When sorting a list in a report on a variable, the action gets stored as a user preference for the table - Known Error

When sorting a list in a report on a variable, the action gets stored as a user preference for the table Description If a user creates a report against a tbe that uses variables (eg sc_task) and creates a list view report, they have the option of adding variables to the list of columns . This is ok until a user sorts on a variable column. When this happens, the user's User Preference record is updated with this selection and used going forward for that table. This causes performance issues when loading a normal list view (Service Catalog --> Open Records --> Tasks or sc_task.list) as this can potentially bring back thousands to millions of records that are now trying to sort on a variable that may have nothing to do with the list results.

Removing the user preference record from the User Preferences table and logging back into the instance resolves the issue of long load times for that table.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Log into an instance 2. Navigate to the User Preferences table (https:// .service-now.com/nav_to.do?uri=%2Fsys_user_preference_list.do) 3. See if there is a sort defined for the task table (name = sc_task.db.order) 4. If there is one defined, delete the record (optional) 5. Goto Reports --> Create New

On the Data Tab 6. Set the Report Name to anything 7.Set the Source Type to Table 8. Set the Table to Catalog Task [sc_task]

On The Type Tab 9. Set the report type to List

On the Configure Tab 10.Click on the Choose coulmns button 11. Scroll to the bottom of the list and click on 'Variables' 12. In the middle of the slush bucket click on the expansion button above the > button. A new window should pop up. 13. Select a catalog item that has variables (I used 'Paper and Supplies') 14. The original slush bucket should now contain the variables for the item selcted. Move one to the right side of the list and click OK 15. You should now see the variable in the list view of the report. 16. Sort on the variable. 17. Go back to the User Preferences Table an search for name = sc_task.db.order 18. You should see a record where the value looks similar to this: variables.42096b003702300054b6a3549dbe5d41

Workaround Go to user preferences and remove records where name contains '*.db.order' and value starts with the word 'variables'

This will remove the sort on a report if the sort was done in the list view against a column defined as a variable.

Any column used to sort data in a report from the list itself will create/update the default sort order to that table for that user.