Scope entities to discover processing activities with personal information

task australia Updated Sep 10, 2026 2 min read scope-entities-with-pi.md

Determine which entities have and process personal information using the ServiceNow® Configuration Management Database (CMDB) application.

Before you begin

Ensure that you created the CMDB queries. For more information on the CMDB queries, see Querying the CMDB.

Role required: sn_privacy.manager

About this task

In the Configuration Management Database (CMDB), you can search the database for entities that process personal data using one of the following methods:

Using the predefined queries and selecting only those applications and processes that have associated information objects. For more information about information objects and their role in Privacy Management, see Information objects in Privacy Management. For information on how to scope entities with personal information, see Scope entities to discover processing activities with personal information
Building your own query. For more information on building the CMDB queries, see Querying the CMDB

To filter entities that contain personal data, you must filter the entities using the appropriate queries. ServiceNow® provides two default queries for you to use to filter entities with personal data. The default queries are provided for the following tables:

Business process
Business application

You can also create your own queries. This procedure demonstrates using the default queries.

Procedure

Navigate to All > Privacy Workspace > Scoping > Entity types.
Open the entity you want to filter for personal information.
Click the Entity Filters related list.
Click New.

The Entity Filter form is displayed.
In the Filter conditions section, in the Entity filter type field, select Select from predefined queries.
In the Query field, select Business applications by IO.

The Table field is automatically set.
To add more information objects that contain personal information such as email address, click Information objects and type Email.
Click Submit.

Example

[Omitted image "entity-filters-io.png"] Alt text: Predefined queries with associated information objects.

Parent Topic:Entity scoping to plan a privacy program

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---
title: Scope entities to discover processing activities with personal information
description: Determine which entities have and process personal information using the ServiceNow Configuration Management Database \(CMDB\) application.
locale: en-US
canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/governance-risk-compliance/privacy-workspace/scope-entities-with-pi.html
release: australia
product: Privacy Workspace
classification: privacy-workspace
topic_type: task
last_updated: "2026-09-10"
reading_time_minutes: 2
breadcrumb: [Entity scoping to plan a privacy program, Use, Privacy Management, Governance, Risk, and Compliance]
---

# Scope entities to discover processing activities with personal information

Determine which entities have and process personal information using the ServiceNow® Configuration Management Database \(CMDB\) application.

## Before you begin

Ensure that you created the CMDB queries. For more information on the CMDB queries, see [Querying the CMDB](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/servicenow-platform/querying-cmdb.md).

Role required: sn\_privacy.manager

## About this task

In the Configuration Management Database \(CMDB\), you can search the database for entities that process personal data using one of the following methods:

- Using the predefined queries and selecting only those applications and processes that have associated information objects. For more information about information objects and their role in Privacy Management, see [Information objects in Privacy Management](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/governance-risk-compliance/privacy-workspace/information-object-in-privacy.md). For information on how to scope entities with personal information, see [Scope entities to discover processing activities with personal information](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/governance-risk-compliance/privacy-workspace/scope-entities-with-pi.md)
- Building your own query. For more information on building the CMDB queries, see [Querying the CMDB](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/servicenow-platform/querying-cmdb.md)

- Business process
- Business application

You can also create your own queries. This procedure demonstrates using the default queries.

## Procedure

1. Navigate to **All** &gt; **Privacy Workspace** &gt; **Scoping** &gt; **Entity types**.

2. Open the entity you want to filter for personal information.

3. Click the Entity Filters related list.

4. Click **New**.

The Entity Filter form is displayed.

5. In the Filter conditions section, in the **Entity filter type** field, select **Select from predefined queries**.

6. In the Query field, select **Business applications by IO**.

The **Table** field is automatically set.

7. To add more information objects that contain personal information such as email address, click **Information objects** and type `Email`.

8. Click **Submit**.

## Example

\[Omitted image "entity-filters-io.png"\] Alt text: Predefined queries with associated information objects.

**Parent Topic:**[Entity scoping to plan a privacy program](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/governance-risk-compliance/privacy-workspace/entity-scoping-in-privacy-mgmt.md)