Activity Stream Overview
The activity stream is the timeline attached to a record: what happened to it, in order, from creation to now.
Where to find it
Architect Panel → Data:
- Activity Stream — every entry in the system, filterable by record and type
Architect Panel → Activity:
- Activity Log — the separate technical log of who did what in the platform
What an entry holds
- Record — the datastore and record it belongs to.
- Type — system, status, note, call or email.
- Author — who or what created it.
- Subject and body — the content.
- Attachments.
- Visibility — internal or public.
- Created — the timestamp that orders the timeline.
The five types
- System — written automatically when something happens to the record.
- Status — a change of state, recorded as its own entry so the timeline shows progression.
- Note — somebody wrote something down.
- Call — a telephone conversation was logged.
- Email — correspondence attached to the record.
Why automatic and manual entries share a timeline
Because the question people actually ask is "what happened to this?", and the answer interleaves both. A status change at 10:04, a customer's email at 10:31, an agent's note at 10:35 and an automated assignment at 10:36 only make sense read together.
Split them into separate logs and reconstructing that sequence becomes a manual exercise with two timestamps columns, which is exactly the work the timeline exists to remove.
Not the same as the Activity Log
The Activity Log under the Activity section is a different thing: a technical record of actions taken in the platform, for security and audit. The activity stream is the business-facing history of one record.
Use the Activity Log to answer "who accessed this and when". Use the activity stream to answer "what is the story of this case".
System entries are the backbone
They are written without anybody remembering to, which makes them the reliable part of the timeline. Manual entries are richer but discretionary; a timeline of only manual entries has gaps wherever somebody was busy.
Attachments belong on the entry
Attaching a file to the entry rather than to the record puts it in context — the photograph attached to the note explaining the damage, rather than in a general pile of files where its significance is lost.
The timeline is the handover
The practical value shows when somebody else picks the record up. A well-kept timeline means a colleague can take over without a conversation, and a customer's "I spoke to someone last week" can be answered rather than apologised for.
Worked example
A complaint record's timeline reads: created from a web form (system), acknowledged (status), customer telephoned with more detail (call, with a note of what was agreed), investigation note with a photograph attached (note), response sent (email), closed (status). Six entries, and anybody can read the whole matter in under a minute.
Recommendations
- Keep one timeline per record rather than notes scattered across fields.
- Log calls at the time, not at the end of the day.
- Attach files to the entry that explains them.
- Do not use the stream for technical auditing — that is the Activity Log's job.