BURLINGTON, N.J. — Arsenault Associates has introduced a new audit trail option to Dossier, its fleet maintenance management software.

Audit Trail expands the scope of vehicle history by enabling management to see not just what was done to a vehicle, but who did it, and when, company officials said. The audit trail option is also designed to track any additions, changes and deletions as they apply to vehicles, parts and personnel, as well as work requested, done or canceled.

"With Audit Trail, you have a clear record of responsibility," said Bob Hausler, vice president of marketing and technology for Arsenault.

However, it is not a matter of mistrust, he noted.

"Audit Trail helps improve processes and performance," he explained. "In that sense it is not punitive, simply practical and responsible."

Audit Trail's chronological record can find and help correct inadvertent errors, according to the supplier.

"Say someone is distracted by a phone call and makes an incorrect entry while working in Dossier,” Hausler explained. “That error may go unnoticed for some time. Audit Trail can help find that mistake so it can be corrected.”

Citing a worst-case scenario in which someone might maliciously attempt to trash the database, "Audit Trail can find every transaction that person performed in chronological order so you can undo any damage," Hausler said.

Audit Trail also provides documentation for regulatory compliance and personnel management, he added.

Audit Trail records are designed to be easy to access, company officials said. Every Dossier item has a "Details" link that enables authorized users to bring up the complete history of that item in an event log. Users can see additions, changes and deletions, as well as who made them. Additionally, they can search, print and export that information.

Items supported by Audit Trail in Dossier include Unit (vehicle, typically); Part; Personnel; Vendor; Repair Order; Fuel Item; Customer; Tire; Purchase Order; and Part Receipt. Audit Trail search results can be focused by user, item type or time range.

Dossier users can limit the resources used by Audit Trail. An Auditing Options window offers choices; data can be retained for specific periods of time and limited to specified amounts of disk storage space, company officials said.
Audit Trail is optional in Dossier Professional and is standard in the Dossier Enterprise Edition.