State field on Task Table

[Scott_Lathlean]

Hey All,

Historically, our instance has used the Incident_state and Problem_state fields for those to task types, but I'm trying to move towards using the State field on the Task table. This is all fine, but we are trying to report on the state field on the Task table and we are finding that not all labels are visible. I understand this is due to many different states having the same 'value' on the task.state field.

Is this bad practice to have multiple choices options on the task.choice list with the same value, but different labels? I've only really experienced an issue when reporting visually on the Task table and trying to filter based on State, so is it better to visually report on the individual task types? Or am I missing some setting where ServiceNow is smart enough to read the task type and apply the proper state from the child table?

Thanks

- Scott

[Subhajit1]

I am reusing the State Field with different labels and almost same values for about 12 child tables, i do not get an error.

If you can, explain further with a screenshot, then i suppose it would easier to understand.

[Anurag Tripathi]

Hi Scott,

You can use dictionary over rides. That way you will be using the same Task table's state field and still every other table, change, problem etc, can have different values and the wont conflict in reporting also. Whatever table the the report is on, those values will be available in the dropdown.

check this link

Dictionary Overrides - ServiceNow Wiki

[Scott_Lathlean]

Hey All,

Let me explain my issue a little better. I'm running a Bar Chart on the Task [task] table to show all the work that's currently assigned to a set of groups. Im grouping by the Assignment Group, and stacking each bar by Task.State

You'll see in the picture below, the graph shows 22 Tasks assigned to the IT Service Desk that are in the state 'Closed Incomplete'.

If I click that section to view the tasks, they are all Incidents in the "Waiting on User" state. The 'Closed Incomplete' and the 'Waiting on User' state both have the value of 4. Waiting on User exists in the State field of the child Incident table, while 'Closed Incomplete' exists on the task.state choice field.

It seems the report is just applying one of the labels of a field with the value 4, rather than stacking them as different states?

Just trying to figure out if this is a configuration issue, or just how this works OOB when reporting graphically on the parent task table.

Thanks for your help

[jnovack]

I agree, this is literally the stupidest thing.

Queries at Task show all kinds of different states because State names are different.   How hard was it to use a near infinite number system and NOT pick duplicates for different things?