Uses of a processing activity in Privacy Management

concept brazil Updated Sep 10, 2026 1 min read states-of-pa.md

A processing activity is a record that processes personal data. Examples of such records are a business process or a business application of an organization. Processing activities enable the privacy management teams to understand how personal information is being processed or used.

To understand more details about a processing activity, refer to Processing activities. A processing activity helps the privacy teams to record the following details:

Processing activity details such as the business unit it belongs to, data subject type, data storage location, and so on.
[PI] Information objects that are being processed as a part of this processing activity.
Past and ongoing privacy assessments.
Controls that are applied to the processing activity and the respective control attestation responses.
Issues and policy exceptions associated with this processing activity.

The following image shows the Overview tab of a processing activity.

[Omitted image "processing-activity-prm-hr-onboarding-sample.png"] Alt text: A processing activity record.

Workflow of a processing activity
A processing activity workflow helps the privacy analysts to manage the life cycle of a processing activity.

Parent Topic:Privacy Management reference

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---
title: Uses of a processing activity in Privacy Management
description: A processing activity is a record that processes personal data. Examples of such records are a business process or a business application of an organization. Processing activities enable the privacy management teams to understand how personal information is being processed or used.
locale: en-US
canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/governance-risk-compliance/privacy-workspace/states-of-pa.html
release: brazil
product: Privacy Workspace
classification: privacy-workspace
topic_type: concept
last_updated: "2026-09-10"
reading_time_minutes: 1
breadcrumb: [Reference, Privacy Management, Governance, Risk, and Compliance]
---

# Uses of a processing activity in Privacy Management

To understand more details about a processing activity, refer to [Processing activities](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/brazil/markdown/governance-risk-compliance/privacy-workspace/ropa-record.md). A processing activity helps the privacy teams to record the following details:

- Processing activity details such as the business unit it belongs to, data subject type, data storage location, and so on.
- \[PI\] Information objects that are being processed as a part of this processing activity.
- Past and ongoing privacy assessments.
- Controls that are applied to the processing activity and the respective control attestation responses.
- Issues and policy exceptions associated with this processing activity.

The following image shows the Overview tab of a processing activity.

\[Omitted image "processing-activity-prm-hr-onboarding-sample.png"\] Alt text: A processing activity record.

- **[Workflow of a processing activity](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/brazil/markdown/governance-risk-compliance/privacy-workspace/stages-pa.md)**
A processing activity workflow helps the privacy analysts to manage the life cycle of a processing activity.

**Parent Topic:**[Privacy Management reference](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/brazil/markdown/governance-risk-compliance/privacy-workspace/privacy-mgmt-reference.md)