Viewing the audit log

The audit log for a record lists a history of changes that were made to that record, including:

  • The period in which the change was made (past, current, or future)
  • The effective date
  • User ID of the person who made the change
  • The action that the user performed
  • What field change was made

You access a record's audit log by accessing the record and then performing the action of View Audit Log or View Full Audit Log.

The audit log lets you see changes, using the logical view, and the full audit log lets you see changes that were superseded, the physical view. Use the View Full Audit Log to see when and why changes occurred, and to problem solve.

Additionally, other features of the audit log let you:

  • Sort log entries in ascending or descending order
  • Compare the differences between any two log entries

    To compare entries, you select the entries to be compared, and click Compare. The Compare Log window is displayed, indicating the field names, previous value (from value), and what the value was changed to (to value).

Note: Be aware that security rules may affect who can access the audit log.

For example, suppose today is July 1, 2003. You made a retroactive change to an employee's pay rate as of June 1, 2002, to increase the pay rate to $35,000.

The pay rate history as of July 1, 2003 is as follows:

Date Pay rate
January 1, 2003 $30,000
January 1, 2002 $20,000
January 1, 2001 $10,000

After the pay rate change is made, retroactive to June 1, 2002 to $35,000, this is what you see in the View Audit Log:

Date Pay rate
June 1, 2002 $35,000
January 1, 2002 $20,000
January 1, 2001 $10,000

This is what you see in the View Full Audit Log:

Date Pay rate
January 1, 2003, displayed as crossed out $30,000, displayed as crossed out
June 1, 2002 $35,000
January 1, 2002 $20,000
January 1, 2001 $10,000

In the View Full Audit Log, the record that was superseded, $30,000 for January 1, 2003, is displayed as being crossed out. In the View Audit Log, however, the crossed-out change does not display.

Color coding and text formatting in the audit log

Audit logs use color coding and text formatting for some entries to make it easier to identify the status of the entries. Listed below are the colors and formatting and their meanings:

  • A green entry means that the entry was never processed and is still sitting in the effective log, probably because of an async failure.
  • The red are the canceled entries (as opposed to superseded).
  • The entries with the strike-thru are entries that have become invalid because of a retroactive change that superseded the data or an Audit Delete that canceled the entry.
  • Text in italics is the audit corrections for the associated audit entry.