Portal usage calculation

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Portal usage calculation

    The Portal usage calculation feature enables ServiceNow customers to monitor how their customers and employees interact with the Customer Service Portal. This tracking is accessible via the Customer Portal Usage dashboard, which provides session counts reflecting portal activity. It focuses exclusively on customer service portals by tracking user roles relevant to customer service management (CSM), excluding non-CSM portals and roles.

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    Key Features

    • Dashboard Access: Navigate to All > Customer Service > Administration > Portal Usage to view portal session data.
    • Role-based Session Tracking: Sessions are tracked for specific external roles (such as snesmuser, sncustomerservice.requester, sncommunities.communityuser) and internal roles (sncustomerservice.selfcontributor).
    • Session Types: The system distinguishes between guest sessions (users not logged in), bot sessions (generated by bots and crawlers, which can be ignored), and external sessions (logged-in external users like customers).
    • Session Timeout and Counting: Sessions start when a portal page is first accessed and are calculated over rolling 24-hour windows. The default session timeout is 30 minutes of inactivity, adjustable via system properties.
    • Multiple Sessions per User: If a user logs in from different browsers or devices, each login counts as a distinct session.

    Practical Session Counting Examples

    • If a user visits the portal as a guest, it increments the session count.
    • Logging in or out does not increment session counts directly.
    • Logging in immediately after logging out starts a new session and increments the count.
    • If a user session spans past midnight, the session continues counting without increment until logout.

    Key Outcomes

    By leveraging portal usage calculations, ServiceNow customers can gain precise insights into how users engage with their Customer Service Portals, helping to optimize service delivery and resource allocation. The session tracking provides a clear, role-specific understanding of portal activity while filtering out irrelevant bot traffic. Adjusting session timeout settings allows tailoring the monitoring to specific operational needs. This data empowers customers to measure portal adoption and usage patterns accurately, supporting informed decision-making for customer service improvements.

    Portal usage enables you to track how your customers and employees are using the portal. The Customer Portal Usage dashboard provides information about portal sessions resulting in session counts.

    To view the Customer Portal Usage dashboard, navigate to All > Customer Service > Administration > Portal Usage.
    Note:
    You can ignore the bot session usage that is captured as part of this dashboard.
    Note:
    This definition tracks usage for customer service portals based on the user roles and ignores usage for non CSM portals or roles. Sessions are tracked for the following roles:
    • External roles: sn_esm_user, sn_customerservice.requester, sn_communities.community_user
    • Internal roles: sn_customerservice.self_contributor
    A user session is a period of activity on the Customer or Consumer Service Portal by any of the following session types:
    • Guest session: Session where the user isn't logged in
    • Bot session: Separate count of sessions generated due to bots and crawlers
    • External session: Session where the user is an external user, typically a customer, or consumer who is logged in
    The aggregate session count is based on the following calculations:The infographic displays the calculation for aggregate session count by subtracting guest sessions and bot sessions, and then adding external sessions..

    A user session times out after a specific period of inactivity.

    User access to the self-service portals is tracked as follows: per session, per day, and per portal. If the same user logs in from multiple browsers or devices, each login is counted as a separate session. Each first call of a portal page starts a session and, the usage metrics are calculated for the 24 hours window.

    The default session timeout is 30 minutes. This setting can be adjusted using a system property. For more information about modifying the session timeout setting, see Manage user sessions.

    Site session calculation examples

    A user logs in, logs out, and then logs in again.
    Table 1. Example of a site session calculation for a user who logs in, logs out, and then logs in again
    Step User activity Billable count incremented
    1 User visits the portal as an anonymous or guest user Yes
    2 User logs in No
    3 User logs out No
    4 User logs in immediately after logging out Yes
    A user logs in and continues the session past midnight:
    Table 2. Example of a site session calculation for a user who logs in and continues the session past midnight
    Step User activity Billable count incremented
    1 User visits the portal as an anonymous or guest user Yes
    2 User logs in No
    3 User session continues past midnight Yes
    4 User logs out No