Limitations and requirements for Data snapshots

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of Limitations and requirements for Data snapshots

    Data Snapshots in Performance Analytics on ServiceNow Australia release have specific limitations and requirements that affect their compatibility with certain features, tables, and configurations. Understanding these restrictions helps customers ensure proper setup and avoid unsupported scenarios, enabling reliable data collection and analysis.

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    Instance-level Requirements and Limitations

    • Database Support: Only instances using RaptorDB Professional (PostgreSQL) are supported. Oracle and MariaDB/MySQL are not compatible.
    • Domain Separation: Domain-separated instances are not supported. Although the plugin installs automatically on eligible instances with Australia Patch 3 or later, Data Snapshots are disabled in domain-separated environments upon the first job run.

    Table and Indicator Limitations

    • System Tables: Tables with names starting with sys are not supported.
    • Benchmarking Indicators: Not supported at both the table and indicator levels.
    • Indicators with No Conditions: Not supported.
    • Scripted Breakdown Mappings and Aggregations: Not supported.
    • Breakdowns/Aggregations: Only supported on Choice fields (strings or integers), not on purely string or numeric fields. For example, breakdowns on Incident.Category (Choice) are supported, but not on Short Description (string).
    • Query Operators: Limited support; specific operators such as ISEMPTYSTRING, INSTANCEOF, regex matches, and range checks on currency and dates are unsupported on source fields.
    • Formula Indicators: Only supported if all contributing indicators support Data Snapshots. Formula methods are not supported.
    • Manual or External Indicators/Breakdowns: Only automated and formula indicators and automated breakdowns are supported.
    • Indicators Based on Database Views: Supported only if join conditions include sysid exclusively, no uppercase characters in view prefixes, and the two tables do not share the same prefix.
    • Breakdown Levels: Maximum of 250 breakdown or aggregation fields per indicator.
    • Timezones: Only one timezone per indicator collection job is supported, with daily collection frequency.
    • Historical Data: Only data collected after Data Snapshots enablement is supported; applying more than two levels of breakdown on older data returns no results.
    • Breakdown Matrices: Not applicable; all breakdown combinations are supported inherently.

    Field-level and Configuration Limitations

    • Label for Unmatched: Ignored on breakdown sources.
    • Value When Nil: Ignored on automated indicators.
    • Security Types: Not supported on breakdown sources.
    • Data Collection Job Settings: Custom start/end periods and specific time configurations do not affect Data Snapshots; all collections run daily, with timezone of the data collection record being the only effective setting.
    • Bucket Groups: Not supported.
    • Related List Conditions: Do not apply with Data Snapshots.
    • Targets and Thresholds: Support up to two filters only.
    • KPI Signals: Support only one filter.
    • Indicator Scorecard Visualizations: Support up to two filters only.
    • Scoresheets: Manual changes to scoresheets for Data Snapshots-enabled indicators have no effect.
    • String Fields in Conditions: Maximum length of 4000 characters.

    Several features of indicators and breakdowns are not supported with Data snapshots and multiple breakdowns.

    Instance-level limitations

    Limitation or unsupported feature Notes
    Database requirements Only instances with the RaptorDB Professional (PostgreSQL) database are supported, not Oracle or MariaDB/MySQL. (Checked when plugin is activated.)
    Domain separation Domain-separated instances are not supported.

    If you have Australia Patch 3 or later, the Data Snapshots (com.snc.pa.mlb) plugin is installed automatically on eligible instances. This includes instances with domain separation, but on such instances the Data snapshots feature is disabled when the first job runs.

    Table-level limitations

    Limitation or unsupported feature Notes
    System tables System tables (named sys_*) are not supported.
    Benchmarking indicators Not supported

    Indicator- and breakdown-level limitations

    Limitation or unsupported feature Notes

    Benchmarking indicators

    Not supported
    Indicators with no conditions Not supported
    Scripted breakdown mappings/aggregations Not supported
    Breakdowns/aggregations on string and numeric type fields are not supported The same limitations apply as with classic Performance Analytics breakdowns and indicators: Breakdowns on Choice fields that are strings or integers are supported. Only purely string and numeric fields are not supported. For example, a breakdown on Incident.Category would be supported because Category is a Choice field. A breakdown on Short Description would not be supported, because that is purely a string.
    Only some query operators are supported Unsupported operators for each field type on the source:
    • Boolean/ChoiceTable/Reference: ISEMPTYSTRING
    • SysClassName: INSTANCEOF
    • String: MATCH_PAT and MATCH_RGX
    • Currency: NOT_EQUALS, LESS_THAN, GREATER_THAN, LESS_THAN_OR_EQUALS, GREATER_THAN_OR_EQUALS, BETWEEN, EQUALS
    • Relative Dates: LESS_THAN, LESS_THAN_EQ, GREATER_THAN, GREATER_THAN_EQ, BETWEEN
    Formula indicators All contributing indicators must support Data snapshots.
    Formula methods Formula indicators that use methods in their formulas are not supported.
    Manual or external indicators or breakdowns Only automated indicators, formula indicators, and automated breakdowns are supported. All contributing indicators in a formula indicator must be supported for the formula indicator to be supported.
    Indicators based on database views Only supported when the join conditions do not include fields other than sys_id.
    Database view prefix limitations If the indicator source is a database view and there is an uppercase character in the database view prefix, the indicator is not supported. Also, if the two tables in the database view have the same prefix, the indicator is not supported.
    Indicators with more than 250 breakdown/aggregation fields Only 250 levels of breakdown are supported.
    Indicators whose collection jobs have more than one timezone Only daily collection and only one timezone are supported.
    Historical processing Only data collected after the enablement date is supported. Attempts to apply more than two levels of breakdown to older data do not return any results.
    Breakdown matrices Not applicable. All breakdown combinations are supported by design.
    Collection periods set on data collector All collections are daily.

    Field-level limitations (Indicator, breakdown, source, and data collector fields)

    Limitation or unsupported feature Notes
    Label for unmatched The Label for unmatched option on breakdown sources is ignored with Data snapshots.
    Value when nil The Value when nil option on automated indicators is ignored with Data snapshots.
    Security type Data snapshots does not support the security type defined in the breakdown source.
    Data collection job settings Start/end periods, specific time configurations, and other settings do not affect Data snapshots. All data collection is daily. Only the timezone set on the data collection record has an effect.
    Bucket groups Not supported
    Related list conditions Related list conditions do not apply with Data snapshots
    Targets and Thresholds Support only up to two filters.
    KPI Signals Support only one filter.
    Indicator scorecard visualizations Support only up to two filters.
    Scoresheets Manual changes to scoresheets for indicators that are enabled for Data snapshots have no effect.
    String fields in indicator or source conditions 4000-character limit