Make Life Easy - "Create Unique Names"

[Thomas_Davis]

	Why is Unique Names important in Performance Analytics & Reporting in ServiceNow?  Like anything else being able to search for something based on its name and meaning, has incredible value. Using Unique Names to drive Governance will not only keep Performance Analytics & Reporting clean and organized, but also your Platform in general.
In this blog we want to highlight some ways that using Unique Names will help you when Creating, Maintaining & Organizing within Performance Analytics & Reporting. There are a lot of OOTB things that have already been created with Unique Names and you can gain insights on how exactly you should create names from some of those. Here are a few.
Indicator Sources: Use names to capture what you are gathering (you want people searching to be able to find something relative, rather than creating something new). Examples: Incidents Closed, OOTB name Incidents.Closed Incidents Opened, OOTB name Incidents.Open Requests Open, OOTB name Requests.Open Requests Closed, OOTB name Requests.Closed These are just a few, the idea is to make sure that you name in a manner that has value and understanding as it relates to what is being gathered.  Again, you want fellow users to be able to find and use something existing, rather than create something new.
Automated Indicators: Use names that will let the user know what they can expect to see in the scores gathered in the Automated Indicator. Examples: Number of open incidents Number of re-opened incidents Summed duration of closed requests Number of new requests These are just a few, the idea is to make sure that your name is in a manner that has value and understanding as it relates to what scores are being shown.  Again, you want fellow users to be able to find and use something existing, rather than create something new.
Breakdown Sources: Use names that will let the user know what they can expect to see gathered and categorized in the Breakdown Source. Examples: Incident Priority, OOTB name Incident.Priority Incident State, OOTB name Incident.State Request State, OOTB name Request.State These are just a few, the idea is to make sure that you name in a manner that has value and understanding as it relates to what is being gathered and categorized.  Again, you want fellow users to be able to find and use something existing, rather than create something new.
Automated Breakdowns: Use names that will let the user know what they can expect to see categorized in the Automated Breakdown. Automated Breakdown is an area where you could actually see duplicate or more names.  If you have an Automated Breakdown named State, this could apply to Incident, Request, Problem, Change, etc. But if the Breakdown Source was named Unique, users will be able to know when searching which one they should use.
	Here is an example of when adding a Breakdown to an Indicator that two results came back when searching for Category. In this situation, if you did not have a Unique Name for your Breakdown Source, which one would you choose?
Here is an example of when adding a Breakdown to an Indicator that two results came back when searching for Category. In this situation, if you did not have a Unique Name for your Breakdown Source, which one would you choose?
Widgets: Widget names being Unique are vital for users when searching to find what they need on a dashboard.  Or better yet when deciding if they need to create a widget or not.  Also, utilize the Lookup Name for a Widget also.  Perhaps the Lookup Name could have more descriptive information than even the Widget name.  Anything to have some Governance and prevent the creation of new Widgets that are not needed.
Dashboards: When naming Dashboards make sure the name is clear and precise based on what is expected to be seen on the Dashboard.  Something like Incident probably is not a great idea, however, something like Incident Management (that is OOTB), will give users insight on what they can expect to see when visiting the Dashboard. Dashboard Groups: A place that you really want to make sure you have a Unique Name. Taking advantage of the ability to group multiple dashboards with a group, please make sure you give the Dashboard Group a name that will help your users know what to expect within it.
Reporting: Reporting, just like Indicator Sources, Automated Indicators, Breakdown Sources, and Automated Breakdowns, should have Unique Names.  Reporting can easily get out of control with lots of Reports being created.  But if you give them a Unique Name and encourage your users to look for an existing report to fit their needs, you can control how many are being created. Another feature that you could take advantage of, is the ability to have the Report have a different Title on a Dashboard as opposed to its actual name.  So, you can have a Unique Name for the Report that you users can search for, but if a user needed it to have a different Title on the Dashboard, you can do that as well.
	Collection Jobs: Collection Jobs should always have a Unique name, the biggest reason for this, is that you do not want Collection Jobs running on the Platform that are not needed.  If you can have Collection Jobs that have Unique names and manage them, then you can add new Indicators to existing jobs, rather than creating another Collection Job, because someone didn’t know where to put an Indicator to be collected. For example, by default, make sure that Daily Collection is a part of the Unique Name of a Daily job and Historical Collection is a part of a Historical job.
Try to think of ways to name your Collection Jobs around what they are gathering. Put Incident, Request, Change, Knowledge...etc., in the name to give clarity as to what is being collected.
Using Unique Names should become a habit that your Organization should adapt to.  Anywhere in the Platform using Unique Names will help you.  Governance from a name standpoint should be at the forefront and make sure it does not become an afterthought. Use Unique Names to control what is being created and used. Having Unique Names in Performance Analytics & Reporting will make Managing the Product more productive for your organization.