> This is the Markdown of a Backed Help Centre page, https://admin.backed.giving/help/administrator/audit/audit-log.md. Every page is listed at https://admin.backed.giving/help/llms.txt.

> This page uses Backed's default terms, such as Funding Round and Application Template. An organisation may rename them, so read each as your organisation's own term if you've renamed it.

`Settings > Audit log` lists every recorded change you may see in your organisation, newest first.
Entries cannot be changed or deleted, and reading them is not recorded.

## Find an entry

Filter the log by date range, actor, event class, event type, record type, record or grant round. The
event classes include `Application`, `Assessment`, `Conflict of Interest`, `Decision`, `Contract`,
`Milestone`, `Sign-in and authentication`, `Configuration`, `Data lifecycle`,
`Export and download`, `Reporting` and `Privacy`.

If nothing matches, try a wider date range or fewer filters. Entries about records your Data Access
Rules do not reach are not listed.

## Read an entry

Select an entry to see its `Timestamp`, `Actor`, who they were `Acting as`, the `Event class` and
`Event type`, the `Record`, a `Summary`, the `Reason` where one was given, and the `Changed values`.

The actor can be a person, the `System`, an `API client`, a `Link holder` (someone using a shared
link), or `Operator support`: somebody from outside your organisation, such as Backed's support team,
who holds no role in it.

## AI assisted entries

An entry labelled `AI assisted` means a record was changed with an accepted or edited AI output.
Its details name the capability that made the output. Select `View the decision log entry` to open
the `Decision log` tab of [AI assistance](../../integrations/ai-assistance.md#the-decision-log): from an entry's details it opens on that one entry, and from the
list it opens filtered to the record. Reading the log needs `Can access Organisation settings`, and
the log keeps references, versions and hashes, never the prompt or the output.

## Export the log

`Export` saves the audit trail of one grant round or one application as a file, for an auditor, a
review or a records request. You need `Can access Organisation settings` and `Can generate reports`
to see it.

1. Select `Export`. The round you filtered the list by, and its event class and date range, are
   already filled in.
2. Choose a `Grant` or an `Application` (or your organisation's own terms for them), and the
   record. For an application, enter its id.
3. Choose `CSV` or `Excel (XLSX)`, and narrow the `From` and `To` dates or the `Event class` if you
   want to.
4. Select `Export`, wait while the file is prepared, then select `Download`.

The file holds every entry your Data Access Rules reach, exactly as it was recorded: no entry can be
changed afterwards, so an export taken later shows the same entries. Only you can download the file
you asked for. If the round or application is outside your Data Access Rules, or the trail is too
large for one file, the dialog says so; narrow the dates and try again.

## Exporting the audit log

An export has one row for each changed field of each entry. An entry that changed no field, such as
a sign-in, has one row with the three change columns empty. The file has 17 columns:

| Column | What it holds |
| --- | --- |
| `Entry ID` | The entry's number. |
| `Timestamp` | When it happened, with your organisation's time zone offset. |
| `Actor` | Who did it, or `System` for something Backed did on its own. |
| `Actor role` | The role they held. |
| `Acting as` | Who they were acting for, if anyone. |
| `Event class` | The class, such as `Application` or `Decision`. |
| `Event type` | What happened, in your organisation's terms. |
| `Subject record type` | The kind of record the entry is about. |
| `Subject record ID` | That record's number. |
| `Subject record name` | That record's name. |
| `Related records` | Other records the entry belongs to. |
| `Field` | The field that changed. |
| `Previous value` | Its value before, or `Redacted` if the value is hidden. |
| `New value` | Its value after, or `Redacted` if the value is hidden. |
| `Reason` | The reason given, if any. |
| `Channel` | How the change was made. |
| `IP address` | The address it came from. The list on screen does not show it. |

## Your exports

`Exports`, beside `Export`, lists the audit log exports you asked for in the last 24 hours, newest
first, with when you asked, the record and whether it is a round or an application, the format, its
status, how many entries and rows it holds and when the file expires. Each file is kept for 24 hours.

Select `Download` on an export that is `Ready`. An export still `Waiting` or `Being built` has no
`Download` yet; open `Exports` again later. A file that has expired says so: export it again. Only
you see and download your own exports. You need `Can generate reports`, as for `Export`.

## Export one record's history

The history of an application, a milestone, a contract and a payment each has its own `Export`. It
saves that record's history as a `CSV` or `Excel` file, using the filters the history shows at the
time, and the file downloads at once. You need `Can generate reports` and access to the record. A
history too large for one file says so: narrow the filters and export again. See
[An application](../applications/an-application.md#history-and-comments).

## See also

- [Migration runs](migration-runs.md)
- [Security settings](../organisation/security-settings.md)