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Logging Database changes

Last post 03-03-2009 4:07 PM by David Zeidman. 4 replies.
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  • 03-02-2009 11:08 AM

    Logging Database changes

    Hello,

     I've recently started to review RE and am curious is it's possible to record / access record change events. I would like to know who modified what record and what time. I would also be nice to have a real-time event logger. Any code examples I could use for testing purposes would be appreciated. Or even pointing me to the correct api method would suffice.

    Thanks,

     

  • 03-03-2009 1:01 PM In reply to

    • JoAnn Strommen
    • Top 10 Contributor
    • User Since: 2006
    • Posts 1,260
    • Organization: Rapid City YMCA
    • Products:  The Raiser's Edge

    Re: Logging Database changes

    To give you a partial answer until one of the many experts have a chance to reply...

    You can run a query on changed constituent, action and gift records etc.  You can query on date changed, changed by ____.  I don't believe it will give exactly what field was changed but some sections of constituent record such as changes to solicitor relationships can also be queried on. 

    Good luck.

    JoAnn Strommen
    YMCA of Rapid City
    Rapid City, SD
  • 03-03-2009 2:39 PM In reply to

    • Tesa Vonburg
    • Not Ranked
    • Posts 5
    • Organization: Sigma Phi Epsilon Educational Foundation

    Re: Logging Database changes

    Please let me know if there is a plugin to use to track these events.  I do not have API access.  The only other way to do it would be to setup audit files on SQL Server Admin. 

  • 03-03-2009 2:52 PM In reply to

    • Drew Allen
    • Top 10 Contributor
    • Posts 514
    • Organization: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
    • Products:  The Information Edge, The Raiser's Edge

    Re: Logging Database changes

    In order for this to be effective, it would need to run automatically every time a record was changed.  Plug-ins do not run automatically.

    You could set up VBA scripts to run whenever a record was changed, assuming that you have the VBA module.

    Drew

    J. Drew Allen
    The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
  • 03-03-2009 4:07 PM In reply to

    • David Zeidman
    • Top 25 Contributor
    • User Since: 2002
    • Posts 326
    • Organization: Zeidman Development
    • Products:  Blackbaud Direct Marketing, Blackbaud Enterprise CRM, The Information Edge, The Raiser's Edge

    Re: Logging Database changes

    This is something that I have done for a client. They did have the VBA module so each time the a record was opened a values were recorded and then on closing the values were compared and stored in a database table. There was also a plug-in that allowed the user to see the changes that were made.

    I have also been told about an organization that put triggers on some of the database tables so that the changes were copied to another table. I am not sure if this is allowed or whether it breaks the maintenance contract but I am told it worked well and of course did not require the VBA or API module.

    David

    David Zeidman
    Zeidman Development
    http://www.zeidman.info

    Check out my RE API blog
    http://www.re-decoded.com
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