Trendbox reports

Trendbox reports visualize the distribution of data between groups over a specific time period.

A trendbox report is similar to a box report, but it also allows you to specify a time period for the report. When defining the report, use a descriptive title that indicates the use of the time period. Use trendbox reports when you have multiple small data sets from different sources that are related to each other. Examples include incident resolution times for different product features, or incident resolution times for different priorities.

For example, a trendbox report can show incidents per support agent. A trendbox report can show, by employee, the number of incidents and where the number each agent handles falls by median and quartile. With this information, you can compare incidents handled per employee, or you can use the information to estimate future support staffing levels.

Figure 1. Trendbox report

About trendbox reports

Each box in a trendbox report displays the following information for each group of data:

Figure 2. Box chart scale

1- Sample maximum	The highest count reached during the time frame.
2- Upper quartile	The median of the upper half of the data.
3- Median	If all the interval counts are ordered from minimum to maximum, the median represents the center most value.
4- Mean	The mean is visualized by the blue dot. It is the average of all the data points, or the sum of the counts divided by the number of intervals.
5- Lower quartile	The median of the lower half of the data.
6- Sample minimum	The lowest count reached during the time frame.

To understand how to read the box chart scale, reference the following theoretical trendbox which reports on incidents assigned to an employee per month. The employee worked the following number of incidents per month:

Table 1.

Month 1	Month 2	Month 3	Month 4	Month 5	Month 6
1 incident	3 incidents	5 incidents	2 incidents	6 incidents	5 incidents

In this example report which shows trends per month, the values are:

• Median: In the dataset 1,2,3,5,5,6, the median is 4, because it's an even dataset ((3+5)/2). If the dataset was an odd number of values, the median would be the exact center value.
• Upper quartile: When the data is split, 5,5,6 represents the set of data in the upper half. In the example, the upper quartile is 5. Because the example data set is an even number of values, the upper quartile is an exact value. If the dataset was an odd number of values, you would average the two center values.
• Maximum value: The month where the employee had the most incidents assigned, or 6 incidents in month 5.
• Mean: (1+3+5+2+6+5)/6, or 3.66.
• Lower quartile: When the data is split, 1,2,3 represents the set of values in the lower half of the data. In the example, the lower quartile is 2. Because the dataset has an even number of values, the lower quartile is an exact value. If the dataset had an odd number of values, you would average the two center numbers.
• Minimum: The month where the employee had the least number of incidents assigned, or 1 incident in this example.

Note:

When accessibility is enabled, this visualization includes a report that screen readers can interpret. For more information, see Enabling accessibility features.

Create a trendbox report

Create a trendbox report to show the distribution of values in a data set, with a specified time period.

Before you begin

Role required: itil, report_user, report_group, report_global, report_admin, or admin. To create a meaningful report, you must have the right to access the data you want to report on.

About this task

Procedure

1. Perform one of the following actions:
   • On an upgraded instance that has not been fully migrated to Platform Analytics, navigate to All > Reports > Create New.
   • On a new instance or one that has been fully migrated to Platform Analytics, navigate to All > Platform Analytics Administration > Usage and governance > Reports and select New.
2. On instances with Unified Analytics enabled, and on new Zurich instances, both Core UI reports and Platform Analytics experience data visualizations are found in the Platform Analytics library. Navigate to All > Platform Analytics > Library > Data Visualizations and select New. For more information, see Differences between Core UI and Platform Analytics dashboards.
3. On the Data tab, give the report a name that reflects the information being grouped.
4. Select the applicable source for the report.

   Option	Description
   Data source	Also called a report source, a data source is a table with filters applied to provide a single source of information for all users. For more information, see Report sources. Note: If you select a data source used by existing reports, a notification prompts you to view them.
   Table	The raw data from a table with no filters applied. When you select a table, its short description appears below the table name. For trend reporting, you can also select a remote table, which aggregates, in memory, data retrieved from an external source. Then select a Trend by field option to aggregate its data. To learn more about remote tables, see Retrieving external data using remote tables and scripts
   External import	Choose an existing imported report source, or select the Upload icon () to import a new file. See Create a Core UI report from an imported Microsoft Excel document.
   MetricBase	MetricBase enables you to collect, retain, analyze, and visualize custom time series data on the ServiceNow AI Platform. For more information, see MetricBase.

5. Select Next.
6. On the Type tab, enter Trendbox in the filter, select the report type, and click Next.

   The application shows a preliminary version of the report. To view the updated report at any time, select Run.

7. On the Configure tab, fill in the following fields and select Next.

   Table 2. Trendbox report configuration options

   Field	Description
   Group by	Group report data using the values of this field. For example, in an incident report grouped by Assignment group, all incidents that belong to Software, Service Desk, and Network are placed in separate groups. To group by fields on extended tables, see How to report on extended tables. Select the info icon () for a description of the selected field. Configured function fields appear in this list after you save the report. Note: It is not possible to group or stack reports by the Tags field, or by certain field types, such as MEDIUMTEXT. Grouping or stacking by Variables or Questions fields is not supported for reports based on database views. Label names longer than 20 characters may show or print a truncated view.
   Additional group by	Extra fields to group the report by. When you select Additional group by fields or function fields, the report includes a control at the bottom that allows you to group the report by any one of the additional fields. To group by fields on extended tables as well, see How to report on extended tables. Click the info icon () for descriptions of the selected fields Configured function fields appear in this list after you save the report. Note: You can see choices in the Additional group by list that do not appear in the main Group by list. The report does not support grouping or stacking by the extra fields you see. Unlike the main Group by choices, the Additional group by fields are not filtered. If you select an unsupported field, it has no effect. The limitations listed for the main Group by field also apply to the Additional group by field. For more information, see Add an additional group by or stack by.
   Configure function field	Configure fields based on calculation of multiple inputs including arithmetic functions. For more information, see Report on function fields. Function field results are calculated when the report is run. You can use the results for aggregations and grouping. You have to save the report before you can configure function fields. Configured function fields appear in the Group by and Additional group by lists after you save the report.
   Trend by	Table field whose values you want to show in a time sequence. Select the info icon () for a description of the selected field. Note: If you selected a remote table in the Table field, the option you select in this field aggregates the data that was retrieved from an external source and aggregated in memory. To learn more about remote tables, see Retrieving external data using remote tables and scripts.
   per	Time period to group data by. The range of available time periods depends on the calendar that you selected. Time periods range from an hour to a year. You can also specify a date. Note: If reporting per week: When the report range includes more than one calendar year, inconsistencies result when a week is split between two years. To show data values more accurately according to ISO weeks, add and enable the glide.db.aggregates.trend.use_iso_week property in the System Properties [sys_properties] table.
   Aggregation	Mathematical calculation to perform on the data. The default is Count, which shows the number of records selected. To show only unique records, select Count Distinct. Select Average, Sum, or Count Distinct, to show a list of fields from the selected Table. Select a field to Aggregate by from this list. If you group the report by a field and select an Average aggregate, you get the average of each group. If a Total value is shown, it is the average of these group averages, not of the individual field values. Select Minimum or Maximum to show the maximum or minimum value for each segment of the report. For more information on aggregation options, see Aggregation in reporting. If you choose Average,Sum, Count Distinct, Minimum, or Maximum, you may be able to aggregate on fields from extended tables. See How to report on extended tables. For information about aggregating on FX currency values, see FX Currency values in reporting.

8. Optional: Configure the sort order of the applicable fields in the report (column, row, Group by, Stack by or Trend by depending on the report type).
   Select the filter icon () and choose Add Sort.

   1. In the Sorting Order list, choose the field you want to sort on and then choose a-z or z-a for alphabetical order or reverse alphabetical order.

      The list contains all possible fields from the report's source and fields on extended, or related, tables. The only effective values, however, are the fields chosen for the current report (column, row, Group by, Stack by, or Trend by depending on the report type).

      Note:

      On fields from dot-walked (extended) tables, you can only sort on date fields.
   2. Select the sort plus icon () to configure additional sorting order conditions. (Select the sort minus icon ( ) to delete configured sorting order conditions.)
   3. Select Save.

   For fields of the type Choice list, sort order is not determined alphabetically based on Label, it is sorted based on the Value of the choice field. For multi-level pivot table and heatmap reports, sort order is determined by the sequence of the choices in the list.

   

9. Optional: To limit the information displayed in the report, select the filter icon () and specify conditions to filter the report data.
   To learn how to construct conditions, see Condition builder.

   Note:

   In aggregated and list reports, language-dependent filter conditions may return zero results on localized instances.
10. On the Style tab, fill in the fields as appropriate to configure the appearance of the report.
11. Select Save to continue editing the visualization, or Save and close to return to the Analytics Center main screen.

What to do next

• Select the Report info icon () and add a description of the report.
• Select the sharing icon () to open the Sharing menu. On this menu, you can add the report to a dashboard, export the report to PDF, publish the report to the web, and set visibility and schedules.

Related tasks

• Share a Core UI report

Trendbox report style options

Change the look of your trendbox report.

When you create or edit a report, click the Style tab for options to configure the look of your report. The options are organized under two or more of the following tabs: General, Title, Legend, and Axis. To see how the report looks with the changed settings, click Save.

Table 3. Trendbox chart style options

Field	Description
General
Custom chart size	Enable the option to specify the width and height of the report in pixels. Note: The chart size is ignored when you export the report to PDF. In PDFs, the full page width is used to show the chart.
Chart width	Width of the report in pixels. The default value is 600. This field is available when Custom chart size is selected.
Chart height	Height of the report in pixels. The default value is 450. This field appears when Custom chart size is selected.
Chart size	Chart size. This field is available when Custom chart size is cleared. Options are Small, Medium, and Large. Note: The chart size is ignored when you export the report to PDF. In PDFs, the full page width is used to show the chart.
Decimal precision	Number of decimal places to show. You can show from zero to four decimal places. Default value: 2. To change the default value, create the system property glide.chart.decimal.precision and specify the value. Note: Percentage labels do not change accordingly with the decimal precision specified.
Title
Show chart title	When the chart title is shown for the report. Never: Never show the chart title. Report only: Shows the chart title on reports. Always: Shows the chart title on reports, dashboards, and landing pages.
Chart title	The chart title has a maximum length of 40 characters. If no title is entered, the report name is used for the title. This field appears when Report only or Always is selected from the Show chart title list.
Size of the chart title	Size of the chart title in pixels. This field appears when Report only or Always is selected from the Show chart title list.
Chart title color	Color of the chart title. This field appears when Report only or Always is selected from the Show chart title list.
Custom chart title position	Check box to specify X and Y coordinates for the position of the chart title. This field appears when Report only or Always is selected from the Show chart title list.
Chart title X position	Number of pixels to adjust the chart title position right or left. By default the title appears at the center top of the chart. To move the chart title to the right, enter a positive value. To move the title to the left, enter a negative value. This field appears only when Custom chart title position is selected.
Chart title Y position	Number of pixels to adjust the chart title position up or down. By default the title appears at the center top of the chart. To move up the chart title, enter a positive value. To move the chart title down, enter a negative value. This field appears only when Custom chart title position is selected.
Title horizontal alignment	How the chart title is aligned horizontally. This field is available when the Custom chart title position option is cleared.
Title vertical alignment	How the chart title is aligned vertically. This field appears when Custom chart title position is cleared.
Axis
Y axis and X axis	Axis to configure the titles, appearance, and labels for.
Title	Title for the axis.
Title size	Size of the axis title in pixels. Default value is 12.
Title bold	Enable this option to show the axis title in a bold typeface.
Opposite	On the X axis tab, enable this option to show the X-axis title on the right side of the report instead. On the Y axis tab, enable this option to show the Y-axis title on top of the report instead of across the bottom.
Display grid	On the X axis tab, enable this option to show horizontal grid lines on the report. On the Y axis tab, enable this option to show vertical grid lines on top the report.
Grid dotted	Enable this option to show dotted grid lines instead of solid lines.
From	Specify a minimum Y-axis value to limit the amount of information in the report. If you select an aggregation field that is not of the type Number, the From and To fields are not available. Note: Depending on configured Highcharts settings, the minimum value may be rounded up or down. If you require the settings that affect this changed, contact the administrator.
To	Specify a maximum Y-axis value to limit the amount of information in the report. If you select an aggregation field that is not of the type Number, the From and To fields are not available. Note: Depending on configured Highcharts settings, the minimum value may be rounded up or down. If you require the settings that affect this changed, contact the administrator.
X axis / Y axis label size	On the X axis tab, specify the size of the labels for the rows of the report. On the Y axis tab, specify the size of the labels for the columns in the report.
Label bold	Enable this option to show the labels of the report in a bold typeface.