Advanced Settings
Access Log
The access log answers "who has looked at this?" It keeps a line each time someone opens a record, downloads or emails it, exports a list that holds it, opens one of its files, or has ORCA AI read it. It also notes anyone refused a record behind a barrier, and every change to a deal team or a barrier.
Lines are only ever added. Nobody in your account can edit or remove one.
Switching It On
The log is off until you switch it on, and it starts from that moment. Nothing from before is filled in.
- Go to Settings > Access log. You need permission to open Settings.
- Press Switch on. The label beside the button changes to "Keeping a log".
Press Switch off to stop. What the log already holds stays. Switching the log on or off is itself written to the log, so a gap always shows who made it.
The log works on its own, with or without barriers, and covers records in every section.
What Gets Logged
Each line says when, who, what they did, which record, any detail, and the IP address it came from.
| What | When it's written |
|---|---|
| Opened | Someone opened a record's page |
| Downloaded a PDF | A record was downloaded as a PDF |
| Downloaded the overview | A record's overview was downloaded |
| Emailed the overview | An overview was emailed. The detail says who to |
| Exported the list | A record's company list, such as a buyer list, was exported. The detail gives the number of rows |
| Exported contacts | Contacts were exported from a section |
| Exported a report | A report was downloaded |
| Exported totals | Totals were downloaded |
| Exported the whole account | Someone took the account export |
| Opened a file | A file on a record was opened or downloaded. The detail names it |
| Read by ORCA AI | ORCA AI read a record, or counted records in a section, for someone |
| Read over the API | An API key read a record or a section's list. The line names the key |
| Refused | Someone tried to open a record behind a barrier they aren't inside |
| Changed the team | People were added to or removed from a barred record's team, for example "Added Priya Raman." |
| Changed a barrier | A section's barrier was switched on, changed or taken off |
| Switched this log | The log was switched on or off |
| Downloaded this log | Someone downloaded the log as CSV |
Changed a barrier and Switched this log are written even while the log is off. Taking a barrier down is the one thing someone will always want to find later.
What isn't logged
- A row in a list or a search result. Seeing a record's name in a list isn't opening it.
- A tab reloading on a record page you already have open.
- One line per record in a bulk export. An export is one line, with a count.
Reading the Log
Settings > Access log shows the latest lines first, fifty to a page, with the time in your account's time zone.
- Who is the real person. If someone was logged in as a colleague, the line names them and adds "logged in as" the colleague. A line marked ORCA support was us, looking into something for you.
- Record keeps the record's name as it was at the time, so a line still makes sense after the record is renamed or deleted. Click a record's name to see only its lines.
- Filter by Person, by What, and by From and To dates, then press Filter.
On a record behind a barrier, people with Settings access also get a Who has opened this link beside the padlock note, which opens the log filtered to that record.
The log shows record names, including those of barred records. Anyone who can open Settings can read it, so they'll see that a barred record exists and what it's called, even if they can't open the record itself.
Downloading It
Press Download CSV to download what you're looking at, with your filters applied. Times in the file are in UTC. The file has a column each for who, who they were logged in as, ORCA support, the API key, what, the record's name and id, the detail and the IP address.
The download is itself logged as Downloaded this log.
If a Line Can't Be Written
On a record behind a barrier, the log is the point, so if ORCA can't write the line the page doesn't open. The person sees "This record could not be opened just now. Please try again." Everywhere else the page opens as normal and we're told about the failure.
In the Demo
Nothing a demo visitor does is logged, because demo logins are shared and the next visitor would see your visits. Instead, the Ardlow & Penn demo holds about thirty sample lines, with a note saying so. They include Hana's refused attempt to open Project Whimbrel, the one mandate the demo login isn't on, and Gillian from compliance putting the barriers up.
Related
- Barriers : limit each record to the people working on it
- Accounts & Users : roles, and who can open Settings
- Data Export : the whole account as a zip of CSVs
- Using the ORCA API : API keys, whose reads are logged by name