Homepages and Reports

Homepages and Reports in ServiceNow – A Comprehensive Guide for CAD Exam Preparation

Introduction

Homepages and Reports are fundamental components of ServiceNow's Application Automation capabilities. They provide users with personalized dashboards and data-driven insights that enable faster decision-making, improved visibility into workflows, and a more productive user experience. For the ServiceNow Certified Application Developer (CAD) exam, understanding how homepages and reports work — and how to configure them — is essential.

Why Are Homepages and Reports Important?

In any enterprise environment, stakeholders need quick access to relevant data. Homepages and Reports serve this need by:

• Providing at-a-glance visibility: Homepages aggregate key metrics, reports, and widgets into a single view, allowing users to see the most important information without navigating through multiple modules.

• Enabling data-driven decisions: Reports transform raw data from tables into visual formats such as bar charts, pie charts, line graphs, pivot tables, and lists. This makes it easier to identify trends, bottlenecks, and areas for improvement.

• Improving user productivity: By presenting relevant information up front, homepages reduce the number of clicks needed to access critical data, saving time and effort.

• Supporting role-based experiences: Different user roles can have different homepages tailored to their responsibilities, ensuring each user sees only what is relevant to them.

• Facilitating reporting compliance: Organizations often need to demonstrate compliance with SLAs, audit requirements, and performance targets. Reports provide the evidence and documentation needed for these purposes.

What Are Homepages?

A homepage in ServiceNow is a configurable dashboard-style page that serves as a landing page for users when they log in or navigate to a specific application. Homepages are composed of various widgets and content blocks arranged in a column-based layout.

Key characteristics of homepages:

• Homepages are defined per user, per role, or as a global default.
• They consist of widgets (also called gauges or content blocks) that can display reports, performance analytics, lists, or custom HTML.
• Users can personalize their own homepage by adding, removing, or rearranging widgets (depending on their permissions).
• Administrators can define default homepages for specific roles or for the entire instance.
• Homepages can be accessed via Self-Service > Homepage or configured through the Homepage Admin module.

Types of Homepage Content:

• Reports: Any saved report can be rendered as a widget on a homepage.
• Performance Analytics widgets: Scorecards, KPIs, and analytics visualizations.
• Custom HTML: Administrators can embed custom HTML, including links, images, or iframes.
• Lists: Filtered lists of records from any table.

What Are Reports?

A report in ServiceNow is a visual or tabular representation of data from one or more tables. Reports are created using the Report Designer (also known as the Report Builder), which provides a guided, step-by-step interface for defining data sources, filters, groupings, and visualization types.

Key characteristics of reports:

• Reports are built on top of tables and use filters (conditions) to define the dataset.
• Reports support a wide range of visualization types: bar, pie, line, area, donut, histogram, pivot table, list, calendar, funnel, heatmap, and more.
• Reports can be shared with specific users, groups, or roles.
• Reports can be scheduled to run at defined intervals and distributed via email.
• Reports can be published to homepages and dashboards.
• Reports respect ACLs (Access Control Lists), meaning users only see data they are authorized to view.

How Do Homepages and Reports Work?

1. Creating a Report

To create a report in ServiceNow:

• Navigate to Reports > Create New.
• The Report Designer opens with a step-by-step wizard:
  - Data: Select the source table (e.g., Incident, Change Request, Task) and define filter conditions.
  - Type: Choose the report type (bar, pie, line, list, pivot table, etc.).
  - Configure: Set grouping (Group By), aggregation (Count, Sum, Average), stack by, trend options, and other settings depending on the report type.
  - Style: Customize colors, chart title, legend placement, and other visual elements.

• Click Save to save the report. You can also click Share to make it accessible to other users, groups, or roles.

2. Report Types and When to Use Them

• Bar Chart: Best for comparing quantities across categories (e.g., incidents by priority).
• Pie/Donut Chart: Best for showing proportions of a whole (e.g., percentage of incidents by category).
• Line/Area Chart: Best for showing trends over time (e.g., incidents created per month).
• List Report: Displays data in a tabular format, similar to a list view.
• Pivot Table: Cross-tabulates data across two dimensions (e.g., incidents by priority and assignment group).
• Single Score: Displays a single aggregate value (e.g., total open incidents).
• Histogram: Shows the distribution of data across intervals.
• Calendar Report: Displays records on a calendar based on a date field.
• Funnel Chart: Shows data in stages, useful for pipeline analysis.
• Heatmap: Visualizes data intensity across two dimensions using color gradients.

3. Sharing and Scheduling Reports

• Sharing: Reports can be shared with individual users, groups, or roles. When a report is shared, the recipient can view it but still only sees data permitted by their ACLs. Sharing is done via the Sharing tab in the Report Designer.

• Scheduling: Reports can be scheduled to run automatically and be sent via email. Navigate to the report, click Sharing > Schedule, and configure the frequency (daily, weekly, monthly), recipients, and format (PDF, Excel, CSV, etc.).

4. Configuring Homepages

• Navigate to Self-Service > Homepages or System UI > Homepage Admin.
• Homepages use a drag-and-drop interface where you can add content from the available widget library.
• To add a report to a homepage, click Add Content, select Reports, and choose the desired saved report.
• Homepages can have one, two, or three column layouts.
• Administrators can set a homepage as the default for a specific role by configuring the Homepage field on the role record or by using the homepage administration module.

5. Dashboards vs. Homepages

It is important to understand the distinction between dashboards and homepages for the CAD exam:

• Homepages: The traditional landing page experience. They use the older renderer and are typically associated with the classic ServiceNow UI. They are configured through the Homepage Admin module.

• Dashboards: A more modern, interactive experience introduced with Performance Analytics and enhanced over time. Dashboards support tabs, interactive filters, and Performance Analytics widgets. They are managed through Self-Service > Dashboards or PA Dashboards.

• In many recent ServiceNow versions, dashboards have largely replaced homepages as the preferred method for creating landing pages. However, the CAD exam may still test your knowledge of both.

6. Key Tables and Records

• sys_report: The table that stores report definitions.
• sys_homepage: The table that stores homepage definitions.
• sys_gauge: The table that stores gauge/widget definitions for homepages.
• pa_dashboards: The table for Performance Analytics dashboards.

7. Access Controls and Visibility

• Reports always respect the ACLs of the logged-in user. Even if a report is shared with everyone, each user only sees the records they have permission to view.
• Homepage visibility can be controlled by role. Only users with the assigned role will see the homepage designated for that role.
• The report_admin or admin role is typically needed to manage and create reports that are shared globally.

How to Answer Questions on Homepages and Reports in the Exam

The CAD exam tests your practical understanding of how to create, configure, share, and troubleshoot homepages and reports. Here are the key areas to focus on:

1. Know the Report Designer Workflow
Understand the step-by-step process: Data → Type → Configure → Style. Know what each step does and what options are available. The exam may present scenarios asking you to identify the correct step for a particular configuration.

2. Understand Report Types
Be able to match a business requirement to the correct report type. For example, if a question asks about showing the trend of incidents over the past 12 months, the answer is a line chart or area chart with a trend configuration. If the question is about comparing incident counts across categories, the answer is a bar chart.

3. Know How Sharing Works
Understand that sharing a report does not override ACLs. A shared report will still filter data based on the viewer's permissions. Also know that reports can be shared with users, groups, or roles, and that scheduling allows automated email distribution.

4. Understand Homepage Configuration
Know how to add widgets/gauges to a homepage, how to set a default homepage for a role, and how the layout (columns) can be configured. Understand the difference between a personal homepage and a role-based default homepage.

5. Dashboards vs. Homepages
Be prepared for questions that test your understanding of when to use a dashboard versus a homepage. Dashboards are more modern and support interactive features like drill-downs and PA widgets. Homepages are the classic approach.

6. Interactive Filters on Dashboards
Know that dashboards support interactive filters that allow users to dynamically filter the data displayed across multiple widgets simultaneously. This is a key advantage of dashboards over traditional homepages.

7. Report Scheduling and Distribution
Understand how to schedule a report and what formats are available for distribution. Know that scheduled reports are sent to the configured recipients at the specified frequency.

Exam Tips: Answering Questions on Homepages and Reports

• Tip 1: Read the scenario carefully. Many questions present a business scenario and ask for the best approach. Pay attention to keywords like "trend," "comparison," "proportion," "distribution," or "summary" — these hint at the correct report type.

• Tip 2: Remember ACL enforcement. If a question mentions visibility or data security in the context of reports, the answer almost always involves ACLs. Reports do NOT bypass security rules.

• Tip 3: Distinguish between sharing and publishing. Sharing makes a report accessible to others. Publishing places a report on a homepage or dashboard as a widget. These are two different actions.

• Tip 4: Know the Group By and Stack By options. Group By determines the primary axis of categorization. Stack By adds a secondary dimension within each group. This is commonly tested in questions about bar and column charts.

• Tip 5: Understand the role of the report_admin role. Users with the report_admin role can create and manage reports for others. Regular users can typically create personal reports but may not be able to share them globally without this role.

• Tip 6: Be familiar with the sys_report table. Questions may ask where report definitions are stored. The answer is the sys_report table.

• Tip 7: Practice in a PDI (Personal Developer Instance). The best way to prepare is to create different types of reports, add them to a homepage, configure a dashboard, set up scheduled reports, and experiment with sharing options in a real ServiceNow instance.

• Tip 8: Watch for trick answers involving Performance Analytics. Some questions may include PA-related options alongside basic reporting options. Know that Performance Analytics is a separate (premium) feature that provides advanced capabilities like indicators, scorecards, and time series analysis. Basic reports do not require the PA plugin.

• Tip 9: Understand the default homepage hierarchy. ServiceNow determines which homepage to show a user based on a hierarchy: user-specific homepage → role-based homepage → global default homepage. If a question asks what a user sees when they log in, consider which level of the hierarchy applies.

• Tip 10: Elimination strategy. If you are unsure of the answer, eliminate options that are clearly wrong. For example, if a question asks about a visualization for showing parts of a whole, eliminate options like line charts and list reports, leaving pie or donut charts as likely answers.

Summary

Homepages and Reports are critical components of ServiceNow that enable users to visualize data, track performance, and make informed decisions. For the CAD exam, focus on understanding the Report Designer workflow, matching report types to business requirements, knowing how sharing and ACLs interact, configuring homepages and dashboards, and understanding the distinctions between classic homepages and modern dashboards. Practice creating and configuring these features in a personal developer instance to reinforce your knowledge and build confidence for the exam.