Automation Policy Emails are Received Blank or Missing Report Data

Products

IT Management Suite

Issue/Introduction

You have noticed that Automation Policies configured to send email reports are successfully delivering the email, but the message body is empty or missing the expected report results. While the report displays data correctly when viewed manually within the Symantec Management Platform (SMP) Console, the automated delivery fails to include this information.

Environment

ITMS 8.7.x, 8.8.x

Cause

This issue typically occurs when the Automation Policy task is not correctly configured to parse report results, or when environmental restrictions (such as report size or timeout settings) prevent the data from being injected into the email body. The most common technical cause is a missing or improperly formatted %!Results!% token or a mismatch in the "Evaluation Rule" settings.

The root cause is usually one of the following:

Missing Token: The Email Task body lacks the %!Results!% token required to pull data from the policy’s data source.
Evaluation Rule Mismatch: The policy is set to run even when the data source is empty, or the query fails to return results during the scheduled background execution.
Data Volume/Timeout: The report returns too many rows, causing the email generation to time out or exceed size limits for inline HTML.
Task Corruption: The specific "Send automation policy e-mail" task has become corrupted or modified incorrectly.

In ITMS, the %!Message!% and %!Results!% variables are markup tokens used in Automation Policy Tasks (typically a clone of the Send automation policy e-mail task) to define how content is inserted into the email body Send an E-mail with an Inline Report Using an Automation Policy.

Usage of the Variables

%!Message!%: This variable acts as a placeholder for the text you enter in the "Message" input field of the automation policy. It allows you to insert custom instructions or context into the email Send an E-mail with an Inline Report Using an Automation Policy.
%!Results!%: This variable is used to insert the actual data from the report associated with the automation policy. Depending on your configuration, it can populate the email with results in HTML, CSV, or Text formats Send an E-mail with an Inline Report Using an Automation Policy.

%!Message!%: Set the Data Source to Custom and enter your desired text.
Send an E-mail with an Inline Report Using an Automation Policy.

%!Results!%: Set the Data Source to Report as HTML (for formatted tables), Report as CSV, or Report as Text.
Send an E-mail with an Inline Report Using an Automation Policy.

Resolution

1. Verify Task Configuration and Tokens

The most frequent cause of blank emails is the absence of the results token in the task assigned to the Automation Policy.

On the SMP Console, navigate to Manage > Jobs and Tasks > System Jobs and Tasks > Notification Server > Automation Policy Tasks.
Locate the specific Send Email task used by your Automation Policy.
Note: cloning the Send automation policy e-mail task is the most common approach
In the Message section, ensure that %!Results!% is present in the body.
- Note: If using custom HTML, ensure the token is not hidden inside a malformed tag.
  
  Note:
  Just to check if there is an issue with the default HTML provided in the "Send automation policy e-mail" task, you can try:
  1. Modify "Send automation policy e-mail" task or similar ones to add the results without HTML formatting.
    1. For example - clone the "Send automation policy e-mail" task.
    2. Replace the message content
  with just:
  
  %!Message!%
  %!Results!%
  1. Then select this new task in the automation policy and set up the parameters as you did before. And you'll receive correct results with the proper spacing that you can copy and paste in excel for example.
- Expected Result:
  - Report data is injected into the email body.
  If Missing:
  - Add the token and save the task.

2. Test with Alternative Formats

If the inline HTML report is failing, test if the data is being captured at all by switching to CSV format.

Navigate to Manage > Automation Policies.
Select your Automation policy
In the Actions section, click Edit Input Parameter and change the "Results" dropdown to Results as CSV for example.

Save changes and click Test Automation Policy.
Validation: If the CSV arrives with data but the inline version does not, the issue is likely related to HTML rendering or report size limits.

3. Review Evaluation Rules

An Automation Policy may trigger an email before the report data is fully "loaded" if the rules are too broad.

Under the Evaluation Rule section of the policy, ensure it is set to "Run for non-empty data".
If set to "Run for each row," the email might behave differently depending on the task configuration. For standard reports, "Run for non-empty data" is the recommended practice for a single consolidated email.

4. Diagnostics: Log Analysis

Analyze the Notification Server (NS) logs to see how the engine processes the policy. Logs are located in C:\ProgramData\Symantec\SMP\Logs.

Search for the Automation Policy GUID (found in the policy's right-click > Properties menu). Look for these specific entries:

Log Entry Example	Meaning
`Executing automation policy ('[Policy Name]' ([GUID])) ...`	The policy engine has started the task.
`data loaded=True`	The data source (Report/Filter) successfully returned data.
`data loaded=False`	The policy found no data to send; check the report query.

Log Excerpt Example:
Operation completed: Executing automation policy ('Device Report' (c4ca1bf0-3f8e-4048-9cf1-6ff566b6ff90)), data loaded=True, total time=0:00:00.01

5. Address Large Report Sets

If the report contains a large number of rows (e.g., > 500), the email might fail to render.

Refer to SMP report results are restricted to 50,000 rows regarding limits on inline reports.
Try filtering the report further to reduce the row count and test if the email content returns.

Additional Information

Troubleshooting Automation Policies: Resolving Email Delivery and Data Content Issues