Chart options in KPI Details
Summarize
Summary of Chart options in KPI Details
The KPI Details Chart options menu in ServiceNow enables users to customize the visualization of indicator scores. Users can show, hide, or modify various aspects of the indicator chart to better analyze performance data. These options are personalized per user for each indicator and are categorized into analysis options, time series options, and chart type options.
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Analysis options
- Targets: Show desired indicator score targets if configured.
- Thresholds: Display normal score ranges if thresholds are set.
- Forecast: Enable future score predictions based on trends when configured.
- Trend: Show linear trend lines over the selected time period; not available for indicators filtered by multiple elements.
- Comments: Display comments from the Analytics Hub or system-generated notifications (e.g., threshold breaches).
- Labels: Show main time series values (not for derived lines like targets or thresholds).
- Statistics: Activate to view a set of statistics for the indicator over the selected date range.
Note: Targets, thresholds, trends, and comments are not supported when indicator scores aggregate multiple elements.
Statistics
When enabled, KPI Details displays the following statistics for the selected date range:
- No. of scores: Number of scores in the range.
- Max: Highest score value.
- Min: Lowest score value.
- Sum: Total of all scores.
- Avg (Average): Sum divided by count; best for normally distributed data without outliers.
- Median: Midpoint score; preferable when outliers are present.
- Change: Difference between last and first score.
- Change %: Percentage difference between last and first score.
- Standard deviation: Variation of scores around the average (sample standard deviation).
Not all statistics apply to every indicator. You can exclude irrelevant statistics on the indicator record to prevent them from appearing in KPI Details or the Analytics Hub.
Time series options
These options control which measurement types the chart displays, allowing multiple to be shown simultaneously:
- Score (default)
- Change
- Change %
Chart type options
Select from various visualizations to best interpret your data:
- Line (default): Ideal for tracking changes over time.
- Spline: Suggests smooth, gradual changes.
- Area: Shows trends over time, especially useful with separate time series for breakdowns.
- Column: Useful for comparing multiple breakdown elements when displayed as separate time series.
Practical considerations for ServiceNow customers
These chart options empower you to tailor performance indicator visualizations to your specific analytical needs. By configuring targets, thresholds, forecasts, and statistical views, you gain deeper insights into your KPIs. Understanding the appropriate chart types and measurement views helps you communicate data trends effectively. Also, filtering out irrelevant statistics avoids clutter and ensures focus on meaningful data.
The KPI Details Chart options menu enables you to show, hide, or change aspects of an indicator visualization. Selected chart options persist per user for each indicator. Chart options are divided into analysis, time series, and chart type options.
Analysis options
- Targets
- Targets are the desired scores for the indicator. Select to show indicator targets on the visualization. If no targets are configured on the indicator, this option is not available.
- Thresholds
- Thresholds define a normal range of scores for an indicator. Select to show indicator thresholds on the visualization. If no thresholds are configured on the indicator, this option is not available.
- Forecast
- Forecasts enable you to forecast future scores based on existing trends. To configure forecasts, see Performance Analytics scores forecasts. If forecasts are not configured on the indicator, this chart option is not available.
- Trend
- Shows the linear trend in score values over the selected time period. Trends are not available for indicators that are filtered on multiple elements.
- Comments
- Select to show comments added to the indicator in the Analytics Hub or generated by system calculations. System calculations include notifications for breaching thresholds.
- Labels
- Labels show the main time series values of the indicator. Labels are not shown for derived time series lines such as targets and thresholds.
- Statistics
- Activate to display a set of statistics for the indicator over the selected date range. For details, see the Statistics section of this topic.
Statistics
When the Statistics chart option is activated, KPI Details shows the following statistics, across the date range that the chart shows:
- No. of scores
- The number of indicator scores in the selected time range.
- Max
- The highest, or maximum, score value in the selected time range.
- Min
- The lowest, or minimum, score value in the selected time range.
- Sum
- The sum of scores in the selected time range.
- Avg
- The average score in the selected time range, calculated by dividing the sum by the number of scores. The average is preferable to the median when you have a normal distribution of scores with no or few outliers.
- Median
- The middle number in the distribution of scores. Half the scores are higher than this number and half the scores are lower. The median is preferable to the average when the scores include one or more outliers, such as 130 in the series 2,3,3,5,7,130. If there is a large difference between the average and the median, the median is probably the more meaningful statistic.
- Change
- The difference between the last score and the first score in the selected time range.
- Change %
- The difference between the last score and the first score in the selected time range, as a percentage of the first score.
- Standard deviation
- The amount of variation from the average value among the scores in the selected time range. A low standard deviation means that the scores are close to the average. KPI Details calculates the sample standard deviation, not the population standard deviation.
Not all statistics are applicable to every indicator. On the indicator record, you can exclude those statistics that do not apply from appearing in either KPI Details or the Analytics Hub. For example, you can exclude the Change % statistic from appearing for indicators whose unit is percentage. For more information, see Advanced indicator settings.
Time series options
- Score (default)
- Change
- Change %
Chart type options
- Line (default). Useful for tracking change over time and seeing differences in indicator scores.
- Spline. Useful to suggest smooth, gradual changes.
- Area. Useful to show trends over time in related breakdowns when Display as separate time series is selected under Filters.
- Column. Useful for comparing multiple breakdown elements when Display as separate time series is selected under Filters.