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CSA 06 - Reporting, Knowledge, and Platform Applications

Reporting and dashboards, plus the application-level content the exam expects an administrator to recognize.

Reporting

  • Report - a saved visualization of data from one table or database view.
  • Report types - bar, column, pie, donut, line, time series, trend, pivot, single score, list, and map.
  • Data source for a report - a table or a database view when data from joined tables is needed. A report cannot join tables by itself.
  • Group by - the dimension for aggregation.
  • Aggregation - count, sum, average, minimum, maximum.
  • Filter and conditions - which records are included.
  • Stacked by - a second dimension in bar and column charts.
  • Drill-down - clicking a chart segment to reach the underlying records.
  • Sharing - reports can be shared with users, groups, or roles, published to a dashboard, or scheduled by email.
  • Scheduled report - emailed on a schedule as PDF, CSV, or Excel.

Report permissions - report_user can create personal reports, report_publisher can publish and share, and report_admin administers reporting. Sharing a report does not bypass ACLs: recipients see only records they are allowed to see, so two users can open the same report and see different row counts. That behavior is a favorite exam question.

Dashboards and Performance Analytics

  • Dashboard - a page of widgets, typically reports.
  • Widget - a dashboard element: a report, a filter, or content.
  • Interactive filter - a dashboard control that filters multiple widgets at once.
  • Responsive dashboard - the current dashboard framework.
  • Performance Analytics (PA) - trend analysis over time using indicators and scores collected on a schedule. It answers "how has this changed over months," which reporting cannot, because reports show current data only.
  • Indicator - the metric PA collects.
  • Scorecard - the display of an indicator over time with targets and breakdowns.

Reporting is a snapshot of current data; Performance Analytics is a time series built from scheduled collections. That distinction is examined.

Knowledge Management

  • Knowledge base - a container of articles with its own ownership and access rules.
  • Article lifecycle - draft, review, published, retired.
  • Article template - a standard structure, for example how-to or troubleshooting.
  • User criteria - defines who can read or contribute to a knowledge base. This is the access mechanism for knowledge, not ACLs.
  • Can Read / Cannot Read / Can Contribute / Cannot Contribute - the four user-criteria assignments on a knowledge base. Cannot-Read takes precedence over Can-Read.
  • Knowledge feedback - ratings, comments, and flags for review.
  • Search and relevance - articles surface in the portal and in the platform search.

Service Portal

  • Portal - the end-user experience, composed of pages built from widgets.
  • Widget - a reusable component with HTML, CSS, client script, and server script.
  • Theme - branding: colors, logos, fonts.
  • Page - a portal route with a unique ID.

At CSA level you are expected to know the components and how to brand a portal, not to write widgets.

Core applications an administrator meets

  • ITSM - Incident, Problem, Change, Request, Knowledge, and the CMDB underpinning them.
  • ITOM - Discovery, Service Mapping, Event Management, Orchestration.
  • ITBM / SPM - project and portfolio management.
  • HR Service Delivery - HR cases and employee service.
  • CSM - customer service management.
  • SecOps - security incident response and vulnerability response.
  • GRC - governance, risk, and compliance.

CSA is platform-focused, so these appear as recognition questions rather than deep content.

Integrations at CSA level

  • REST and SOAP - the platform is both a provider and a consumer of web services.
  • Table API - the standard REST interface for CRUD on any table.
  • REST API Explorer - the built-in tool for constructing and testing calls.
  • Inbound email actions - create or update records from received email.
  • Email accounts and notifications - outbound configuration.
  • IntegrationHub - low-code integration actions used inside Flow Designer spokes.
  • MID Server - an on-premises Java application that lets the cloud instance reach systems inside a customer network without exposing them to the internet. This is the answer whenever an integration must reach an internal, non-internet-facing system.

Instance security and administration

  • Instance security hardening settings - a documented checklist including session timeouts, password policies, and blocking of high-risk features.
  • High Security Settings plugin - introduces the security_admin elevated role and default-deny behavior.
  • Login and session management - SSO via SAML, multi-factor authentication, and the local login fallback.
  • System logs and transaction logs - diagnosing errors and slow transactions.

Exam pointers

  • A report sees only records the viewing user is permitted to see, even when shared.
  • Reports need a database view to combine data from multiple tables.
  • Performance Analytics provides trends over time; reports show current data.
  • User criteria, not ACLs, control knowledge base access, and Cannot-Read wins.
  • A MID Server is what lets the instance reach systems inside the customer network.
  • Interactive filters apply across multiple dashboard widgets at once.

Official documentation

📖 Reporting - report types and sharing 📖 Knowledge Management - user criteria and article lifecycle 📖 MID Server - architecture and use cases 📖 Now Learning CSA path - official curriculum