FW: Documentation for Who Made Changes to Item Master File

Forwarded by moderator on behalf of Phil Freimann:
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Apparently RACN (Run Activity Control Number) is no longer being updated.
We used to keep a manual log of the RACN (like a batch number) in the I.S.
department.  Frequently questions rose before the RACN was changed again and
you could look at the log to see what user had made the change and when.


-----Original Message-----
From: Shaw, David [mailto:dshaw@spartan.com]
Sent: Friday, September 15, 2000 8:56 AM
To: 'MAPICS-L@midrange.com'
Subject: RE: Documentation for Who Made Changes to Item Master File


Al,

Unless there's something new since release 4, MAPICS doesn't provide any
other way to trap this.  I know of two ways to do it using DB2 facilities:

1) Journal the file.
2) Attach a trigger program to the file which does whatever kind of logging
function you'd like to define.

I've used both methods.  For a pure logging/audit function, journalling is a
bit more bullet-proof and, contrary to popular myth, doesn't add any more
overhead.  It's also easier to set up, although a little harder to read the
entries.  You can write your own utility to reformat them, or there's a tool
from Help/Systems called EZView Journal which is excellent for this
function.  The other advantage of journalling is that if the file is changed
during a release upgrade, all you have to do is restart the journalling and
your logging is on again, whereas the trigger program would likely need
changes before it could be re-attached.

Dave Shaw
MAPICS-L Moderator
Spartan International, Inc.
Spartanburg, SC
 
-----Original Message-----
From: aldg [mailto:aldg@mail.rvi.net]

Hi Mapics ML:

One of my fellow employees today showed me an Inventory Item (Type 4,
Purchased) that had an incorrect cost valuation in the Unit Item Default
Cost field.  Using File Maintenance in Inventory Management, I corrected the
costing and made things right?

When the same employee asked me for documentation as to who changed the
record and put the incorrect cost there in the first place, I couldn't
answer his question.

I went to the Mapics Support and found that with an appropriate Tailoring
Question, an "Item Master Maintenance Before/After Audit 
Report" (AMVE5) would be generated after any maintenance.  I checked our
Tailoring and we didn't opt for this.

Besides the above report, are there other ways to determine which work
station/employee made the above change to a field in Item Master file?  (I
realize that only certain workstations on our network have such authority
but even so, the transaction could have been done by one of several
individuals.)  

Is there a "transaction history" file in Mapics that stores this type of
information?

I look forward to your comments and suggestions.

Regards.......
  

--
Above message before copy enclosure (if any) was sent by:

Al Gershen
Grants Pass, OR 97526 
aldg@mail.rvi.net & aldg@webtv.net;
and thru ICQ # 12342782
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