Activity Tracking
Understanding and utilizing the audit trail for your research projects
Introduction
Activity tracking provides a comprehensive audit trail of actions performed within your research projects. This feature helps maintain accountability, troubleshoot issues, and understand the history of changes made to your research data.
The platform records various events related to project content, including when records are created, modified, or deleted, as well as changes to data models and project structure. Each event captures details about who performed the action, what was changed, and when the action occurred.
Activity tracking automatically runs in the background and requires no setup or configuration.
Tracked Events
The platform tracks the following types of events at the project level:
Model Changes
- Creating new data models
- Updating data model properties
- Deleting data models
Attribute Changes
- Adding new attributes to models
- Modifying attribute properties
- Deleting attributes
Record Operations
- Creating new records
- Updating record values
- Deleting records
Relationship Changes
- Creating model relationships
- Modifying relationship properties
- Removing relationships
Project Collaboration
- Inviting users to projects
- Changing user roles within projects
- Removing users from projects
For each tracked event, the system records:
- User Information: Who performed the action
- Timestamp: When the action occurred
- Action Type: Create, update, or delete
- Changed Values: Original and new values for updates
- IP Address: Origin of the request
Viewing Activity History
Activity history is available at both the project and workspace levels:
Recent Activity Feed
The platform displays recent activity in the following locations:
- Dashboard: Shows activity across all accessible projects
- Project Overview: Displays recent activity specific to the current project
Comprehensive Activity History
A full project activity history interface will be available to workspace owners and project admins, providing:
- Filterable timeline of all project events
- Detailed information about each action
- Ability to view changes made in each update
- Search functionality to find specific events
The comprehensive activity history interface is currently being developed and will be available in an upcoming release. The system is already tracking all events described in this documentation.
Retention Policy
To optimize system performance and storage, the platform implements a retention policy for activity tracking data:
One-Year Retention
Activity records are retained for 12 months from the date they were created. After this period:
- Events older than one year are automatically purged from the system
- This purging occurs as a background process and requires no user action
- The process is gradual and has no impact on system performance
While activity logs are automatically purged after one year, the actual research data and content remain unaffected by this retention policy.
Access Control
Access to activity history is restricted based on user roles to ensure appropriate information visibility:
| Role | Access Level |
|---|---|
| Workspace Owner |
|
| Project Admin |
|
| Regular User |
|
| View-Only User |
|
Only Workspace Owners and Project Admins can access the comprehensive activity history. This restriction ensures that audit capabilities are available to those responsible for project oversight and governance.
Best Practices
Follow these recommendations to make the most of activity tracking in your research projects:
Establish Clear Change Management Processes
Define procedures for making significant changes to models and data. Activity tracking works best when team members provide meaningful context for major updates through proper documentation channels.
Review Activity Periodically
Schedule regular reviews of project activity to identify unusual patterns, unauthorized changes, or potential issues with data integrity. This proactive approach can help maintain research quality.
Use Activity History for Training
When onboarding new team members, reviewing activity history can provide examples of proper data entry practices and help them understand how the research data has evolved over time.
Leverage for Compliance
For research subject to regulatory requirements or institutional review, activity tracking provides essential audit trails that can demonstrate proper data handling and protocol adherence.
Communicate About Major Changes
When making significant structural changes to models or attributes, communicate with team members in advance. While activity tracking captures what changed, it doesn't convey the reasoning behind changes.