Development auditing

The development auditing utility (devaudit) tracks changes made to Service Manager records during the development phase of Service Manager implementation. Whether you make a few changes or extensively customize your system, it is critical to have a record of your changes to ensure loading of the correct version when you move to production. With it, you can create an unload of your changes, and load them into another system.

Though the auditing utility helps you find modified records, strongly recommends that you record each change more extensively either using tools outside of Service Manager or using the Revision control feature.

The development auditing utility tracks changes to the following files:

• application

• code

• datadict

• devaudit

• displayevent

• displayoption

• displayscreen

• enclapplication

• eventfilter

• eventmap

• eventregister

• format

• formatctrl

• joindef

• link

• menu

• Object

• Process

• querystored

• scmessage

• screlconfig

• scripts

• States

• trigger

• validity

• wizard

Applies to User Roles:

System Administrator

Access the development auditing utility

To access the development auditing utility:

1. Click Tailoring > Audit.
2. Select a function from the Audit menu.
   • Audit Log: The repository for data gathered during the audit. It displays the old and new values of input field data, as well as who made the revisions and when.
   • Audit Specifications: Provides instructions on how and when to perform an audit. Use it to define files and fields that you want the audit application to monitor.
   • Purge Audit History: After the development phase is completed and all related changes have been transferred into the production system, you can purge the development audit data. Ensure you carefully review the audit records in the Audit History record list before filling in the date to purge files, as you cannot restore purged files.
   • Turn Auditing On/Off: Enable or disable file auditing. If auditing is on, the system creates a separate audit record each time you make a change to a record and saves it to the database. Service Manager contains a default set of audit records to enable you to track development changes.
   • Unload an Audit Delta: Unload a change you made during the development phase. It is critical that you check the audit files for the correct date of this delta. You need the date shown in the Audit History form to enter into the Unload form. When the Audit Unload form opens, the current date and time automatically fill in the Unload delta since what date? field. Type the beginning date for the unload that is found in the View Audit History record list.
   • View Audit History: Search for a particular audit record or view a record list of all audits stored in the database from the Audit History form. It is important to look at this file before purging audit records or unloading a development change to production.

Turn the auditing on/off

This function enables you to enable or disable file auditing. If auditing is on, the system creates a separate audit record each time you make a change to a record and save it to the database. Service Manager contains a default set of audit records to enable you to track development changes.

1. Click Tailoring > Audit > Turn Auditing On/Off.
2. Update one or more of the following functions:
   • Do you want to audit development changes?: Enables/disables auditing of development changes. When selected, development auditing tracks the changes you make. You can put those changes into an unload file and load them into another system.
   • Do you want to keep backups of Changes?: Enables/disables backups of development changes. When selected, development auditing creates a copy of the record you changed in the same table. The name of the backup record is prefaced with AUDIT and the number of the audit record and key. Restores the originals by renaming them to the original file name.
   • Do you want to create auditdelete records on unload?: Enables/disables creating auditdelete records on unload. When selected, development auditing tracks your deletes, and the unload file makes the same deletes when you load it into another system.
3. Click Save and OK.

Best practices

Auditing should always be disabled on a production or test system, and enabled for development systems (when auditing is used to promote from development to production).

When selecting auditing settings for a development system:

• Select Do you want to audit development changes?
• Uncheck Do you want to keep backups of changes?
• Uncheck Do you want to create auditdelete records on unload?

View the audit history

Search for a particular audit record or view a record list of all audits stored in the database from the Audit History form. It is important to look at this file before purging audit records or unloading a development change to production.

If some of the records should not be added to the auditing delta unload, you can either change the search criteria of these records (such as changing the date to an earlier date) or delete the record altogether if it should never be part of the delta and does not need to be documented as changed.

Note: Be aware that the same record may be included in the devaudit file several times, since each change to a record is noted in devaudit.

1. Click Tailoring > Audit > View Audit History.
   A blank Audit History record opens.
2. Open an existing Audit record using one of the following procedures:
   • Enter any information you have from the record and click Search.
   • Click Search or press Enter. If more than one record matches the search criteria, the result screen is split with a record list at the top and the first record in the list open below.

   Note: There is an entry for each time you add or update a form or file.

3. Click the entry you want to view. Information for this record is entered into the Audit History form.
4. Click Delete to remove the current record from the audit list.

The records have the following structure:

• Audit ID: 1
• Filename: format
• Keys: IM.update.incident
• Event Type: update
• Date: 01/14/10 12:31:29
• Operator: falcon
• Last Record: true

Unload an audit delta

To specify what the system unloads, you must first view the audit history. Remove records from the development audit list by selecting them and then deleting them.

Important: Before unloading a change you made during the development phase, it is critical that you check the audit files for the correct date of this delta. You need the date shown in the Audit History form to enter into the Unload form.

To unload the audit delta:

1. Click Tailoring > Audit > Unload an Audit Delta.
   The Audit Unload form opens, and the current date and time automatically fill in the Unload delta since what date? field.
2. Type the beginning date for the unload that is found in the View Audit History record list.
3. Type the path and file name that you want to send the unloaded data in the Send Data to Which File? field.
4. Type the path and file name of the log for the audit unload process in the Enter Log Name Here field.
5. Click Proceed. The Development Auditor menu opens with a message in the status bar indicating how many records were unloaded.

The unload you create can be loaded into the test system, and eventually into the production system.

Note: You can view the contents of an unload file in Database Manager before loading it onto the new system.

To view the contents of an unload file:

1. Open Database Manager.
2. Select Import/Load from the More Actions menu.
3. Select the file you want to load.
4. Click View Contents.

Purge audit records

After the development phase is completed and all related changes have been transferred into the production system, you can purge the development audit data. You are prompted to specify the start date for records to be purged. After the data is purged, it cannot be restored (unless an unload of the devaudit file was performed beforehand).

To purge audit records:

1. Click Tailoring > Audit > Purge Audit History.
   The Audit Purge form opens with the current date and time filled in.
2. Replace the date displayed with the beginning date for the range of records you want to delete.

   Warning: Ensure that you carefully review the audit records in the Audit History record list before filling in this date. You cannot restore purged files.

3. Click Proceed. A confirmation prompt opens informing you how many records have been purged.
4. Click OK to complete the process and return to the Development Auditor menu.