In general, ServiceNow is most known for its dynamic workflow engine, but its reporting capabilities are just as powerful. Whether it’s slicing and dicing data with intelligent filtering or using robust dashboards to stay in front of the week’s challenges, an intentional approach to reporting will ensure you accomplish your program objectives.
In that vein, here are 5 types of reports you should be leveraging to receive the most value from your Integrated Risk Management (IRM) implementation:
#1 Status Reports
One of the most common report types, status reports provide a glimpse into the progression of records within a particular workflow, for example an overview of the process stages that various assessments, policy exceptions, or issues are in.
Knowing the status can help drive action. If there’s a backlog of records piling up at a certain process step, we know to prioritize these items and investigate what may be causing the accumulation. Comparing status reports over time also showcases the progress being made within a particular assessment campaign or within the program overall.
#2 Operational Reports
There are a couple categories of operational reports, one well-known and the other flying under the radar in the IRM space. The first group uses standard reporting methods like bar charts, diagrams, lists, etc. to understand, manage and redistribute the workloads assigned to various teams and groups.
The second leverages ServiceNow’s Metrics module for SLA-style reporting, capturing the specific amount of time records are in each state, which can be used to determine whether the time is within desired thresholds. Knowing this information will highlight any process steps that have become time-sinks and indicate where more focus or staffing may be needed to meet objectives.
#3 Result Reports
Exactly what they seem to be, these reports break down the results of assessments and assurance activities performed within the IRM applications. For example, these reports could show the risk ratings assigned to vendors at the conclusion of their assessments or the number of controls passing/failing as part of a particular audit.
Result reports underscore the power of ServiceNow as a platform, allowing the data to be sliced, diced, and grouped variety of ways. This includes overarching, side-by-side comparisons of service lines and organization units, as well as isolated reports viewing a particular control area or risk topic in greater detail.
#4 Scheduled Reports
An often under-utilized feature, the ServiceNow scheduled reports module provides the ability to define, generate, and distribute reports on a scheduled basis via email notifications. Available report styles include diagrams, graphs, and lists of records.
The scheduled reports could be as simple as a weekly status for the team or be more involved quarterly reports to various stakeholder groups within the organization. It’s important to note that security constraints from ServiceNow will not pass through to recipients of the reports, meaning they will have the ability to see everything listed within the report that is emailed to them even if they don't have such access within the platform.
#5 Summary Reports
Within the Audit Management application specifically, there is a capability to generate an engagement summary report based on configurable, pre-defined templates. Aggregating audit results and findings into a single report is often a requirement for audit practices, but this same functionality can be employed within other IRM modules as well. For example, the feature can be leveraged within Vendor Risk Management to summarize the results of an assessment. Note - the final format of this report is a knowledge base article which may limit some of the export formatting available.
Incorporating these report styles within your Integrated Risk Management (IRM) solutions will maximize the value you receive from the platform and capitalize on available features.
If you’re looking to enhance your reporting capabilities, or would like to discuss how one of these reporting types might work for your program, please reach out to info@lionwarellc.com.
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