When enabled, the Change Log is available to track and view changes made to Essential records. The log includes the following data:
Timestamp (Change Log Date/Time is displayed in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
Description (a field value from the record to help identify what record was changed)
User
Origin of change (User Entry, Data Importer, Process Data Manager, Rest API, Audit Log Migration)
Reason for Change
Table and Column Names
Action (New, Update, Delete)
Old Value
New Value
For instruction on viewing the Change Log, click the following links or use the scroll bar to scan the page.
|
The Change Log
button 
at the end of the navigation
bar on data entry forms opens the page-level view of the Change Log in
a separate window. Each log entry is displayed as a line item and provides
summary data about changes made to the record. The most current entries
are displayed first. Click a log entry timestamp link to open the field-level
view of the Change Log in a separate window. Details about the field changes
made, including the old and new values, are provided. Old/new date-related
values use
24-hour standard time displayed in the YYYY-MMM-DD hh:mm:ss format.
Each Change Log view contains standard search features, column sorting,
and the ability to export the data displayed to Excel. The number of Change
Log entries listed may be limited by configurable performance settings.
In addition, purging capabilities are available for administrators to
delete log entries that are no longer needed.
Tip: The CTRL+SHIFT+A key combination can also be used to
open the page-level view of he Change Log. (Click anywhere in the form
first.)
A global browse view of the Change Log is available to users with administrative permissions. When the default browse view for the global Change Log is displayed, the same details provided by the page-level and field-level views are included for all Essential changes captured by the log for the current date. In addition, the primary key used to identify and reference each record in the database is provided. The Purge Change Log form is available to permanently delete records from the Change Log that are no longer needed. A link to the global Change Log and Purge Change Log form can be found under the Administration folder in the Navigation Tree.
Note:
In previous versions of Essential, the Audit Trail/Log feature was
available in some modules to track changes. The Change Log replaces the
Audit Trail/Log for standard data entry forms.
The security controls implemented for viewing the page-level Change Log, encrypted data, and sensitive data are described below.
On forms with element security, Read privileges to at least one element must be assigned to allow page-level Change Log access. Otherwise, the Change Log button will not be displayed in the navigation bar for the form. Element security does not apply to global Change Log access nor the entries that can be viewed in the global Change Log.
Values that are stored as encrypted values in your Essential database are displayed as encrypted values in all Change Log views. Examples of encrypted data are social security numbers and entries in incident-related dynamic fields set up with the Encrypt attribute (see Incident Field Library for additional information).
For incident-related dynamic fields set up with the Sensitive attribute, Sensitive Data permissions must be assigned to view the fields' changes in the detailed field-level Change Log. Otherwise, just the changes for fields established without the Sensitive attribute will be displayed. Sensitive Data permissions apply to the field-level Change Log accessed from the page-level and global Change Logs. Sensitive data authorization is assigned on the User Security Manager form or the Incident Type form.
The procedures for accessing the page-level Change Log and the global Change Log are described in this section. The detailed field-level Change Log can be accessed from both the page-level and global Change Logs.
Note:
Where possible, user-friendly table names, such as "Users"
versus "SYS_USR", are included in the Change Log. For the Incident
module, the actual database table names for user-defined tables are shown.
To view the page-level and field-level Change Log
Open the form for a record to review any changes to that record.
Click the Change
Log button to view the log. The page-level Change Log opens
in a separate window. Each log entry is displayed as a line item.
Tip: The CTRL+SHIFT+A key combination can also be used
to open the page-level view of he Change Log. (Click anywhere in the
form first.)
Click the timestamp link for a log
entry to view field-level change details. Note:
The Change Log Date/Time is displayed in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
Tip: Both the page-level and field-level Change Logs
open in separate windows. Close the windows after viewing changes.
Note:
For the most part, changes made on a form are captured in the page-level
Change Log for the form. However, changes can be captured in the Change
Log for a different form if parent/child relationships are involved in
a workflow. When applicable, the specific online help topic for a form
identifies where change data is logged. For example, changes made
on the Parameter Group Data Entry
form are captured in the Change Log for the Parameter
Data Entry form.
To view the global and field-level Change Log
Click Administration
> Change Log in the Navigation
Tree to open a browse view of the log.
The Essential changes captured by the log for the current date are
listed—subject to configurable performance settings. Each log entry
is displayed as a line item.
Use the standard search features to locate a specific set of records.
Click the timestamp link for a record to view additional details about the change. Note: The Change Log Date/Time is displayed in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
The Purge Change Log form is available to delete records from the Change Log that are no longer needed. Entries can be deleted for a specific date range, user, table, origin, and action. An option to exclude records associated with a Reason for Change from the purge is also available. Purged records are permanently deleted from your Essential database.
Each time the purge process is initiated, a separate job is created and an entry is added to the Purge Log section on the Purge Change Log form. The start and finish date/time, the run status, and a description of any run errors (results) are provided for each log entry. Jobs are processed according to a pre-configured priority in a managed, queue-based environment to minimize system contention. Use the Purge log to determine your job's position among all the jobs scheduled to run and to determine the current/final run status. When multiple pages of log records exist, the Next/Previous navigation links are available to page through the list. Ascending/descending column sorting is also available; click a column heading to sort by the values in the column. The AutoRefresh option allows you to switch between a working mode and the Purge log refresh mode. In the refresh mode, the log is automatically updated every 10 seconds. It is possible to use the paging and sorting options in the refresh mode; however, when the Purge log is refreshed and there are new entries, all sorted results could be lost. The list of log entries will be reset to display the new ones at the top of the list. By switching to the working mode, you can continue working without interruption. Select the AutoRefresh check box to activate the refresh mode and clear the check box to switch to a working mode. The Refresh link can be used at any time to update the log. For notification purposes, a Loading... message appears when the Purge log is being refreshed.
Click Administration
> Purge Change Log in the Navigation
Tree.
The Purge Change Log form is
displayed.
Use the following guidelines and enter the criteria that defines the group of log records to be permanently deleted from the log.
The Change Log link, located next to the Purge button, provides access to the log where the search feature can be used to find the records you want to purge.
Enter a user name as it appears in the User field of the Change Log.
The database table name (e.g., SYS_USR) or the user-friendly table name when available (e.g., Users) can be selected in the Table field. Start typing a table name or copy and paste the table name in the field to select the correct table.
Click Purge.
A confirmation message is displayed that provides the number of records
to be purged.
Click OK
to start the purge process or Cancel
to abort the purge job.
View the status of the job in the Purge
Log section. Click Refresh
to update the Purge log.
Tip: The Purge
button is disabled during the purging process.
The following list describes areas where the Change Log is excluded, due to the nature of the type of data.
Emissions Results from Emissions Calculations (GEN_EMIS table)
Air Emissions Calculation – Detailed Calculation Log
Purge Production Schedules
Application Logs and other tables containing Log information
