When you are embarking on a new implementation of ServiceNow or deploying a new application, reports and analytics must be a key requirement in your initial phase.
Too often, I hear organizations limiting initial implementations to only basic reports, or scope analytics for a future phase.
Instead, proactive organizations get more value out of implementations by crafting advanced reports early in the process and iterating alongside the process improvements. Building advanced analytics early improves user workflow, develops more reliable data, and helps executives see value early.
Smart Dashboards Driving Efficient Work on Day One
The goal of implementing a new ServiceNow instance or application is to create a more efficient workflow for your users. Smart real-time dashboards are a powerful tool in the tool kit, focusing your users on the most urgent tasks and synthesizing information in ways that enable quick response.
In this example, the work dashboard goes beyond simple pie and bar charts to give users the information they need in order to act:
Scorecards focus the user’s attention on critical information, like the stale incidents, aged incidents, and breached SLAs that the user is responsible for.
Critically, rather than simply showing a flat list of tasks, each of the reports focuses on the age of assigned tasks, allowing the user to prioritize those assignments that are closest to breaching SLAs or becoming overdue.
One organization used Explore Analytics to reduce stale incidents by 30%, simply by providing users’ dashboards with advanced analytics focused on stale incidents.
Rather than going live with a solution that leaves your users in the dark, deploy your instance or application tailored to the way you want your users to work on day one.
More Reliable Data through Data Analysis
Often, I hear administrators saying that advanced analytics is scoped for future phases of deployment because the data in the instance or application isn’t ready yet.
This overlooks the important role that advanced analytics plays in ensuring that the data being collected is reliable.
For instance, this CMDB Quality Dashboard allows business service owners to take an active role in ensuring that the CMDB data is reliable and up-to-date for their services:
Each tab focuses the user on potential data issues that need to be addressed. They can drill through and take action to correct data quality issues.
Rather than waiting for data issues to resolve themselves, advanced analytics drive the data improvement. Users throughout the organization become involved in ensuring reliable and up-to-date data that can power analytics in other use cases.
Executive Visibility from the Very Beginning
By capturing trends of data from the beginning, executives can see the impact of the implementation over time. By setting key KPI’s early, executives can see how the new instance or application is being used by users.
This report, for example, combines information from two different data sources, both ServiceNow and the legacy ticketing tool used prior to ServiceNow:
The line in orange shows the flow of incidents before ServiceNow was enabled, and projects based on the old trend. The line in blue shows the flow of incidents after ServiceNow was enabled, and the projects the reduction of incidents into the future.
For each key KPI, executives can be assured that their priorities are being tracked and managed to through visibility on day one.
Achieve Value Early with Analytics on Day One
As you can see, there is important value left on the table if analytics aren’t included in your new instance or application. With powerful analytics, you can shape how users are working, improve the quality if your data, and ensure executives can transparently track your successes.
With an easy-to-use reporting tool, you can get started immediately. Get started early and iterate your reports to ensure that you start on the right foot from the beginning.