Need tracking changes on your data? See who changed a vendor or created a sales order? That is possible with the Change Log functionality in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013, 2013R2 and 2015.

It is well-known that it can be hard to find the origin of faults and changes. This can be an incorrect posing on the General Ledger, or changes on a customer card. The Change Log functionality makes it possible to log and track all modifications on the database, made by users. The Change Log functionality helps you to monitor activity in specific area’s. While setting up the Change Log you must specify each table and fields that you want to track. It’s not doable to just log everything. That would be a huge load on the server.

Set up a change log

The setup of the Change Log is done in the Change Log Setup. Go to Departments à Administration à IT Administrationà General à Tasks à Change Log Setup:

First you need to define which specific area’s you want to be able to track. Sales orders, Vendors or Customers…

• In the Change Log Setup window, on the Actions, in the Setup group, choose Tables.
• Find the Table ID of the area you want to track.
• You can choose to log Insertion, Modification or Deletion.
• Select Some Fields or All Fields.

• If you selected Some Fields, you will then need to select (Ellipsis/Assist Edit (Shift + F4)) the Log Insertion on the fields you want to capture. The window has a line for each field in the current table.

• Fill in the fields for each line.
• To activate the change log, in the Change Log Setup window, select the Change Log Activated field. Close the window.

The system will now start recording changes on the Customer table the next time the users log in. You have to close and reopen the company before the changes take effect.

Dynamics NAV standard always tracks the following system tables:

• Access Control
• Change Log Setup
• Change Log Setup (Table)
• Change Log Setup (Field)
• Permission
• Permission Set
• User
• User Property
  

View Change Log Entries

Go to Departments à Administration à IT Administration à General à Lists à Change Log Entries

• In the Change Log Entries window, remove any filters. 
• The Window now displays all Changes log entries.
• Add filters to find entries..
  

Print Change Log Entries

Go to Departments à Administration à IT Administration à General à Lists à Change Log Entries

• Add filters on entries which you want to print.
• Then select Print in Ribbon.

Delete Change Log Entries

It is also possible to delete change log entries that are no longer needed.
Go to Departments à Administration à IT Administration à Data Deletion à Delete Entries à Delete Change Log Entries

• In the Change Log – Delete window, enter the date or period for the change log entries you want to delete.
• Enter the table number of the tables for which you want to delete change log entries.
• Add any other filters that you would like to sort the data on.
• Choose the OK button.

Setting up a Change Log in Dynamics NAV works the same in versions 2013 RTM, 2013 R2 and 2015.