Enable Audit Trail and Electronic Signature

Any edits to a record can be tracked through an Audit Trail. When the Audit Trail is enabled on a table, an Audit icon displays next to each record. Clicking the icon opens a window that displays the date and time of the change, who changed the record, and the values before and after the change.

When Audit Trail is enabled, three tables are automatically created in the database: XXXXAudit, XXXXAuditColumn and XXXXAuditProcedure, where XXXX is the name of the table being audited. It is important to decide if the Audit tables are to reside in the same database as the application tables or in a different database. If using a separate database, register the database in the System Administration WebApp as a data source.

An electronic signature is a digital signature of a token representing the changes and is used in conjunction with the Audit Trail feature enabled. The token is computed by concatenating the user ID and the process token. The string is hashed using the MD4 algorithm. The resultant binary value is the signature. The value is stored in the #Audit table using Base 64 encoding.

This method provides a fast and simple digital signature implementation. It is important to note that the authenticity of an electronic signature depends on restricting access to the audit tables. If an unauthorized user gains write access to the audit tables, the signature can be forged or the audit trail could be altered.

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