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SOAPedia Home > Documentation > Workspaces > Security Manager - Workspace (Needs Updating) > Transaction Logging (Needs Updates)
Transaction Logging (Needs Updates)
Table of contents
Introduction
Transaction Logging allows you to log and track users' activities within SOAPware. This capability is important for HIPAA compliance and other security initiatives. SOAPware allows you to set various levels of logging for your office.
Paper Connection
When using paper charts, tracking access and activities is difficult and tedious, at best. It would involve keeping a paper log in the chart storage area and requiring all staffers who accessed the charts to enter their activities in the log.
4.x Differences
SOAPware now takes SOAPware 4.x logging to new levels. In SOAPware 4.x, transaction logging information was limited to who made a change, when they made it, and what category of data it fell into, as well as the new data (for certain kinds of transactions). Now, it is possible to log a snapshot of the changes for any data type and nearly any user activity in SOAPware.
Security
You must have the correct security permissions to modify transaction log settings or to view log files.
Functionality
Activating Transaction Logging
To activate Transaction Logging, click on Tools, Security, and select General from the tree on the left side of the dialog. Transaction Logging options are found in the box in the center of the General display. From this display, you can select the areas and activities you want to log information for. Changes will not take effect until SOAPware is restarted.
Logging Options
Log user login/logout - Checking this option will keep a record of the login activity for every user in SOAPware, including when and where they logged in from.
Log data access - Checking this option will keep a record of which users have accessed data, when, and from which location.
Log document creation/deletion - Checking this option will keep a record of documents created and deleted by users in SOAPware, along with the time and location.
Log data modifications - Checking this option will keep a record of changes
made to data by users in SOAPware. Only the occurrence of the change is logged, not details of the change itself.
Save data snapshot for text items - Checking this option will save a copy of text data changed by users in SOAPware in order to preserve details of the change. This applies to areas such as SMARText items and chart Summaries. Log data modifications must be enabled to select this option.
Save data snapshot for binary items - Checking this option will save a copy
of binary data changed by users in SOAPware in order to preserve details of the change. This applies to areas such as Images and IQmark results. Log data modifications must be enabled to select this option.
Log customization edits - Checking this option will keep a record of changes made to customizations in SOAPware, such as handouts and reports. This applies to changes to report templates, not reports that have been inserted into patient charts, which are covered under data modification.
Transaction Logging Considerations
With any logging system, there is inevitably a cost in storage space and performance. This applies to SOAPware as well, although every effort has been made to minimize the impact. The most noticeable impact will be when data snapshots are enabled, as this will save a complete copy of the data. This amounts to adding another copy of that data to your database, and will use that much more space in your database. Although SOAPware's databases have size limitations in the range of multiple terabytes, your server's physical storage capacity likely falls well short of that amount. In addition, as the size of your transaction log increases, the speed of your system may begin to suffer, especially as it relates to viewing and browsing the log. For these reasons, you should carefully consider your office's logging needs when enabling these options.
Also, note that Transaction Logging settings apply equally to every user in your SOAPware system. They are not limited to only certain users or only certain computers. With full logging enabled, it is possible to follow the activities of any user, regardless of that user's security permissions.
