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The Activity Feed module is intended to line up the communication process among users within the same company, for example, among employees who set tasks and those who handle them.

This functionality allows you to monitor either on Additional Comments or Work Notes left within a record or tracking the record field changes (all record fields or a field set specified by the user).

Activity Feed can be used in table records in both of the main interfaces (agent interface and <![CDATA[Self-Service Portal), which enables the use of the module without specific roles.

Create an activity feed


To use a feed on forms, you need to configure the Activity Feed widget first. To do so, complete the steps below:

  1. Navigate to Portal Structure → Widgets.
  2. Click New to create a new widget.
  3. Fill in the fields as described below.
  4. Click Save or Save and Exit to apply the changes.

After saving the record, it will be available for adding to the record form by the Form Layout functionality as described below.

Add widget to forms


Add an activity feed widget created in the previous step to the record form using the Form Layout functionality. To do so, complete the steps below:

  1. Open the hamburger menu to the top left of the form.
  2. Navigate to the Configure → Form → Layout item and click it.
  3. Find the Activity Feed widget in the Available area and move it to the Selected area.
  4. Click Save to apply the changes. 

After this, your changes are displayed on the record form.

Note

Perform these steps for every form on which you need to enable the Activity Feed functionality since it is not inherited, and every activity feed is related to the specified table.

By default, two activity feed fields are available:

  • Additional Comment
  • Work Note

When the Activity Feed is added to the form with fields of the Journal Input type, these fields are hidden on the form. The Activity Feed displays input fields and activity types corresponding to the hidden ones. Input fields have the same logic as hidden fields. For example, they become mandatory or hidden from the widget under certain conditions.

See the Creating custom activity feed field section of this article to customize your activity feed.

Activity feed default view


After a widget is created and added to a form layout as described above, create a new record or open an existing one to find the activity feed view as shown below (this screenshot is given as an example; the out-of-the-box version in your application may differ).

The Additional Comments and Work Notes fields are both of the Journal Input type and intended for user communication.

  1. The Additional Comments field is for communication with the caller. It may contain progress updates or clarifying questions. These comments are visible to the requestor on the portal view of the record.
  2. The Work Notes field is for internal communications among the task fulfillers (agents). These comments may be technical and can contain information that should not be shared with the caller.
Tip

Comments or work notes can be sent using the Ctrl + Enter keyboard shortcut.

Besides that, the Activity Feed displays the history of field changes. It displays information the fields whose values have been changed.

By selecting the tabs under the input field, you can filter out the displayed information.

SectionDescription
AllThis section displays all field changes and all comments left to this record.
Work NotesThis section allows filtering out only work notes left to this record.
Additional CommentsThis section allows filtering out only additional comments left to this record.
HistoryThis section allows filtering out only record field changes.


Section

Filtration


The displayed information can be filtered for specified users or user roles by using the ACL functionality. Thereby, the activity feed view can look different for users granted different roles. To filter displayed information, Create an ACL Rule for information filtering.

Info

For securing fields that allow you to leave comments on records (such as Additional Comments or Work Notes), create an ACL rule for a corresponding column of the Journal Input type.

Otherwise, you may create an ACL rule that will restrict access to the Activity Types (sys_activity_type) table for specified roles.

In the Activity Column Filters (sys_activity_column_filter) table, activity type settings are saved for each user individually. 

To display changes of the specified fields in the History section instead of all fields changes, use the Select fields handler functionality: 

Anchor
history settings
history settings

  1. Click the three dots on the right to open the kebab menu.
  2. Click the Select fields.
  3. Unselect fields whosechanges should not be displayed in the activity feed.
  4. Click Apply.
Info

If History contains fields that have been changed but are not selected in the Select fields handler, they will be replaced by the No fields selected text:

Even if the field value changes are not displayed here, they are logged and can be reached in the History dictionary.

Create a custom feed type
Anchor
Creating custom activity feed field
Creating custom activity feed field


By default, two commonly used fields of the <![CDATA[Journal Input type are delivered for Task objects; these are the Additional Comment and Work Notes fields.

To add custom journal input fields, complete the steps below:

  1. Navigate to System Definition → All Columns.
  2. Click New and fill in the fields.
  3. Click Save or Save and Exit to apply the changes.
Tip

Another way to add a column is through the related lists in the Table (sys_db_table) record. Open the table you want to add a new activity type to, scroll down to the Related Lists area, open the Columns tab, and click New.



Info

As a result, a new activity type will be created automatically by the system in the Activity Type (sys_activity_type) table.

Configure a feed set


You can easily configure the set of activity feed fields using the <![CDATA[Form layout functionality.

To add or remove an activity feed field, perform the following steps:

  1. Open the record form that you need to configure.
  2. In the hamburger menu , navigate to Configure → Form → Layout.
  3. In the Section field, select the section containing the Activity Feed.
  4. Move the field of the <![CDATA[Journal Input type:
    • from the Available section to Selected to add the field to the Activity Feed.
    • from the Selected section to Available to remove the field from the Activity Feed.
  5. Click Save.
Info

When creating a new record, you will see the Journal Input fields as regular fields. In saved records, these fields are included into the Activity Feed.

Customization


To configure a new activity feed field, complete the steps below:

  1. Navigate to Activity Feed → Activity Types.
  2. Open the activity you need and fill in the fields.
  3. Click Save or Save and Exit to apply the changes.


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