The audit log audits all field changes within an agreement in addition to any specific major events within that agreement; the date, time and user id are all audited for each field change or event. This function may be used for establishing who carried out a particular procedure or the date on which a particular event was carried out. System changes may also be audited.
Note: The auditing facility is only turned on if the Audit Changes flag is ticked within the Supplier/Misc Tab in System Parameters.
Tip: As already stated, the audit log audits all field changes within the agreement. This results in the creation of an extremely large file (DR.audit). However, auditing can be restricted to the audit of specifically identified fields by ticking the Audit flagged fields only flag within the Supplier/Misc Tab in System Parameters. If only certain fields need to be audited (to save space/memory) this field may be switched on and the user-definable field set at dictionary level to $FLAUDIT=TRUE. Only changes to fields set as TRUE are then recorded. If the AUDITDIC field is then switched off fields are audited as per normal. The system only reports on fields set up in data dictionary. e.g. Long Name - Vehicle Group; User Definable = $FLAUDIT=True.
To view the audit log:
From the Master Menu, select the Vehicle rentals option and Company required.
The VEHICLE RENTALS Menu is displayed.
Select the Reservations option.
The Reservations and Availability form is displayed.
Select the Audit Log option from the Admin menu.
The Audit Log form is displayed.
This form is divided into three parts that are as follows:
In addition to displaying the form name the Title Bar provides a number of other useful identification criteria and buttons.
The Audit Log dialogue box contains the following fields:
Field Name: Displays the actual field name used within the agreement file for the field that has changed.
Occ: Displays the occurrence number of the field. Some fields are held within an array in which there are more than one occurrence of the field. A classic example of this is the address field which has five occurrence for each line of the address. Unless the field is an example of an array type field then this value is typically 1.
Description: A more user-friendly description of the field name.
Before: The value of the field before it was edited. In some instances this may be blank i.e. the Registration field is blank for a vehicle is allocated to an agreement.
After: The value of the field after it was edited.
Date: The date on which the field was edited.
Time: The time at which the field was edited.
System: Contains a Y or N value. An N value denotes that the edit occurred due to user intervention. A Y denotes that the change to the field value was initiated by the system in response to a previous manual user edit.
User ID: The user login id of the user who modified the field value.
Checkbox: This is the system audit checkbox. If ticked, then the audit log displays all fields within the agreement that have been modified by the system in response to a previous manual user edit. The legend to the right of the grid shows that user changes are displayed in red text whilst system changes are displayed in blue text.
Note: The system only tracks system changes if the Include system changes flag is ticked within the Supplier/Misc Tab in System Parameters.
Warning: Switching on the Include system changes flag should be done with due consideration. The audit function results in a great many audit records being created. The tracking of system changes increases this number considerably. Care should be taken when establishing the initial size of the DR.audit file.
A single-left-click on any row within the audit grid displays the Audit Log Detail form which displays the audit details in a more user-friendly form in addition to displaying a little more information.
COMMAND BUTTONS:
OK: Returns to the Agreement form without allocating a vehicle or supplier to the agreement.
Help:Displays online context-sensitive help using the default browser.
Events: Toggles the form to display major edited Audit Events within the life of an agreement. These tend to be events that change the status of the vehicle (e.g. Vehicle Allocated, Rental Started, etc) or events that are dependent upon the status of the vehicle (e.g. Vehicle Swapped, Agreement Cloned, etc. Once in Events view this field toggles to a value of Fields which, if selected, returns the form to its original view mode.
Tip: The audit events function is only turned on if the Audit Events flag is ticked within the Supplier/Misc Tab in System Parameters.
Legend: A visual representation to denote that user changes are displayed in red text whilst system changes are displayed in blue text.
