This video guides you through using dashboards and creating reports to share valuable information about your applications.
Linked time codes for these topics appear in the YouTube description for this video.
Responsive dashboards in the content frame let users share widgets like reports and Performance Analytics visualizations.
This dashboard is shared among users with the ITIL role.
We can create our own dashboards…
…And view dashboards that other people have shared with us.
If we have editing privileges for a dashboard, like we do here...
... we can add reports and other widgets with live data, so other people sharing the dashboard can see them.
You can create reports right from a list.
Just right-click a column label to generate bar chart and pie chart reports, like we’ve done here.
Report data is grouped by the column you clicked.
If the list was filtered, the report only includes the filtered data.
You can also leverage existing reports.
Here, we’re logged in as Beth Anglin.
To view the reports shared with Beth….
…first, go to the Reports application, and then click View/Run.
From the reports list, we see reports created by the logged in user.
In this case, Beth hasn’t created any reports yet.
You can also see reports that are shared by specific groups or users…
…reports that are shared as global…
…and all reports that the logged-in user can see.
You can open and run any of the reports in the list.
Now, let’s create a bar chart report of open Incidents based on Priority.
To create a new report, we can click the Create New module…
… or click Create a report.
You can also create a report from other places in your instance...
... like when creating a widget from your dashboard.
For this example, we’ll create a report from the Report module.
First, we’ll give the report a name.
This is a mandatory field.
It’s important to use a name that’s logical and clear.
We’ll call our report Incident Priority.
Next, we select a Source Type.
You can create a report from a data source or a table.
Here’s the difference.
When you’re using a table, you need to provide all the conditions to select report data from the table...
... even if many of the conditions are the same from one report to another.
But a report source defines a standard set of conditions for querying a particular table...
... which can be re-used in other reports.
Note that in the Report Designer, Report Sources are called Data Sources.
So, to use an existing set of conditions, we select Data source as the source type….
…And then select the data source for open Incidents.
If there’s already a report based on that data source, a message is displayed.
Click the link to review the list.
It’s a good idea to check because the report you’re creating might already exist.
But this time an existing report is not available.
So, we’ll go back to finish creating our report...
With the first three fields set, we click next, which advances us to the Type tab.
You can jump to any part of the Report Designer by clicking the tabs at the top…
…or navigate by clicking Back or Next.
Here, under the Type tab, choose the format for your report...
... bar charts...
... pie charts.
... time series...
... multidimensional, and lots more.
You can point to each type to get more information.
There’s a description of each type at the top of the section.
For our report, let’s choose a simple bar chart.…
The data is displayed in the visualization we chose, in this case, a bar chart.
…And here’s the incident data—easy!
We’ll group the data by priority.
Then we can refresh the report by clicking Next, Run, or the Refresh icon.
Now we see a visualization of all the open incidents, grouped by priority.
When we’re happy with the way the data is displayed, we go to the Style tab to change the size, colors, and other visual aspects.
There are various options available to help you customize the visualization of your report.
There’s a good selection of colors to choose from.
Let’s give the bar chart some color variations to set the data apart.
For the Chart color, we’ll use the color pallete.
Now, let’s refresh the report.
Okay!
Our report looks great, so let’s save it.
And now our report is ready to use and share.
To share our report, we click Share...
... or the Sharing icon in the header.
Report creators can add a report to a dashboard, or export it to PDF.
To add a report to a dashboard, click Add to Dashboard.
Then select the Dashboard from those you are able to edit.
But we won’t add our report to a Dashboard, so we’ll just cancel this.
Exporting the report to PDF is also an option, but remember that when you export to PDF...
... you lose the benefit of sharing real-time information.
Additional report sharing options are available based on role.
These include share a report with other ServiceNow users and groups...
... schedule a report...
... and publish or unpublish a report.
The suggested option is to share the report…
Click Share to view the options.
You can share the report to only yourself...
... everyone in specific roles...
... or different groups and users.
Users must already have access to the data to see it in the report.
Reports that present aggregate data, such as pie or bar charts, do not require access to underlying data.
Publishing creates a URL for others to access the report, including people who are not ServiceNow users.
When anyone navigagtes to the URL, the report is generated with current data.
So make sure the URL is shared only with people who should have access to the data.
After you publish the report, you can unpublish it at anytime.
Click Schedule to schedule the report to be run and shared with Users and Groups via email.
Add the text of the email in the introductory message.
For more information, please see our product documentation, knowledge base, or podcast.
Or ask a question in the ServiceNow Community.