Do you use the "Reason" field on the sys_audit table?

[Philippe Casidy]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if I could use the sys_audit.reason field to document why a field was updated for audit purposed.

It is convenient to update via grRecord.update("The reason I am doing the update");

But after, I realize that this field does not seems exposed to admin without going to sys_audit. When I look at the history of a record, ServiceNow will display the sys_history_set for this record but it does not show the reason field here.

So, I do not see any valid use case

I am starting to think that the sys_audit.reason can be a relic from the past.

Please let me know about your experience with this field. I am curious.

Thanks

Philippe

[its_SumitNow · Accepted solution]

Hi @Philippe Casidy 

Exactly your conclusion is correct. The sys_audit.reason field is not a practical tool for documenting the justification for an update in a way that is visible to auditors or administrators through standard platform interfaces.

The modern, accepted best practice is to store the reason for an update in a dedicated, user-visible field on the record itself, most commonly Work Notes (work_notes) or Additional Comments

Regards

Sumit

[Philippe Casidy]

I was hoping more people would join this conversation.
The big advantages I see with the reason field on the sys_audit is that the reason is then recorded per updated field. Looking at the audit, you can see exactly all the impacted fields. Adding a note in a journal will have you to go to the sys_audit table anyway to check all the details... and no additional code required.