Issue  

The Explore Data feature applies association-based filters even when no columns from those associations are selected. This behavior occurs when Explore Data proactively fetches hidden user reference fields, causing certain out‑of‑the‑box (OOTB) associations to be applied automatically.  

Symptoms  

• Unexpected filtering upon adding data objects and association rules in Channels & Interfaces > Web Portal > Explore Data. 

• Assigned Operator Info and Create Operator Info associations are applied even when no columns from these associations are explicitly selected in Explore Data Insights.  

• Explore Data Insights might return fewer rows than expected.  

Additional behavior   

When manually adding Create Operator or Assigned Operator columns to Explore Data Insights:  

• The corresponding association is fetched to display the operator name instead of the operator ID.  

• If the referenced operator record does not exist, expected results might not be returned.  

Background  

To expose specific data objects to end users, Explore Data Insights must be configured by adding data objects and association rules. For most associations, filters are applied only when columns from those associations are selected. However, certain OOTB associations such as Assigned Operator Info and Create Operator Info, behave differently. Even when no columns from these associations are included in Insights, these associations are formed automatically, leading to implicit filtering.  

Root Cause   

This is an expected Pega Platform behavior.  

The Insights tables proactively fetch certain fields upfront (including hidden fields) to provide a faster user experience when columns are added later. When these pre-fetched fields include user reference fields, the system also retrieves the corresponding operator records through their related associations to resolve usernames.  As a result, the associated joins are applied even when no visible columns from those associations are selected, resulting in unintended filtering.  

Workaround  

As a workaround, perform the following actions:  

• If fields from the problematic associations are not required, remove those associations from the Explore Data configuration.  

• If the fields are required but the default association behavior is not desired:   

  • Create alternative copies of the affected associations.  

  • Update the join condition from 'Include only matching rows' to 'Include all rows from Case layer.'  

  • Use these alternative associations in the Explore Data configuration instead of the OOTB associations.