Performance Analytics for ServiceNow

Performance Analytics (PA) provides advanced reporting and KPI tracking capabilities for measuring and improving business processes.

PA Architecture

Component Hierarchy

PA Dashboard ├── Widgets │ ├── Scorecard Widget │ ├── Time Series Chart │ ├── Breakdown Pie Chart │ └── Single Score ├── Indicators │ ├── Number of Open Incidents │ ├── Average Resolution Time │ └── SLA Compliance Rate ├── Breakdowns │ ├── By Priority │ ├── By Assignment Group │ └── By Category └── Thresholds ├── Critical: > 100 └── Warning: > 50

Key Tables

Table Purpose

pa_indicators

KPI definitions

pa_indicator_breakdowns

Indicator-breakdown links

pa_breakdowns

Breakdown definitions

pa_thresholds

Threshold rules

pa_widgets

Dashboard widgets

pa_dashboards

Dashboard containers

Indicators

Indicator Types

Type Aggregation Example

Count COUNT(*) Number of incidents

Sum SUM(field) Total cost

Average AVG(field) Avg resolution time

Percentage (A/B)*100 SLA compliance %

Duration Time calculation Avg time to resolve

Creating Count Indicator (ES5)

// Create "Open Incidents" indicator var indicator = new GlideRecord("pa_indicators") indicator.initialize() indicator.setValue("name", "Open Incidents") indicator.setValue("description", "Number of currently open incidents")

// Source configuration indicator.setValue("cube", "pa_cubes_incident") // or table-based indicator.setValue("facts_table", "incident") indicator.setValue("conditions", "active=true")

// Aggregation indicator.setValue("aggregate", "COUNT") // COUNT, SUM, AVG

// Display settings indicator.setValue("direction", 2) // 1=Up is good, 2=Down is good indicator.setValue("unit", "Incidents") indicator.setValue("precision", 0) // Decimal places

// Scoring indicator.setValue("frequency", "daily")

indicator.insert()

Creating Average Indicator (ES5)

// Create "Average Resolution Time" indicator var indicator = new GlideRecord("pa_indicators") indicator.initialize() indicator.setValue("name", "Avg Resolution Time") indicator.setValue("description", "Average time to resolve incidents")

indicator.setValue("facts_table", "incident") indicator.setValue("conditions", "state=6") // Resolved

// Aggregation on duration indicator.setValue("aggregate", "AVG") indicator.setValue("field", "calendar_duration") // Duration field

// Time unit indicator.setValue("unit", "Hours") indicator.setValue("unit_conversion", 3600) // Seconds to hours

indicator.setValue("direction", 2) // Lower is better indicator.setValue("frequency", "daily")

indicator.insert()

Creating Percentage Indicator (ES5)

// Create "SLA Compliance" percentage indicator var indicator = new GlideRecord("pa_indicators") indicator.initialize() indicator.setValue("name", "SLA Compliance Rate") indicator.setValue("description", "Percentage of incidents meeting SLA")

indicator.setValue("facts_table", "task_sla") indicator.setValue("conditions", "task.sys_class_name=incident")

// Formula-based percentage indicator.setValue("aggregate", "FORMULA") indicator.setValue("formula", "(COUNT(has_breached=false) / COUNT(*)) * 100")

indicator.setValue("unit", "%") indicator.setValue("direction", 1) // Higher is better indicator.setValue("precision", 1)

indicator.insert()

Breakdowns

Common Breakdowns

Breakdown Field Use Case

Priority priority Incidents by P1/P2/P3

Category category Incidents by type

Group assignment_group Team performance

Location location Geographic analysis

Time opened_at Trend analysis

Creating Breakdown (ES5)

// Create "Priority" breakdown var breakdown = new GlideRecord("pa_breakdowns") breakdown.initialize() breakdown.setValue("name", "Priority") breakdown.setValue("description", "Breakdown by incident priority")

breakdown.setValue("facts_table", "incident") breakdown.setValue("dimension_field", "priority")

// Sorting breakdown.setValue("sort_field", "priority") breakdown.setValue("sort_order", "ASC")

// Element mapping (optional) breakdown.setValue("use_element_mapping", true)

breakdown.insert()

Linking Breakdown to Indicator (ES5)

// Link breakdown to indicator var link = new GlideRecord("pa_indicator_breakdowns") link.initialize() link.setValue("indicator", indicatorSysId) link.setValue("breakdown", breakdownSysId) link.setValue("active", true) link.insert()

Thresholds

Creating Thresholds (ES5)

// Create threshold for Open Incidents var threshold = new GlideRecord("pa_thresholds") threshold.initialize() threshold.setValue("indicator", indicatorSysId) threshold.setValue("name", "Critical Level")

// Threshold conditions threshold.setValue("operator", ">=") // >=, <=, =, >, < threshold.setValue("value", 100)

// Visual styling threshold.setValue("color", "red") threshold.setValue("icon", "exclamation-circle")

// Notification threshold.setValue("notification_user", adminSysId) threshold.setValue("notification_script", thresholdScript)

threshold.insert()

// Add warning threshold var warning = new GlideRecord("pa_thresholds") warning.initialize() warning.setValue("indicator", indicatorSysId) warning.setValue("name", "Warning Level") warning.setValue("operator", ">=") warning.setValue("value", 50) warning.setValue("color", "orange") warning.insert()

Widgets

Widget Types

Type Use Case Shows

Single Score Current value "127 Open Incidents"

Scorecard Value + trend Current + sparkline

Time Series Trend over time Line/bar chart

Breakdown By dimension Pie/bar chart

Comparison Multiple indicators Side-by-side

Creating Widget (ES5)

// Create scorecard widget var widget = new GlideRecord("pa_widgets") widget.initialize() widget.setValue("name", "Open Incidents Scorecard") widget.setValue("type", "scorecard")

// Indicator widget.setValue("indicator", indicatorSysId)

// Time range widget.setValue("time_range", "last_30_days") widget.setValue("show_trend", true) widget.setValue("compare_to", "previous_period")

// Display widget.setValue("show_breakdown", true) widget.setValue("breakdown", priorityBreakdownSysId) widget.setValue("chart_type", "bar")

widget.insert()

Dashboards

Creating Dashboard (ES5)

// Create PA Dashboard var dashboard = new GlideRecord("pa_dashboards") dashboard.initialize() dashboard.setValue("name", "Incident Management Dashboard") dashboard.setValue("description", "Key metrics for incident management")

// Layout dashboard.setValue("layout", "2-column")

// Access control dashboard.setValue("public", true) dashboard.setValue("owner", gs.getUserID())

var dashboardSysId = dashboard.insert()

// Add widgets to dashboard function addWidgetToDashboard(dashboardId, widgetId, row, column) { var placement = new GlideRecord("pa_dashboard_widgets") placement.initialize() placement.setValue("dashboard", dashboardId) placement.setValue("widget", widgetId) placement.setValue("row", row) placement.setValue("column", column) placement.insert() }

addWidgetToDashboard(dashboardSysId, openIncWidget, 0, 0) addWidgetToDashboard(dashboardSysId, avgTimeWidget, 0, 1) addWidgetToDashboard(dashboardSysId, slaWidget, 1, 0)

Data Collection

Manual Score Collection (ES5)

// Collect scores for an indicator var job = new PAScoreCollector() job.collectIndicatorScores(indicatorSysId)

Scheduled Collection

// PA uses scheduled jobs for data collection // Default: Daily at midnight // Configure via: Performance Analytics > Data Collection > Jobs

MCP Tool Integration

Available PA Tools

Tool Purpose

snow_create_pa_indicator

Create indicator

snow_create_pa_breakdown

Create breakdown

snow_create_pa_threshold

Create threshold

snow_create_pa_widget

Create widget

snow_get_pa_scores

Retrieve scores

snow_collect_pa_data

Trigger collection

snow_discover_pa_indicators

Find indicators

Example Workflow

// 1. Create indicator var indicatorId = await snow_create_pa_indicator({ name: "Open P1 Incidents", table: "incident", conditions: "active=true^priority=1", aggregate: "COUNT", direction: "down_is_good", })

// 2. Create breakdown var breakdownId = await snow_create_pa_breakdown({ name: "By Assignment Group", table: "incident", field: "assignment_group", })

// 3. Link breakdown await snow_create_pa_indicator_breakdown({ indicator: indicatorId, breakdown: breakdownId, })

// 4. Create threshold await snow_create_pa_threshold({ indicator: indicatorId, operator: ">=", value: 10, color: "red", })

// 5. Create widget await snow_create_pa_widget({ name: "P1 Incidents Scorecard", type: "scorecard", indicator: indicatorId, breakdown: breakdownId, })

// 6. Get current scores var scores = await snow_get_pa_scores({ indicator: indicatorId, time_range: "last_30_days", })

Best Practices

• Direction Matters - Set correctly (up/down is good)

• Meaningful Thresholds - Based on business requirements

• Consistent Frequency - Match data volatility

• Use Breakdowns - Enable drill-down analysis

• Dashboard Purpose - One focus per dashboard

• Trend Analysis - Always show comparison

• Performance - Limit active indicators

• Documentation - Clear indicator descriptions