Audit Trails

Audit Trails
This option compiles a list of all changes made to a file. To turn the Audit Trails option ON, select the check box in the Access Control dialog box . All files created while this box is checked will have such a list made. If you check this box after a file has been created, the file will have an audit trail added the next time a user conducts one of the audit actions.

Warning: Keeping an audit trail for a file will increase the size of that file significantly. It would be best if audit trail is enabled only if it is necessary to audit data entry.

If you have audit trails for a file turned on, the following symbols can appear on variables charts.

A will appear if a point in the group was entered by hand instead of from a gage or a collector.
E will appear if a point in the group was edited by hand, (i.e., an existing value was changed by entry from the keyboard).
R will appear if a point in the group was edited using a new value from a gage.

A user signed on as an Administrator or manager can view the Audit trail by selecting Audit Trails... from the File menu. The following codes are used in the Audit Trail dialog box:

fn - new file

fo - open file

fa - change file name

fs - save file

fc - file closed

ee - edit a cell

ep - paste from the clipboard

ev - cell entry made from a clipboard paste

ed - end of paste operation

en - manual entry made in cell

dd - cell entry made from macro language Datum command

dp - begin DDE poke

dv - cell entry made from DDE poke

de - end of DDE poke

du - DDE update

dw - cell entry made from DDE update

dn - DDE end

gr - cell entry made from gage reading

gc - start data collector

gv - cell entry made from data collector

gd - end of data collector

ap - audit trail purged

The date and time that the change was made are listed immediately following the code. User initials are also listed, if provided during logon. In the example, access control was set to None so there were no initials available to be used.

On the right, a short explanation of the change is given, along with the cell location (such as R1C5 (row 1, column 5)) that was changed and the old and new values.

Located below are the following buttons:

Close: This button will close the dialog box.

Filter: select which events you want to see in the audit trail list. Events are not actually removed from the audit trail, but you can select which set of events you wish to view. This can only be done by someone with a manager or administrator access level as a user.

File Events Corresponds with the two letter codes beginning with "f".
Manual Editing events Corresponds with the two letter codes beginning with "e."
DDE Events Corresponds with the two letter codes beginning with "d".
Gage and Data Collector events Corresponds with the two letter codes beginning with "g".

Purge: This button removes all entries in the audit trail for that file. This can only be done by someone with manager or administrator access level as a user.