Change Log¶

Purpose¶

The Change Log records data changes in Clarity Transform: one row when a record is created or deleted, and one row for each field that changes when a record is edited, with the user who made the change and the time stamp. Its on-screen subtitle is "User activity tracking and data change history". It is not limited to CMDB records: the Table filter lists governance, migration and settings tables as well as CMDB tables. Use it to investigate unexpected data changes and to see how a record's data changed. Interview commits are not recorded here; they are in the Activity Log. Whether imports and integration runs are recorded is not confirmed.

The Change Log is distinct from the Activity Log. The Change Log records data changes: field-level modifications to records. The Activity Log records business workflow events, approvals and sign-ins. Use the Change Log when you need to understand how a record's data changed; use the Activity Log when you need to understand what a user did.

Where to find it¶

Logging → Change Log

What you see¶

At the top of the screen is an Auto-refresh toggle.

Filters¶

Date: All Dates, plus the dates that have changes. When the screen opens, it shows the most recent date with changes. When this was checked, selecting All Dates did not reload the grid.
Table: All Tables (the default), plus the database table names, for example application, device, governance_raid_log, migrations_move_groups_summary and admin_settings.
Action: All Actions, Create, Edit, Delete.
Quick Time Range: Full Day (the default), Last 1 Hour, Last 6 Hours, Last 12 Hours, Last 24 Hours.

The grid remembers its Search: text, column filters, sort order and page size between visits. If the grid shows fewer rows than you expect, clear the Search: box and the filter row.

Columns¶

User Id
Time Stamp: shown in local time. The Activity Log shows its Timestamp in UTC, so in summer the two logs show times one hour apart for the same change.
Table Name
Field Name
Old Value
New Value

The grid also has the hidden columns Action and Entity Name, and the audit fields.

What a change writes¶

Creating a record writes one row, with Field Name Record and New Value Created Record ID: <id>.
Editing a record writes one row for each field that changed, including fields Clarity calculates. For example, changing a RAID entry's Impact writes one row for impact and one for risk_score.
Deleting a record writes one row, with Field Name Record, Old Value Record ID: <id> and New Value DELETED.

Entity Name is the record's name where the table has one; on some tables, such as move groups and network mappings, it is blank. Some actions write nothing here: locking and unlocking an event, assigning a runbook task and committing an interview are recorded in the Activity Log instead, and creating runbooks from the Task Library and events created by the Automation Wizard are not recorded in either log.

Actions¶

The grid toolbar has a back arrow, Export CSV and a refresh icon. Export is CSV only. The grid rows have no row actions.

How to¶

Find the changes to a table on one day¶

Go to Logging → Change Log.
In Date, select the day you are investigating.
In Table, select the table, for example device.
To see one kind of change only, select Create, Edit or Delete in Action. To narrow the day, select a Quick Time Range.
Read Field Name, Old Value and New Value on each row to see what changed.

Check the changes after an import¶

After a CSV import or a bulk update, go to Logging → Change Log.
Set Date, Quick Time Range and the affected Table.
Look for changes to records you did not intend to update.

Export changes¶

Set the Date and Table filters.
Select Export CSV (the download icon in the grid toolbar). It downloads the rows the filters and Search: box show, with the visible columns, as change_log_<date>_<time>.csv. Filter first: the Change Log can hold sensitive values.

Activity Log: business workflow events, approval decisions and sign-ins.
Event Log: system events, errors and diagnostic information.