iVend Retail Audit Log

The Audit log is one of the most important features that comes with iVend versions 6.5 and above. It allows for the tracking of all users’ data changes in the application. All operations such as Add, Update, and Soft Deletes are logged in the system. In addition, users will be able to track the records and values that were modified and then compare the version of the record to see the information that was updated.

This feature is available across master data such as products, manufacturers, customers, prices, item costs, etc. and you can:

· Enable or disable the audit log for a particular object.

· View the log and compare changes.

· Purge the log.

Let us explain how the Audit Log works.

1. Log into the iVend Management Console and navigate to: IT Administration > Audit Log Master – the Audit Log Master screen comes up.

2. Under the column, Is Logging Enabled, check all the objects that you want to track, are selected (ticked). By default, the system comes with all enabled.

                                       Figure 1 - Audit Log Master

Now that the Audit Log is enabled for all objects, let us go to check on how to view and compare record changes.

There are two (2) ways to view the change log for any object:

1. By going to the desired object screen. (Customer Master in our example)

Log into the iVend Management Console and navigate to: Operations > Business Partner > Customer – the Customer Search screen comes up.

                                               Figure 2 – Customer Search

Press [F1 Search] to pull up Customer Search screen. Select a Customer Name from the appeared search list. Press [F7 View] to pull up Customer Info screen.

                                                      Figure 3 – Customer Search

Then right-click on the screen and select, View Log from the pop-up menu that appears.

                                                     Figure 4 – Customer Master

This will redirect you to the Audit Log screen for this particular object (i.e. Customer) as illustrated in the screen image below - please note:

a. The top row record in the display is the most recent.

b. The old value(s) that have been changed will be highlighted.

c. In this example, the customer discount has been changed from 0 to 15%.

                                                              Figure 5 – Audit Log

2. By viewing and comparing the change log for any object

Log into the iVend Management Console and navigate to: Administration > IT Administration > Audit Log - the Audit Log screen comes up. 

Then pick the source type that you want to look-up. In our example, we have selected the Customer Master. Then, click the [Search] button. In addition, you can filter your search results based on the Record Id.

                                               Figure 6 – Audit Log

The last option we are going to explain is how to purge the Audit Log.

In the Management Console, go to: Administration > IT Administration > Purge Data. Press the [F3 New] button.

                                                   Figure 7 – Data Purge Search

This feature enables the Administrator to start the data purge activity at the stores. Using this, the System Administrator can generate an event for performing a data purge at the store.

This feature is generally used in the scenarios where the stores are using the SQL Server Express Edition. Due to size limitations of the SQL Server Express Edition database, the Administrator should keep the store database size in check and therefore this activity is recommended to be performed at regular intervals.

Note: This menu option is only available at the iVend Enterprise. Using this option would delete the transactional information from the store database.

                                                             Figure 8 – Data Purge Screen

This concludes the article on the iVend Audit Log.