Value calculation for Impact Value Reports

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
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    Summary of Value calculation for Impact Value Reports

    Value calculation in Impact Value Reports helps ServiceNow customers quantify measurable business impact, often in monetary terms, by linking high-level business objectives to specific outcomes tracked through defined metrics. This enables organizations to translate operational performance data into tangible business value.

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    Tracking Progress toward Business Objectives

    Each business objective is associated with multiple measurable outcomes, which are monitored through metrics that include a baseline (reference), goal, and current quarterly values. Progress is tracked quarter to quarter to measure achievement toward objectives such as increasing automation in technology service operations.

    For example, reducing the incident volume handled by the service delivery team serves as an effective outcome to gauge automation impact, with the metric being the number of incidents closed within a specific period. Decreases in incident volume reflect reduced manual workload and increased efficiency.

    Operational Performance Metrics

    • Reference value: Actual metric value recorded during the baseline quarter.
    • Goal: Target improvement relative to the reference value.
    • Current value: Most recent metric value indicating progress toward the goal.

    Each quarter, current values are compared against the baseline to calculate overall value impact. These calculations may include additional inputs, which can be reviewed and adjusted collaboratively by your Impact squad to ensure accuracy and relevance to your operational context.

    Business Value and Reporting

    Business value focuses on monetizing outcomes and success metrics within your objectives and is delivered through the Value Report feature, available to Advanced and Total Impact customers. The Value Report includes:

    • Actuals: Operational data for the metric within the selected date range.
    • Comparison: Baseline operational data for the metric within the comparison date range.
    • Actual Date Range: Typically an annual period (four quarters) for calculating business value.
    • Comparison Date Range: Baseline annual period used for reference data.

    At the end of the reporting period, your Impact squad reviews performance data and uses it to calculate the corresponding dollar value impact. Collaboration within your squad is encouraged to adjust inputs, interpret results, and address any negative deviations from baseline performance to better meet business objectives.

    You can use value calculation for measurable business impact and track value using metrics.

    Value calculation translates operational performance into measurable business impact—typically in monetary terms. Each business objective is linked to specific outcomes tracked through defined metrics. These metrics include a baseline (reference), goal, and current quarterly values.

    Tracking your progress

    Business objectives are your high-level business goals. To help measure your achievement toward that goal, each objective is connected to several measurable outcomes. The outcomes are in turn tied to metrics that record your progress from quarter to quarter.

    Measuring Progress toward Automation Goals

    If your business objective is to increase automation within your technology service operations, one way to track progress is through a lagging indicator that reflects the impact of automation efforts. An effective outcome to measure is the reduction in incident volume handled by the service delivery team. The corresponding metric is the number of incidents closed over a defined period. As automation reduces the overall number of incidents, the service delivery team experiences a decrease in manual workload—freeing up time for higher-value tasks.

    Operational performance

    Each metric has a reference (baseline), a goal, and a current value:
    Reference value
    The actual recorded value of a specific metric during the reference (baseline) quarter.
    Goal
    The target improvement is set relative to the reference value.
    Current
    The most recent value of the metric for the current reporting quarter, indicating progress toward the goal.

    Each quarter, the current metric value is compared against the reference (baseline) value. This comparison is used as an input in the calculation that determines the overall value impact. The calculation may also include additional inputs. You can collaborate with your squad to review and adjust these inputs as needed to confirm that they accurately reflect your operational context.

    Outcome of reducing incident volume worked and metric of number of incidents closed

    Date Number of incidents (per quarter) Compare to reference value
    Reference value 100,000
    Goal 80,000 20,000
    Q1 2024 110000 (10000)
    Q2 2024 90000 10000
    Q3 2024 80000 20000
    Q4 2024 75000 25000

    Business value

    Business value is focused on monetization of outcomes and success metrics in your Objectives and outcomes, and delivered via Value Report. Business value is available for Advanced and Total Impact customers only. Value Report has actuals, comparison, actual date range, and comparison date range.
    Actuals
    Operational performance data for the metric within the selected date range.
    Comparison
    Operational performance data for the metric within the defined comparison date range.
    Actual Date Range
    The annual period (typically four quarters) chosen for calculating business value.
    Comparison range
    The annual period (typically four quarters) used to obtain baseline operational performance data for business value calculation.

    At the end of the year (or your chosen reporting period), your Impact squad reviews the operational performance results. These performance metrics are used as inputs in the calculation, combined with other factors, to generate the corresponding dollar value impact. You can collaborate with your squad to adjust these input values to better reflect your current operational context.

    Occasionally, a negative value may be reported if the current performance deviates unfavorably from the baseline. In such cases, your squad assists in interpreting the results and identifying actions to help you achieve your business objectives.