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How to apply audit data to fix inaccurate journal entries in a record's activity formatter, secondary to an export/import. - Support and Troubleshooting
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  • How to apply audit data to fix inaccurate journal entries in a record's activity formatter, secondary to an export/import.
KB0686209

How to apply audit data to fix inaccurate journal entries in a record's activity formatter, secondary to an export/import.


2144 Views Last updated : Jun 14, 2023 public Copy Permalink
KB Summary by Now Assist

Issue

Overview


This applies mostly to task-based records such as Incident, Problem, Change Request, etc...   any record which may have comments, work notes, or other journal fields displayed on a form via some sort of Activity Formatter.

These entries should be identical following a clone, but sometimes these types of records are moved by other means, such as Export to XML, followed by an XML Import.

 

Figure Legend


Figure 1.1 - displays an original activity feed.  This incident is one which may be exported.

Figure 1.1

 

Figure 2.1 - displays a common example of what a user may see after importing a record.  You can see the conversation appears out of order and does not have the expected timestamps.

Figure 2.1

 

Figure 3.1 - this is the history view of an incident.  We will use the Delete action in this KB.

Figure 3.1

 

Figure 4.1 - this is the audit [sys_audit] data which is missing on the target instance.  We see how to export all necessary data from the originating instance in this screenshot.

Figure 4.1

Steps to Relief


  1. In the originating instance, copy the Sys_ID of the record (ex: navigate to INC0010017 and copy the Sys_ID)
  2. Still in the originating instance, navigate to <instanceName>.service-now.com/sys_audit_list.do?sysparm_filter_only=true
  3. Build a filter where Document Key is <record_sys_id> and Run.  You should see results similar to Figure 4.1.
  4. If needed, you can sort or match to only display the affected journal fields. Look in the Field Name column for something like Comments or work_notes.
  5. Right-click and select Export >> XML.
  6. Navigate to the target instance. 
    • The target instance should already have the affected record imported and exhibit the issue (Figure 2.1)
  7. Navigate to any list in the target instance and use the Import XML option to import the file downloaded from Step 5.
  8. Navigate to the target record (Figure 2.1 again)
  9. Right-click the form header and select History >> List.  You should see something similar to Figure 3.1.
  10. Select the Delete UI Action.
  11. Now the target record should reload, and the Formatter should use the new [sys_audit] data to correctly render the journal entries.  The instances should now match.

 


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