What this artifact helps clarify
Decisions this brief supports
- Audience and decision supported
- KPI logic, data source, and refresh cadence
- Ownership, access, and confidence risks
Assess and plan
Reporting & Dashboard Requirements Brief
Use this brief before dashboard work starts so reporting answers real executive and operational questions.
Question-to-decision trace
Define the decision before defining the dashboard.
The brief keeps the business question, metric contract, source, ownership, and accountable action connected.
State the decision question and audience.
Name who needs the information, what decision it supports, the relevant population and time window, and what would remain outside the view.
Write the metric contract.
Define numerator, denominator, inclusion and exclusion rules, units, age bands or thresholds if approved, and how null, duplicate, reopened, or late records are handled.
Trace each field to its source and confidence boundary.
Record the system of record, table or object, field definitions, transformations, reconciliation, known gaps, and validation evidence. Do not infer data quality from a rendered chart.
Name ownership and review cadence.
Identify the metric owner, data steward, report owner, access approver, refresh cadence, exception process, and change-control authority.
Define the accountable action.
Record what action the evidence can support, who decides, what context accompanies the number, and what unresolved condition blocks or limits action.
Reporting trace: question → metric definition → source and quality → owner and cadence → accountable decision.
Related service
Connect reporting audiences, KPI definitions, data confidence, requirements, and executive visibility to reliable service context and ownership.
Recommended next step
Choose one business question, agree the metric definition, then name the source, owner, cadence, confidence risk, and decision.
Official sources
External product and documentation links that provide official context for this technical design artifact. ServiceNow is a trademark of ServiceNow, Inc.
ServiceNow
IT Service Management product page
Provides official product context for ITSM workflows and platform operations referenced by this artifact.
Open official sourceServiceNow
Strategic Portfolio Management product page
Provides official product context for portfolio intake, prioritization, and planning concepts referenced by this artifact.
Open official sourceServiceNow
Common Service Data Model documentation
Provides official CSDM terminology and service-model guidance relevant to data and ownership decisions.
Open official source
Apply the artifact
Apply the framework to an environment-specific next step.
NextGen SaaS Consulting can adapt this structure to your platform, stakeholders, reporting needs, and delivery constraints.