Basics

• The Audit Log notes changes made to a record. The Audit Log exists on every Page in MinistryPlatform.
• To access the Audit Log, open a record and click the Audit Log panel. When the panel opens, you can click By Date or By Field to order the Audit Log accordingly. You can further expand each Audit Log entry to see the Previous Value and New Value.
• Dates are in the local time for the User (User Timezone or Domain Timezone if the User does not have one).
• Audit Log reports are available to users with the Administrator Security Role.
• If a creation or update was made "on behalf of" another User (during impersonation), the Audit Log will indicate the actual User and the User being impersonated. This is true when an API client (e.g. BMT) acts on behalf of a user (e.g. creating a Donation record via the BMT) or if an administrator impersonates a User (e.g. using the Impersonate User feature).
• If the creation of the audit log indicates "no records found" this means that the record was part of the software at implementation or added directly to the database via the back end.
• API User (without an "on Behalf of" specified) in the Audit Log means that a user not logged in (and not automatically matched to an existing User by the system) created the record or made the change. For example, a person not yet in the Platform registers for an Event. The related Event Participant record will be "Created by: API User."
• SYSTEM in the Audit Log means that new Contact and User records were created using the Sign-in/Sign-up flow used by various Widgets or via an external provider.
• Our recommendation (Best Practice!) is to create a NEW Company Contact and a NEW User per Integration. Then add the NEW API Client record and name it something other than _apiClient. This allows the Audit Log to show exactly which integration made the change. Review Giving Developers Access for more information.
• Context is important when looking for Audit log entries. The Audit Log tracks changes made to any field on a single record but cannot see related changes beyond that record. For example, if a Participant is added to a Group this does not affect the fields on either the Participant or Group record so the changes appear in neither record's Audit Log. However, the change will appear in the new Group Participant record's Audit Log.