What is an audit trail?
Also called: audit log, activity log
Last updated
An audit trail is a time-ordered record of who did what, and when, in a process or system. In a checklist it shows who completed each task, what they entered and when, so that anyone reviewing the work later, such as an auditor or a manager, can see it was done properly.
In more detail
Audit trails matter wherever someone may later need to show that work was done properly: financial controls, quality management, security, healthcare, and any process an auditor, a regulator or a client might review. The record is most useful when it is created as the work happens, not pieced together afterwards.
A useful audit trail records the person, the action, the time and the details, such as a value entered or a file attached. It should also show which version of the process was followed, because a process that changed halfway through the year was not followed the same way all year.
Example
During a quarterly access review, each manager confirms which of their team still need access to a system. The audit trail shows which manager confirmed each person, the answer they gave and the date, so the auditor can see the review happened and when.
The audit trail in CheckFlow
Every CheckFlow checklist keeps an activity feed: each completion, field value, file upload, comment and Not Applicable is recorded against the person who did it and the time. Running checklists stay on the template version they started with. A checklist can be printed or saved as a PDF from the browser, and checklist and task data can be exported for an auditor.
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