Activity Stream Filtering

[jamesmcwhinney]

We have a requirement to filter out emails from a specific sender from the activity stream, and possibly apply other advanced filters as well.

Is anyone aware of a way this can be achieved?

Thanks in advance

- James

[LaurentChicoine]

Not sure about your specific requirement but you can use a query business rule on the sys_email table to protect the content of the emails, however, the email will still show in the activities.

Another way is to put the query business rule on the sys_history_line table which does not directly work. This table is special as it is in fact 4 tables used in rotation: sys_history_line0000, sys_history_line0001, sys_history_line0002, sys_history_line0003

So the business rule on the sys_history_line table directly does not work. The 4 tables are filtered out from the business rule form, but you can still pick them by doing a list edit in the business rules list. However, this is not necessarily a long term solution as with the evolution of the needs, ServiceNow could add more tables in the rotation, which would result in inconstant result because when the data is in the right table it would be hidden but if it's not in one of the tables where the BR is defined, then the email would show up.

Both business rules options give you the possibility to make these rules apply only for specific roles or lack of roles as it is a business rule.

Another option could be to unlink the email from the ticket. The relation is made with the Target field in the sys_email table. So you could try to have a before (or after) business rule that set the target empty when certain criteria are met. Not sure about when the business rule should run, as you may sometimes need to take action on the ticket.

[jamesmcwhinney]

Thanks Laurent,

Is there no way I can adjust the logic of the activity stream itself?

(other than using that little filter button which doesnt give me the granularity that I need)

[LaurentChicoine]

Hi James, from my knowledge, I don't know any supported ways that logic can be added to the activities, so other than creating a dynamic query on the sys_history_line tables, I don't see anything, maybe somebody else could have an insight on this.

[jamesmcwhinney]

How about a way to set everyone's filter settings such that "Sent/Receive Emails" is unchecked?