this can degrade performance.
    • If encountering long loading times, add more filters to reduce data scope.
    • Schedule exports and email delivery for reports, visualizations, or dashboards that require regular distribution.

    Options for Displaying Multiple Visualizations

    ServiceNow offers several approaches to present multiple data visualizations on a single page, each suited to different technical skill levels and customization needs:

    • Platform Analytics experience only: Create visualizations and dashboards entirely within the Platform Analytics UI. This requires no developer role and is recommended as a first approach.
    • UI Builder with data visualization components: Developers can create custom pages with data visualization components and filters, offering maximum flexibility but more configuration effort.
    • Platform Analytics dashboards embedded in UI Builder: Build dashboards in Platform Analytics, then embed them in UI Builder pages using a dashboard page template. This approach balances ease of dashboard creation with partial page customization.
    • Technical dashboards in UI Builder: Use pre-built dashboards available in the dashboard library that can be shared and detailed, while customizing in UI Builder as needed.

    Most applications that you create have some level of reporting requirements. Reports should be actionable to drive change.

    "Reporting" generally refers to showing the data inside facts tables like Incident [incident]. You can also create key performance indicators (KPIs) to track changes in this data over time, through the Performance Analytics application.

    Currently the ServiceNow AI Platform® is in transition between two user interfaces for showing this information:
    • The older Core UI technology. This UI includes the Reporting application, which only shows data directly from tables, and PA Widgets, which show data from Performance Analytics indicators. Both reports and PA widgets can be placed on Core UI responsive dashboards. For more information, see Reporting, dashboards, and Performance Analytics in the Core UI.
    • The newer Platform Analytics technology. This UI includes Data Visualizations, which let you report on data from any source. These visualizations can be placed on Platform Analytics dashboards, along with Platform Analytics filters. For more information, see Platform Analytics experience.

      All Platform Analytics objects are rooted in the Next Experience UI Framework and are available to developers. However, a non-developer can still build their own objects through the Platform Analytics experience, without using UI Builder. For more information, see Platform Analytics experience.

    Note:
    Although "reporting" is a general term, this documentation usually uses "report" and "reporting" to refer to the Core UI Reporting application and "visualization" or "visualize" to refer to Platform Analytics data visualizations, for disambiguation.

    Follow these guidelines when building reports or data visualizations:

    • Creating reports or visualizations on large tables can negatively impact performance. Be sure to filter by a date range or other limiting criteria rather than showing all records on the table.
    • Grouping by fields that contain many possible values can negatively impact performance.
    • If loading a report or visualization gives a Long running transaction timer message, consider adding more data filters to reduce the load time.
    • If you need to export a report, data visualization, or dashboard on a regular basis, schedule the export and email.
    In Platform Analytics, you have several possibilities for showing multiple data visualizations on one page:
    • Create the data visualizations and the dashboards entirely inside the Platform Analytics experience. This approach does not require a developer role or special technical knowledge, and probably should be explored before you try a more complex solution.
    • Create data visualization components in a generic UI Builder page, along with filters and other components. This approach gives you the most freedom as a developer, but also requires the most configuration.
    • Create the data visualizations and the dashboards inside the Platform Analytics experience, but then place the dashboards inside UI Builder pages using the Dashboard page template. This approach lets you use the convenience and special features of the Platform Analytics experience to create dashboards, data visualizations, and filters in your own experiences/workspaces. This approach also gives you the freedom to customize the page configuration partially. For more information, see Creating Platform Analytics pages in your own workspace.
    • Create a technical dashboard and populate it inside UI Builder. This approach is almost the same as creating your own UI Builder page from scratch, but the dashboard is available in the dashboard library, has dashboard details, and can be shared like other dashboards. For more information, see Technical dashboards.