Evidence

Evidence makes process outcomes understandable and reviewable after the immediate work is finished. Capture enough information for an authorized reviewer to locate the source, confirm the result, and understand the decision.

What Evidence Is

Evidence is information that supports a process decision or shows that work was completed. It gives another person enough context to verify the outcome without relying only on the person who performed the work.

Evidence can be:

• an attachment, such as a quote, test report, signed document, or screenshot;
• a durable reference to a record in another system, such as a ticket number, approval ID, shipment confirmation, or test-run ID;
• a completion note or approval rationale that explains the result;
• submitted form data captured while a transition is completed.

Evidence supports the process record, but it does not replace the authoritative business record. For example, PROCESS can store a sales quote number as evidence while CPQ remains the system that owns the quote.

Build a Reviewable Record

Capture evidence when the work occurs, while the source document, external record, and decision context are still easy to locate. A reviewer should be able to answer what happened, who acted, when it happened, and where to find the supporting record.

Use an attachment when the document belongs with the case. Use a reference when the record remains in another system. Add a brief completion note when the reference alone cannot explain the outcome. Do not include credentials, tokens, or unnecessary personal information in a note or attachment.

Evidence and the Audit Trail

Evidence is the supporting material supplied by users or forms. The audit trail is the history PROCESS records about the lifecycle, including state changes, actors, and timestamps. Together they show both why work moved forward and what changed.

The process detail page combines attachments, task completion records, transition comments, submitted transition forms, state-change history, and dwell time. A task completion shows that assigned work occurred, while a transition records the authorized decision that changed the lifecycle.

Tenant administrators can choose Investigate Timing from the process record to open its process-scoped analytics timeline. That view connects state dwell, touch and wait time, task timing, historical ownership, delay reasons, and interventions to this specific run. It supplements the audit history; it does not replace the recorded transition or task evidence.

Before approving or releasing a case, review the current state, required work, and evidence together. If a result is incomplete or cannot be verified, keep the case in its current state or use the defined exception path. Administrators manage the evidence retention policy.

Attachments

Upload files under Attachments on the process detail page. Each attachment records its name, uploader, and time. Use Export manifest to obtain the evidence inventory; individual files remain available for download.

Protected variables, task evidence, form submissions, and attachments follow the tenant's analytics reporting policy. Viewing or downloading that material requires tenant-administrator access and Allow Variable Details. When the permission is disabled, protected sections and deep links are unavailable and audit exports show [REDACTED] instead of task evidence content. PROCESS applies the same check to the process page, investigation, downloads, and exports.

Completion Records

Task completion can include an external reference and note. Transitions can require a comment or a form. The page also shows task evidence, state-change history, who acted, and time spent in each state.

Use references that allow a reviewer to find the authoritative record: for example, an approval ID, service ticket, test run, shipment confirmation, or external-system correlation ID.

Decide What To Capture

Ask what a reviewer would need to confirm the result months later. Capture the final approved or completed artifact when that artifact belongs with the process. When another system remains authoritative, capture its stable identifier, the relevant result, and enough context to distinguish the record from similar items.

Evidence should be proportional to the decision. Routine work may need a reference and short result. A financial, safety, compliance, or customer-impacting decision may need a signed document, test output, named approval, and rationale. Follow the organization’s classification and retention rules for sensitive material.

Use Clear File And Reference Details

Give attachments descriptive names that identify their purpose and version. Avoid ambiguous names such as document.pdf or final2.xlsx. Before uploading, open the file and confirm that it belongs to the correct entity and does not contain unrelated confidential information.

For an external reference, include the source system when it is not obvious. A concise entry such as ServiceNow CHG0042187 — implemented successfully is more useful than a pasted URL with no explanation. Links can change; a durable record ID lets a reviewer search the authoritative system.

Correct Problems Without Hiding History

If evidence is wrong or incomplete, add the correct evidence and explain the relationship between the records according to your organization’s procedure. Contact an administrator when sensitive information was attached accidentally or a retention question requires formal review.

The audit trail preserves accountability. A later correction adds context; it does not rewrite who took the original action or when the lifecycle changed.

Review Evidence Efficiently

Begin with the outcome being verified, then read the transition comment or form response, relevant task completion, and supporting attachment or reference. Check that dates, entity identifiers, and named results agree. If they conflict, keep the process in review or use the defined rework path until the discrepancy is resolved.