Set Up Audit Trails
Although electronic signature functions can be used without Audit Trails—signature data is stored in production database tables rather than in the audit database—this is not a typical business case. Signatures normally fill only part of the user accountability requirements of a regulated environment. Other important elements are:
• Access security control and tracking, provided by the System Security module
• The ability to identify changes to the database, as well as identify who made them—the primary function of Audit Trails
Additionally, as part of the overall accountability process, electronic signature records cannot be deleted unless they are first archived to an audit database. If you ever want to delete signature records, you must have at least one audit database in place and connected.
For the audit database you will use for signature archive, set E-Signatures to Yes and specify an associated begin date in Audit DB Maintenance (36.12.13.11). This is the database used for archiving electronic signature records. Whether you use the same database that stores audit trail records should be determined as part of your overall audit database planning.