HRM To-Dos Summary widget not showing newly created task until browser refresh (Australia)

[TomerP]

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Hello experts,

We are experiencing an issue after upgrading to Australia.

Scenario

We have an HR Lifecycle Event process where:

1. Employee completes several document tasks.
2. The final document task is signed by the employee.
3. An After Business Rule checks whether this was the last task before the final task should be created and updates a field on the Lifecycle Event record.
4. The Activity Set condition evaluates successfully.
5. Approximately 5-10 seconds later, the final document task is created.
6. During this delay, the HRM To-Dos Summary widget displays:

"You don't have any tasks right now."

1. The newly created task exists in the database but is not displayed in the widget until the user manually refreshes the browser (F5).

As a result, many users assume they have completed all required tasks and leave the portal.

Additional information

• Environment: Employee Center
• Widget: HRM To-Dos Summary
• HRSD Lifecycle Events
• The new task is created successfully
• No ACL or permission differences between affected users
• All users use the same Employee Center page

What makes this strange

This worked correctly in Yokohama. The next task appeared automatically as soon as it was created.

After upgrading to Australia, the issue occurs for some users but not all users, despite identical roles and access.

What we have already tried

• Changed the Business Rule from After to Before
• Created the final task initially in Draft and then updated it to Work in Progress
• Investigated record watcher behavior in the widget
• Verified that the task is created correctly in the database

The delay still occurs and the widget remains in the empty state until a manual refresh.

Question

Is there a known change in Australia related to the HRM To-Dos Summary widget, record watchers, or task refresh behavior?

Is there a supported way to force the widget to detect and render a newly created HR task when it is created a few seconds after the previous task is completed, without requiring a browser refresh?

Any guidance or similar experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[sanjaygupta]

Hi,

This looks more like a widget refresh or record-watcher issue introduced after the Australia upgrade than a task creation problem. Since the task is successfully created and appears after an F5 refresh, the issue is likely with how the HRM To-Dos Summary widget detects newly created records.

I'd check the following before changing the Business Rule:

• Verify whether the widget's record watcher is receiving updates when the new HR task is created.

• Check the browser console for client-side errors.

• Compare the HRM To-Dos Summary widget behavior between Yokohama and Australia.

• Review any customizations to the OOTB widget and its server-side scripts.

• Check whether the task creation transaction completes before the widget refreshes its data.

If the OOTB widget isn't refreshing automatically, consider a supported client-side refresh mechanism rather than modifying the task creation Business Rule.

I'd avoid adding repeated polling or modifying the OOTB widget directly, as this can introduce performance issues and upgrade conflicts.

Since this started after upgrading to Australia, I'd also raise a ServiceNow Support case with the reproduction steps and affected widget details. There may be a release-specific issue that needs an official fix.

Reference: ServiceNow Community – HRM To-Dos Summary widget not showing newly created task

Hope you find this helpful.