Scheduled Reports in ServiceNow are a powerful collaboration feature that allows administrators and users to automate the generation and distribution of reports at predetermined intervals. This functionality ensures stakeholders receive timely, relevant data to support decision-making processes.
T…Scheduled Reports in ServiceNow are a powerful collaboration feature that allows administrators and users to automate the generation and distribution of reports at predetermined intervals. This functionality ensures stakeholders receive timely, relevant data to support decision-making processes.
To create a Scheduled Report, navigate to Reports > Scheduled Reports in the application navigator. You can schedule any existing report to be delivered via email to specific users, groups, or external email addresses. The scheduling options include daily, weekly, monthly, or custom intervals based on your organizational needs.
Key components of Scheduled Reports include:
1. **Report Selection**: Choose from any report you have access to in the system. This includes list reports, charts, pivot tables, and other report types.
2. **Frequency Settings**: Define how often the report should run - whether its every day at a specific time, weekly on certain days, or monthly on particular dates.
3. **Recipients**: Specify who should receive the report. You can add individual users, groups, or enter external email addresses for stakeholders outside your ServiceNow instance.
4. **Format Options**: Reports can be delivered in various formats including PDF, Excel, or CSV, depending on recipient preferences and data usage requirements.
5. **Conditions**: Apply conditions to control when reports are sent, such as only sending when data exists or meets certain criteria.
Scheduled Reports enhance collaboration by ensuring team members stay informed about metrics, incidents, changes, or any tracked data. For example, IT managers can receive weekly incident summaries, while executives might get monthly performance dashboards.
As a System Administrator, you can manage all scheduled reports, modify schedules, update recipient lists, and troubleshoot delivery issues. This feature reduces manual effort in report distribution and ensures consistent communication across teams, making it an essential tool for effective ServiceNow administration and organizational collaboration.
Scheduled Reports in ServiceNow: A Complete Guide for CSA Exam Success
Introduction to Scheduled Reports
Scheduled Reports is a powerful collaboration feature in ServiceNow that allows users to automate the generation and distribution of reports at predetermined intervals. This functionality ensures stakeholders receive timely, relevant data to support decision-making processes.
Why Scheduled Reports Are Important
Understanding Scheduled Reports is essential for several reasons:
• Automation: Eliminates the need for manual report generation, saving time and reducing human error • Consistency: Ensures reports are delivered reliably at the same time each period • Stakeholder Communication: Keeps team members, managers, and executives informed with regular updates • Compliance: Helps organizations meet reporting requirements by ensuring timely delivery of necessary documentation • Efficiency: Allows administrators to focus on other tasks while reports are generated and distributed automatically
What Are Scheduled Reports?
Scheduled Reports in ServiceNow are automated report distributions that send pre-configured reports to specified recipients via email at defined intervals. They are based on existing reports created in the platform and can be customized to meet various organizational needs.
Key Components: • Report: The underlying report that will be generated and sent • Schedule: Defines when and how often the report runs (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.) • Recipients: Users or groups who will receive the report • Format: The file type for the report attachment (PDF, Excel, CSV)
How Scheduled Reports Work
Step 1: Create or Select a Report Before scheduling, you must have an existing report. This can be any report type available in ServiceNow including lists, bar charts, pie charts, or other visualizations.
Step 2: Access Schedule Options From the report, click the Share button and select Schedule. This opens the scheduling configuration dialog.
Step 3: Configure Schedule Settings • Set the frequency (run daily, weekly, monthly, or at custom intervals) • Define the time when the report should be generated • Select the time zone for the schedule • Choose the start date and optionally an end date
Step 4: Define Recipients • Add individual users by name • Add groups for broader distribution • Include external email addresses when needed
Step 5: Set Report Format and Options • Choose the attachment format (PDF is common for visual reports, Excel or CSV for data manipulation) • Add a custom message to accompany the report • Set the subject line for the email
Key Features to Remember
• Scheduled Reports use the Report Scheduler module • Reports run with the permissions of the user who created the schedule • Recipients can be users, groups, or external email addresses • The sys_report_schedule table stores scheduled report configurations • Reports can be scheduled from the Report Designer or from a saved report
Exam Tips: Answering Questions on Scheduled Reports
Common Question Types:
1. Functionality Questions: Know what Scheduled Reports can and cannot do. They send existing reports - they do not create new reports.
2. Configuration Questions: Understand the steps to schedule a report, including where to find the option (Share menu) and what settings are available.
3. Recipient Questions: Remember that recipients can include users, groups, AND external email addresses.
4. Format Questions: Know the available export formats - PDF, Excel, and CSV are the primary options.
5. Permission Questions: The scheduled report runs with the creator's permissions, not the recipient's permissions.
Key Points for Exam Success:
• Location: Scheduled Reports are accessed through the Share button on a report • Prerequisites: A report must exist before it can be scheduled • Frequency Options: Daily, weekly, monthly, and custom intervals are supported • Multiple Recipients: A single scheduled report can have multiple recipients • Email Delivery: Reports are delivered as email attachments
Watch Out For:
• Questions that confuse Scheduled Reports with Report Sources or Report Types - these are different concepts • Trick questions about who can receive reports - remember external emails ARE supported • Questions about permissions - always remember the schedule runs as the creator • Questions mixing up publishing a report (making it available on homepages) versus scheduling a report (email distribution)
Practice Scenario
If an exam question asks: A manager wants to receive an incident summary every Monday morning. What should an administrator configure?
The answer involves: Creating (or using an existing) incident report, then scheduling it to run weekly on Mondays, with the manager as the recipient, in the preferred format.