Audit trail for all changes to the system including time of change, old and new value, user responsible

Description

Having an audit trail feature in planning software provides a comprehensive history of changes to the system, including the time of change, old and new values, and the responsible user. This functionality enhances transparency, accountability, and allows for efficient audits and error detection, especially in the areas of financial reporting and regulatory compliance.

Example Use Case

Scenario: A business uses Excel for planning. Changes are often made in the files by various people with access to the shared file. Someone made a big mistake and broke the file. It is now impossible to track down who did it, and reverse the changes.

Solution: The audit trail feature within their new planning software records each change made to the system. For instance, when an employee alters the budget forecast from 5 million to 10 million, the system logs the old value, new value, time of the change, and the user responsible. This information can be used later to verify changes, hold individuals accountable, or investigate discrepancies.

Considerations

This requirement is a simplified version of “audit trail” that is only expecting the product to have a list of changes. With modern planning and consolidation software, showing an audit trail is a bare minimum feature that all products should have. In fact, when looking at regulatory compliance, audit trails are often mandatory.

Financial close solutions require audit functionality down to the specific reconciled transaction. This requirement is limited to basic add/edit/delete and by who tracking.

Questions to Ask a Vendor

• Detailed Logging: How detailed is the audit trail your system provides? Does it include all changes, including time, old and new values, and user responsible?
• Data Export: Can the audit trail data be exported easily for external review?
• Search: At what level of granularity can we search the audit trail?
• Specific Fields: Can I click on a cell, or a sheet, or a report, and see audit actions that took place on that specific area?