Configure and apply templates

You can configure templates to specify what data needs to be logged and how it is to be processed. To do this, open the Recording Service website and click Templates in the navigation menu. Here you can add, change, or remove a template. A Default template is created during the Recording Service installation process. You can add and customize new templates.

The Templates page displays basic information on templates, and allows you to review the default template setting or add a custom template. All options available in the default template can be set in your custom template as well.

If your account is not added to the Admin AD Security group specified during the Recording Service installation, you will not have access to the site.

To configure and apply templates:

  1. Open the Recording Service website and clickTemplates in the navigation menu.

  2. In the Template name column, click Default. Review and modify the available options if required.

    The Default template cannot be renamed or deleted.

    • Start recording when assigned to Recorder – If enabled, this starts recording user actions after you assigned a template to a Recorder. The automatic start recording option is disabled by default.

    • Record screenshots –User activity and screenshots of the applications used are recorded in logs by default. Disable this option if you do not need to save screenshots.

    • Record extended application info – Enables the logging of the additional information required to generate a Blue Prism Capture JSON file. Enable this option if you plan to export processes from Process Intelligence for import and further refinement in Blue Prism applications.

    • Obfuscate user data – Allows protecting sensitive information and ensuring data security by encrypting records in text logs and blurring data in screenshots. Enabled by default.

    • Scheduled recording – Enables the scheduling of recording sessions of user activity for the Recorder instance.

    • Merge data from multiple hosts – Enables the logging a user's activities in one log if the user works on multiple machines, for example, PC and remote desktop.

      If different tags were added to each Recorder instance during installation, they will be listed separated by commas in the resulting log. During the logging process, the list of tags may not display immediately.

      The following conditions must be met before using this option:

      • The Recorder is installed on every machine a user works on, and all Recorder instances display under the Recorders tab. In the Host column you can see the machine name visible on the network within the Active Directory domain.
      • Each of the Recorder instances must be set to use the same template.

    • Application list – The options to use excluded or included lists can significantly reduce the amount of unwanted data in the project and make analyzing tasks and processes easier. This becomes very important when dealing with large datasets that include important events. Such events can be harder to understand and analyze when there are a lot of case and path variants and deviations which are further complicated by unnecessary data.

      The default template contains a predefined excluded list, which includes the most popular messengers. Some of the information in them may not be related to the tasks that a user performs. To exclude the logging in the desired messenger, enable the Excluded List option and mark an item.

      For more information on setting up Excluded and Included lists, see Exclude and include applications.

    • Transformations
      Transformations allow you to find and replace text in logs in order to redact sensitive information, such as email addresses or IDs. This option complements the Obfuscate user data feature. For example, transformations allow you to replace an URL or some text in logs that should remain confidential, while obfuscation allows you only to mask text data or blurs information in screenshots.
      By default, there are no transformations specified. To add transformations to the template, you need to add them to the Transformations tab in advance. When adding a transformation, you must specify:

      • Regular expression – This will be used to search for text in the recorded logs.

      • Replacement– Enter a string to replace the found text.

        Transformations added to a template are applied during the log recording to which the template is assigned. Transformations cannot be undone. For more information on using transformations, see Add and apply transformations.

  3. Click Recorders in the navigation menu to assign the template to a Recorder instance.

    The list of connected recorders displays.

    1. Mark the recorder instance on which you want to set up a template and start recording.

      The Host column displays the machine names that are visible on the network in the Active Directory domain. The Tag column displays tags added during the installation of Recorder instances.

    2. Click Set Template.

      The list of available templates displays.

    3. Click the template you want to use, and then click Select.

    4. The recording runs automatically when the Start recording when assigned to Recorder option is enabled in the template. If this doesn't happen, click Start to run the recording.