---
sourceDocument: Yokohama Platform Analytics
sourceDocumentLink: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/yokohama/now-intelligence

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    - yokohama

ft:locale :

    - en-US

ft:publication_title :

    - Yokohama Platform Analytics

ft:clusterId :

    - par

bundleId :

    - par

workflow :

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---

# User privacy, tracking, and consent

# User privacy, tracking, and user consent management in User Experience Analytics {#ariaid-title1}

* Release version: Yokohama
* 
* Updated January 30, 2025
* 
* ![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 1 minute to read

User Experience Analytics relies on tracking user activity to measure the adoption, retention, and usage of KPIs (key performance indicators) to help you make better product and implementation decisions.

## Tracking users in User Experience Analytics {#user-exp-analytics-track-options__section_unv_zsx_gsb}

User Experience Analytics can be used to track user behavior across  ServiceNow
Core UI, Next Experience, Portal, and Mobile applications.  User Experience Analytics used on web and mobile applications collects limited information about the users themselves.

User Experience Analytics doesn't store the user ID. Instead, it uses a one-way SHA256 hash of the sys_id, stored on the sys_user_table as "Hashed User ID", to identify the same user consistently across
multiple devices. This way, User Experience Analytics can anonymize users while retaining the ability to connect individual users to their session data consistently. This one-way hash also enables customers to reconnect their User Experience Analytics data to personally identifiable information available on the sys_user table if they choose.

The hash isn't salted intentionally. This way, customers can obtain the ID of a specific user they want to track, apply a SHA256 on that ID (for example here: [SHA-256 hash calculator](https://xorbin.com/tools/sha256-hash-calculator)), and then use the output to filter the data for a specific User ID.

By default, User Experience Analytics translates the end user's IP address to a city level location, which is stored. However, the IP address isn't stored.  
Note:  
Geolocation information may be considered personally identifiable information (PII).

Administrators can configure analytics tracking preferences across all tracked applications via user consent management (UCM). This capability provides the flexibility to customize the consent policy for each country and to
select how the location of the user is detected.  
Some of the options available to you with user consent management are:

* Applying different tracking consent policies to individual countries.
* Tracking specific users or tracking users with specific roles.
* Defining how to detect your users' location.
{#user-exp-analytics-track-options__ul_c4x_zbw_fyb}
* **[How users consent to tracking in User Experience Analytics](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/UE9zJ7XhgTvfSznlSKKKaA)**   
  An individual can select to opt in or opt out of User Experience Analytics advanced tracking at any time.
* **[Types of tracking consent policies in User Experience Analytics](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/WM_NUsDTcmzokMnD1ULvjA)**   
  There are five types of tracking consent policies that you can define for individual countries. This option provides you with the flexibility to define tracking policies according to your own compliance requirements, applicable country requirements, and even according to users or roles.
* **[Define how to detect your user's location](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/~C~PT5vBxSfqXo0DxWRLRw)**   
  Detect your users by selecting and prioritizing a detection policy. You can also define the order in which these policies apply. There are predefined detection policies, but you can create custom scripts to give more flexibility to your definitions.
* **[Tracked analytics fields and cookies](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/G_tp8BSuxMLx3UJrOC46nA)**   
  User Experience Analytics tracks data from several sources, including web and mobile analytics fields, and client-side cookies.
* **[Add user properties as filters to User Experience Analytics](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/_qiAbU4yOToGsPkILmXJxA)**   
  In addition to the default filters on the pages of the User Experience Analytics application, you can add filters based on user properties. This allows you to effectively segment your User Experience Analytics data to develop a deeper understanding of your users and their usage patterns. User properties-based filters are supported as global filters for all pages and objects in the User Experience Analytics application.