Program workbench

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Program workbench

    The Program Workbench is a centralized interface in ServiceNow designed for program managers to view and monitor the details, progress, and status of programs, including associated projects and demands. It enables tracking across cost, resources, schedule, and scope for a selected fiscal period, helping managers oversee program health effectively.

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    Note that the Program Workbench operates within the Service Portal framework, allowing customization and extension to fit organizational workflows. However, it does not support mobile devices.

    Key Features

    • Fiscal Period Selection: Choose the fiscal year for which the program’s progress and status are monitored.
    • Timeline View: Displays all selected demands and projects with a Gantt chart timeline. Users can customize item colors, zoom levels (including an Auto Fit to view the entire timeline without scrolling), and show or hide columns. External dependencies between projects can also be reviewed here.
    • Project KPI Tab: Shows the latest status of key performance indicators for projects, such as overall health, schedule, cost, resources, and scope. Users can click project names to access detailed status reports and hover over indicators to see KPI comments.
    • Cost Chart (Planned vs. Actual): Visualizes actual project costs against approved budgets, breaking down capital expenses (Capex), operating expenses (Opex), or both. Cost data is derived from expense lines, which can be created manually or automatically through Procurement or approved time cards.
    • Resource Chart (Allocated vs. Actual): Compares allocated resource hours with actual time spent on project tasks, using processed time card data.

    Practical Use and Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    ServiceNow customers can leverage the Program Workbench to maintain real-time visibility into program execution, enabling proactive management of schedule, budget, and resource constraints. The customizable Service Portal foundation means the workbench can be tailored to fit specific organizational processes and reporting needs.

    By monitoring KPIs and financial/resource metrics in one place, program managers can make informed decisions, identify risks early, and communicate program status effectively across stakeholders.

    Additional Information

    • Demands appear in the timeline only if they have populated Expected Start and Due Date fields and are in qualified or approved states.
    • Administrators can configure which columns are visible in the timeline view to optimize the interface for their teams.
    • Access to the Program Workbench is via the ServiceNow interface where a list of all programs is displayed for selection.

    The program workbench is a central location for viewing details of a program and the projects and demands that are part of the program.

    The program manager role can use the program workbench to view and monitor the progress of the program and the projects and demands. Program workbench provides information for only tracking the program.

    You can track the progress of demands and projects, and monitor the status of cost, resource, schedule, and scope for the selected fiscal period for the program.

    Note:
    • Program workbench is based on Service Portal which means that you can configure, customize, and extend it as per your requirements and organizational workflow. For more information, see Service Portal documentation.
    • Program workbench does not support mobile device.

    The program workbench comprises of the following components:

    Fiscal period: A choice list on the top-right to select the fiscal year for which you monitor the program.

    Timeline View: Shows a list of all the selected demands and projects that are part of the program, and a Gantt chart of all projects and demands over time.

    You can:

    • configure the colors of the program items in Gantt chart with Dashboard Configuration settings.
    • select the zoom level in Gantt chart calender to Auto Fit. The Gantt view fits in one page to view entire timeline in one go without using the scrollbar.
    • review the external dependencies between projects in a program. For more information on reviewing external dependencies, see Review external dependencies between projects in a portfolio.
    • click the show/hide icon (Show or hide columns in Gantt) to show or hide columns.
    Note:
    • A demand is included in the timeline view only if the Expected Start and Due Date fields are populated and if the demand is in qualified or approved state.
    • Admin can customize which columns appear in the column filter list when the show/hide columns icon (Show or hide columns in Gantt) is clicked in the timeline view.
    Project KPI: The tab displays the most recent status of project KPIs such as overall health, schedule, cost, resources, and scope of all the projects in the program. This information is populated from the most recent status report created for the projects.

    You can:

    • click the name of a project in the tab to open the latest status report created for the project.
    • point to a status indicator for a project KPI to view the comments entered for the KPI for that project.
    Cost (Planned vs. Actual): The chart displays the actual costs from all projects in the program compared to the approved budget. The actual cost for projects is derived from the expense lines.
    Note:
    An expense line can be created manually for a project when a specific expense is incurred. For example, if hardware is procured for a project, an expense line can be created for the amount spent on procuring the hardware. If you receive an item using ServiceNow Procurement, an expense line is created automatically. For resource hours, the expense lines are created automatically when the time cards for the project are approved.
    The display settings for the chart can be modified by selecting any of the following from the choice list:
    • Capex: Displays the cost chart for capital expense only.
    • Opex: Displays the cost chart for operating expense only.
    • All: Displays the cost chart for both capital and operating expenses.

    Resource (Allocated vs. Actual): The chart displays the actual resource time spent on all project tasks versus the resource hours allocated to execute the projects and demands in the program. The actual time spent is taken from processed time cards for the projects.

    Figure 1. Program Workbench Example 1
    Timeline view tab in program workbench
    Figure 2. Program Workbench Example 2
    Project KPI tab in program workbench