We have had many requests for a way to track and report “Who Did What and When”. This question comes up often in the form of “Who changed what in our payroll files since the last check run?”
OpenRDA Tracks That Information
We have always tracked this information in the Transaction Processing tool. Transaction Processing tracks when something was changed even if it has been changed three times. A record is created and stored of every change. The record of every change includes the process, the date/time and who made the change along with the initial and resulting values.
Many of you have experienced the benefits of this tool with its undo/redo features. One scenario where Transaction Processings has helped many is when a system experiences an ungraceful shutdown due to a power outage in the middle of process like distribution, posting, computing, etc.. The Transaction Processing tool helped get the data back to a known and stable state.
OpenRDA 4.0 Will Make It More Useful
However, in its present format, the data is not easily shared or analyzed. That is about to change in OpenRDA 4.0. In addition to its trusted logging and undo/redo capabilities, Transaction Processing will easily query the activity logs for your organization or department showing Who did What and When. You will be able to get a list of all the data changes in a module, like Payroll or Vendor Payments, over a specific time frame. You will be able to quickly see who made what changes to your payroll records over a specific time period i.e., since the last check run. And, transaction Processing still has the undo/redo capabilities.
Transaction Processing can also be used with new hires and other employees to monitor their progress as they take on new and additional responsibilities. By looking at what they are doing and when, you can pinpoint areas where they are doing well or where they could use a little help.
Share Your Ideas
We can think of a number of other ways this tool can make a difference and we would like to hear what you think. Leave a comment about a time when this information would have come in handy to solve a problem or run down the information you needed.
