Audit trail analysis reports

Use the Audit trail analysis report to view details of the changes that users have made to cell values in the OLAP database by writing back values in data entry reports. Some changes are the result of writing back values to base elements in the database. Others are the result of writing back values to consolidated elements. When you write back to a consolidated element, the values are distributed, or 'splashed', amongst the base elements of which the consolidated element is comprised. Select from the Record Types list to view changes to cells, or to splashed values, or to both.

The Export AleaLog to relational DB option must be enabled in OLAP Administration and the relational database created in, for example, SQL Server Management Studio.

This report is intended to be used by business modelers who have detailed knowledge of the cubes and dimensions of the OLAP database.

You can view the analysis for a specific user or all users and for a specific cube, or all cubes.

Each cell in a cube is identified by the intersections of the elements in the dimensions of the cube. For example, in a cube that contains Finance, Region, and Date dimensions, a cell that displays the value of net revenue in Europe in 2016 is at the intersection of the Net Revenue element of the Finance dimension, the Europe element of the Region dimension, and the 2016 element of the Date dimension. In the Logfile Analysis, each changed cell is identified by the dimensions and elements with which it intersects. The report displays a column for each dimension. Each column displays the element with which the changed cell intersects. The cubes contain up to 29 dimensions. In the Logfile Analysis, the dimensions are numbered according to their order in the cube. Therefore, you must know the order of the dimensions in each cube and which dimension each number represents in each cube.

You can hide all except the first two columns (Time and New Value). To hide a column from the report, right-click the column heading and select Hide Column. To display all columns, click the Settings icon in the final column and select Reset to Default Layout.

To sort a column in ascending or descending order, click the column heading and then click the up or down arrow.

Note: Some write back operations are recorded multiple times in the log file and so are listed multiple times in the report.

You can use custom filters to return only specific records. The Monitoring Custom Filters dialog box has a Criteria field for each column of the report. Specify the filter criteria and operators and click OK. To clear a filter, click the Eraser icon next to the field.

Note: We recommend that you do not use custom filters if you select All in the Cube list, because some elements exist in multiple dimensions.

In addition to the dimensions and elements that identify each changed cell, the report shows this information:

Time: The date and time at which the change was made.; You can specify the dates between which to report.
Cube: The cube in which the change was made.; Select a cube from the Cube list, or select all cubes.
Old and New Values: Separate columns display old and new string values and old and new numeric values according to the selected cell type.
Cell Type: Whether the value was a numeric or string value.; Click Create Custom Filter and select All, String, or Numeric, from the Cell Type list.
Database Server: The database server on which the change was made.; Click Create Custom Filter and click in the DB Server field. Select a server or click Multiple Selection and select multiple servers.
IP address: The IP address from which the change was made.; Click Create Custom Filter and click in the IP field. Select an IP address or click Multiple Selection and select multiple addresses.
User: The user name of the user who made the change.; Select a user from the User list, or select all users.
Operation Key: Each write back operation is identified by a key. If, for example, you splash a value on the first quarter of a financial year, then three entries are written to the log file - one for each month of the quarter. Each entry has the same operation key. The operation key is the link between the two tables in AleaLog. You can use the operation key in a WHERE clause to query either table. For example, you can determine the cells that are affected by a splashing operation by querying the OlapAuditCell table with a select statement in which the operation key supplies the WHERE clause: select * from dboeOlapAuditCell where [Operation key]='ALCCONFIG_ITERATION141806097221539312626'
Operation Details: For splashed values, the Operation Details column shows details of the splashing method, rounding and number of decimal places.