Introduction
Sorry I haven’t posted in a long time. Been working on projects and taking ServiceNow deltas/mainline exams. One certification I want to get is the Performance Analytics certification. Since I’ve used PA for 5-6 years, I think I am ready. However it isn’t called Performance Analytics anymore? It is now called Platform Analytics. What?
Let’s breakdown this big change in Xanadu. The text in italics is detail from ServiceNow release notes.
Reporting DISAPPEARS
Reporting is not available on new instances. Use Platform Analytics data visualizations with table data sources instead. Users with admin and report_admin roles will still be able to use Reporting for Service Portal.
Remember all those thousands of reports you created over the years. Some people even refusing to use the new reporting interface. :)
Well you’ll never make a report that way again. Platform Analytics merges Performance Analytics and Reporting. The new Platform Analytics is way better and more powerful. Also having all the reporting in one place makes a lot of sense. I really do like it.
What happens to all those old reports? There is a migration process.
When you migrate your Core UI data, your existing dashboards, reports, interactive filters, and Performance Analytics widgets are moved to Platform Analytics. When you activate the migration, the result is a single set of visualizations and unified filters for all data sources.
What is migrated?
The short answer is that almost everything is migrated. Most Core UI dashboard content is supported in Platform Analytics. Some content doesn’t have an analogous Platform Analytics feature and is migrated into containers, also called iframes. This is called Compatibility mode. For detailed information about content migrated into iframes and the few items that aren’t migrated at all, see Content not migrated or migrated in compatibility mode.
For compatibility mode reports, I did build some things in iFrames, and a lot of workbenches. The other items listed, not very often.
Performance Analytics Widgets Not Available
Performance Analytics widgets are not available on new instances. Use Platform Analytics data visualizations with indicator data sources instead. Users with the admin and pa_admin roles will still be able to use Performance Analytics widgets for Service Portal.
What does this mean? Platform Analytics widgets are what you used to place on a dashboard, which displayed indicator information. Instead of using widgets, now you use Data Visualizations.
Data visualization are much more powerful than the old widgets. You can create a data visualization against an indicator, directly to a table, or probably lots of other data sources in the future. Data visualizations help combine Performance Analytics and classic reporting.
Analytics Hub Gone
The Analytics Hub is not available on new instances or instances that have fully migrated to Platform Analytics. Use KPI Details instead.
What does this mean? KPI Details is built with a workspace and I think it looks better. One thing to note when you view an indicator, and want to see how it looks with Analytics Hub, you used to click “View in Analytics Hub” under Related Links. Instead now you click “Explore indicator” instead, and pulls up KPI Details instead.
Admin Console Discontinued
The Performance Analytics admin console is deprecated on new instances. For upgrading customers, the console is available but does not show data from the new Platform Analytics artifacts.
What does this mean? I never used the Admin console. I just clicked indicators, breakdowns, etc in the Left navigator. There is a new workspace called “Analytics Center” which shows all your dashboards and data visualizations you bookmarked. I think you’ll want to use the new bookmark functionality, especially on ServiceNow instances with a lot of dashboards.
Responsive dashboard AND Interactive Filters REPLACED
Responsive dashboards are not available for new customers. Create dashboards in Platform Analytics instead.
Interactive filters are not available for new customers. Create filters in Platform Analytics instead.
This is covered under the migration process, in that your old dashboards and interactive filters are migrated. Creating dashboards this new way is simple if you use the new In-line Editor. It’s drag and drop and has more features than the old dashboard editor.
Want to build a more powerful dashboard? Use the dashboard technical editor which uses UI Builder.
Are you scared of the UI Builder? I kind of was, but then I took the new Xanadu UI Builder Fundamentals on NowLearning. It really explains how the UI Builder works in-depth. I recommend all ServiceNow developers take the class. Trying to “wing-it” with the UI Builder doesn’t really work, you gotta take the class.
Conclusion
Why do I have to learn another new thing? Why can’t things just stay the same? That’s never going to work, you must keep current if you want to be the best.
Platform Analytics is great. Just take the first step and start learning it.