Activity Tracking and Dynamics GP

Activity Tracking- Tracks a number of tasks in GP, with basic information related to who, what and when. This is included in core Dynamics GP.

We are going to take a look at the capability provided by the Activity Tracking feature included in core Dynamics GP. First, let's look at the setup:

Activity Tracking Setup window

Microsoft Dynamics GP-Tools-Setup-System-Activity Tracking

Use this window to configure Activity Tracking, but be careful to only activate those items that you actually think will be useful (as this can add ALOT of records to your database very quickly). There are five different types of activities you can track:

• Login/Logout Tracking- Tracks unsuccessful and successful attempts to log in to Dynamics GP

• Access Tracking- Tracks unsuccessful and successful attemps to access a file, window, report, or the Modifer and Report Writer tools

• File Tracking- Tracks additions, deletions, and modifications to Setup, Master, and Transaction files

• Process Tracking- Tracks use of File Maintenance, Utililties, and Routines

• Posting Tracking- Tracks posting by window/transaction origin

Select the Activity Type you wish to track, and select the User and Company to track. Then mark the specific activities you want to include in the tracking, taking care only to select those items that you feel will be useful as noted above. Repeat for additional activities, users, and companies as needed. Click OK when complete.

The results of the activity tracking can be viewed easily:

Activity Tracking Inquiry window

Inquiry-System-Activity Tracking

Note that the activities can be filtered by company, user, activity type, and activity. The information available includes the company, user ID, date, time, and description of the change. The description includes the record that was affected, but does not include any details of the specific change (this is the major difference between activity tracking and the Audit Trails module-- the level of detail about the change available). You can also report on this information through Reports-System-General-Activity Tracking Detail.

If you choose to use activity tracking, make sure you set up a recurring task for yourself to remind you to remove the detail on a regular basis. Keeping the activity detail in your database indefinitely can increase your database size quickly depending on the types and number of activites being tracked. To remove activity detail:

Remove Activity Tracking Detail window

Microsoft Dynamics GP menu-Tools-Utilities-System-Activity Detail

Use this window to remove the activity detail based on parameters you specify, including activity type, activity, and ranges by date, user, and company. Generally, you would run this process after a full backup of your databases. Select and insert the necessary ranges (don't forget to mark the activities to remove, and to mark the "Remove Records" and "Print Report" checkboxes), and then click Process to remove the records.

Although activity tracking may not necessarily meet all tracking and audit needs, it can be a useful tool with minimal investment of time and/or money to see results immediately.

Refer: http://dynamicsgpland.blogspot.com