Activ automatically maintains a complete record of changes that are made to individual Improvement Logs, providing you with a detailed audit trail of each Improvement Log’s history. This record is housed across two pages within the History tab. These are:
- Timeline
- Versions
This article concerns the Timeline feature. See Versions – View the History of an Improvement Log for more information about the Versions feature.
Each time you edit an Improvement Log, Activ captures the fields that you change and the edits that you make within them. This information is permanently stored within your system and can be accessed at any time from the Timeline page. This allows you to:
- View a summary of all changes that have been made to the Improvement Log
- View a record of all previous Effectiveness Assessments
- Filter the Timeline by editor or date
- Create a PDF of the Improvement Log’s full version history
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View the Timeline of Changes
To view an Improvement Log’s Timeline, open the Improvement Log and click on its History tab. Activ will automatically open the tab on its Timeline subpage.
You will be presented with a chronological record of all changes that have been made to the Improvement Log, with the most recent changes listed first. Each record is housed in its own panel and provides a summary of which fields were changed, what the previous content of the field was, and what the new content is. In addition, the Improvement Log’s status at the time of the change will be recorded in the panel’s top right, and key information regarding the version number, who made the change, and when the change was made, is recorded in the panel’s top left.
Activ also stores a record of the full Improvement Log for each version, and provides you with the option to view this alongside the Timeline. To view the full version, click on the View Full Details For This Version button within the appropriate panel.
This will open a new window containing the Improvement Log’s full record for the selected version.
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Previous Effectiveness Assessments
An Improvement Log’s latest Effectiveness Assessment will be recorded at the top of the timeline, unless the Improvement Log has been re-opened since that Effectiveness Assessment was completed. Where this is the case, any previous Effectiveness Assessments will be stored within the Timeline alongside the normal version records.
As with changes made to the Improvement Log itself, each Effectiveness Assessment (or change to an Effectiveness Assessment, if it is completed over multiple sittings) is displayed within its own panel in the Timeline. These display the relevant information in the same format as the version records, with the editor’s name and the date of the update recorded in the panel’s top left. However, in addition to the standard information each completed Effectiveness Assessment will include a stamp to denotate the results of the Assessment. This may be either:
- Effective, which is displayed with a green tick
- Partially Effective, which is displayed with an amber tick
- Not Effective, which is displayed with a red cross.
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Filter the Timeline
If necessary, Activ allows you to filter your Timeline to locate any edits that have been made by a specific user or between two specified dates. To use this feature, select the appropriate user in the Changed By field and enter the appropriate dates in the From and To fields, then click Go.
Activ will automatically regenerate the Timeline so that it only displays the versions that match your chosen criteria.
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PDF the Full Version History
Activ provides you with the option to generate a PDF of an Improvement Log’s Version History. This can be saved or printed for use outside of the Activ system, and its properties can be managed via the Branding tab in the System Administration module (see Branding – Your Company Logo and PDF Headers and Footers).
The Version History PDF includes all details from the Improvement Log’s previous versions, and presents these as copies of the standard Improvement Log Details form. It does not summarise the changes that are recorded in the Timeline, but instead displays each version exactly as it was at the time that the version was created. This can be generated by clicking on the PDF – With History button at the top or bottom of the page.
Note that the PDF button’s behaviour may vary slightly depending on your web browser and its settings. In some cases, you may get a pop-up window or new tab that previews the PDF and from which you can save or print the file, whilst in others the PDF may automatically download to your default downloads location. It is also important to be aware that the PDF function will only work correctly if the computer you are using has access to PDF software that is compatible with your web browser. If your computer does not have appropriate PDF software, your web browser will not be able to download the file.
