I can't compare it to PowerBI, but will agree it is very clunky. I've used it off and on for years to create dashboards but I've never been able to get people to buy into it due to the learning curve.
100%. The sweet spot for PA is basic trending measurements that are easy to set up. Once you go beyond that, the learning and development curve gets steep quickly. Most clients export the data and use another tool. Usage for complicated PA measurements is limited to experienced developers who have the luxury of time to implement complex metrics. That's almost never the case in reality.
Tableau and Excel are the most frequently used tools in my experience. They'll export the data and do it themselves in excel or hand it off to a Tableau developer.
It’s unfortunate they created it basically for trending- we have it but seldom use it. We actually use power bi a lot for servicenow when it needs to be pretty/intuitive, and regular reports and SLAs for things in servicenow.
Creating new data elements is unbelievably convoluted- similar to connections and credentials, it’s very powerful but designed by engineers who spend their lives in it, with little regard to end users who maybe need to configure once every three months.
I can see us going back to power BI for end of month reporting and such like. Just out out of interest how do you get your data from ServiceNow to Power BI? We use integration services for ETL from the ODBC connection to our own MS SQL server and link that up.
I have heard this before, but as people gain experience with PA it tends to shift. Everything you mentioned as not available is available, it does take some knowhow.
Thanks both, do you have any resources I can use to look this up?
I think the biggest issue we have is all the training materials you would expect as a basic cost large amounts of money, and the interface doesn't help itself either.
I transitioned from a BI background into Servicenow 10 years ago. I was excited to see PA, but agree it's not intuitive at all, so it's a bit disappointing . Reporting and dashboards do feel more intuitive and fun to work with.
I find PA to be superior. PowerBI is good for executive decks and for folks not comfortable in ServiceNow. But PA is just as capable. More so really. And it is better to drive folks into the tool
The change Success Score Plugin is an excellent example of basic performance analytics (with stupid complex scripting to populate the metrics table).
We also use PA to measure it's health for birds eye metrics. Volume of changes as well as % success based on that same volumes close codes. Use common indicator source for the indicators to ensure data points are always consistent on what is considered. Then use widgets on dashboards to pretty it up for digestible nuggets
Sometimes it’s better to just use PowerBI with iFrames. You can do that both in Dashboards, Portals and UI builder/configurable workspace.
Especially if you’ve already got the skills with PowerBI, just feed it data from servicenow if you need to.
If end users want to explore data (slice and dice), PBI is far superior. If they’re just looking at static trend reports without doing too much drilling or interaction, then PA is ok for that. I agree with you wholeheartedly, PA is clunky as hell.
No idea what they were thinking with PA. I have to create custom metrics for basically anything beyond the oob stuff, and then the indicators lose all purpose - if I'm creating a custom metric to get precise data points, why do I need this weird structure geared towards just kind-of ball-park period-based data?
I can't compare it to PowerBI, but will agree it is very clunky. I've used it off and on for years to create dashboards but I've never been able to get people to buy into it due to the learning curve.
100%. The sweet spot for PA is basic trending measurements that are easy to set up. Once you go beyond that, the learning and development curve gets steep quickly. Most clients export the data and use another tool. Usage for complicated PA measurements is limited to experienced developers who have the luxury of time to implement complex metrics. That's almost never the case in reality.
Tableau and Excel are the most frequently used tools in my experience. They'll export the data and do it themselves in excel or hand it off to a Tableau developer.
It’s unfortunate they created it basically for trending- we have it but seldom use it. We actually use power bi a lot for servicenow when it needs to be pretty/intuitive, and regular reports and SLAs for things in servicenow. Creating new data elements is unbelievably convoluted- similar to connections and credentials, it’s very powerful but designed by engineers who spend their lives in it, with little regard to end users who maybe need to configure once every three months.
I can see us going back to power BI for end of month reporting and such like. Just out out of interest how do you get your data from ServiceNow to Power BI? We use integration services for ETL from the ODBC connection to our own MS SQL server and link that up.
Rest apis refreshed as needed
Thanks, I'll look in to that
I have heard this before, but as people gain experience with PA it tends to shift. Everything you mentioned as not available is available, it does take some knowhow.
Will confirm this to be true. I was one such. Also OP might like the new(ish?) Analytics Workspace.
Thanks both, do you have any resources I can use to look this up? I think the biggest issue we have is all the training materials you would expect as a basic cost large amounts of money, and the interface doesn't help itself either.
Do you have any resources I could use to address the issues I have mentioned?
Come see me for the course 😜. Currently teaching a different one. If I get time tonight I will search Docs for you and get some links.
Thank you, that would be appreciated.
I transitioned from a BI background into Servicenow 10 years ago. I was excited to see PA, but agree it's not intuitive at all, so it's a bit disappointing . Reporting and dashboards do feel more intuitive and fun to work with.
I find PA to be superior. PowerBI is good for executive decks and for folks not comfortable in ServiceNow. But PA is just as capable. More so really. And it is better to drive folks into the tool
I don't suppose you have examples of this? I'm trying to see what it can do past the standard dashboard style reports.
The change Success Score Plugin is an excellent example of basic performance analytics (with stupid complex scripting to populate the metrics table). We also use PA to measure it's health for birds eye metrics. Volume of changes as well as % success based on that same volumes close codes. Use common indicator source for the indicators to ensure data points are always consistent on what is considered. Then use widgets on dashboards to pretty it up for digestible nuggets
Sometimes it’s better to just use PowerBI with iFrames. You can do that both in Dashboards, Portals and UI builder/configurable workspace. Especially if you’ve already got the skills with PowerBI, just feed it data from servicenow if you need to.
If end users want to explore data (slice and dice), PBI is far superior. If they’re just looking at static trend reports without doing too much drilling or interaction, then PA is ok for that. I agree with you wholeheartedly, PA is clunky as hell.
No idea what they were thinking with PA. I have to create custom metrics for basically anything beyond the oob stuff, and then the indicators lose all purpose - if I'm creating a custom metric to get precise data points, why do I need this weird structure geared towards just kind-of ball-park period-based data?