SystemIT & Data

Audit Trail Review

GxP audit trail review of every row, person by person — each period decided and signed on schedule

Every audit-trail period reviewed on schedule and signed, rows cited

See one case, screen by screen ↓
demo490,574rowsof audit trail screened for week 40 across 8 systems, with rule set v4
demo9findingswritten for the cycle, citing 39 log rows — a person decides every one
target100%of audit-trail rows screened, up from about 20% sampled by hand
target1.6daysmedian to a signed review record, every period on schedule
In short

What is Audit Trail Review?

Software that collects the audit trails of your GxP systems, screens them for data integrity risks and records who reviewed each period and what they decided. Audit Trail Review adds seven agents that collect every system's export on a risk-based schedule, map each event to a person, flag what needs a look with the exact log rows, and draft the deviation and the review record. A data integrity reviewer decides every finding and signs.

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Updated

The problem

Why audit-trail review falls behind

Inspectors expect the audit trails of critical data to be reviewed, and they ask for the evidence. But a chromatography data system, a LIMS, an MES, environmental monitoring and an EDC each export their own trail, in their own columns, and together they run to hundreds of thousands of rows a week. In the time allowed, QA samples a fraction by hand. A shared shift account or an emergency grant that was never removed hides who actually did what, so even the rows that are read are hard to attribute.

The risk sits in the rows nobody reached. An assay reintegrated three times late at night until a failing result reads as a pass, results approved by the person who entered them, a workstation clock set back before an alarm limit is raised — each can sit in an export until the batch is released. Reviews slip behind, periods with nothing found often have no signed record at all, and a system that had a bad week is reviewed no more often than before.

demo490,574rowsof audit trail in one week, across 8 systems at one company — too many to read by hand
demo~20%of audit-trail rows sampled by hand at the sample company, before go-live
Where a week's review hours goestimated
By hand46 days
With the solution12 days
  • Pulling each system's export and checking it is complete6 → 0.5 d
  • Working out the person behind each account and shift5 → 0.5 d
  • Reading sampled rows against the review SOP20 → 4 d
  • Chasing context: rosters, change controls, the analyst8 → 4 d
  • Writing the review record and any deviation7 → 3 d

Estimated split of reviewer hours for one week across the sample company's nine systems, sampling by hand and with the solution.

How it works

How a review moves

Five agents collect, map and screen every audit trail into one lane per person; two more draft deviations and the review record. A data integrity reviewer decides every flag and signs.

What comes in
Audit trails in9 systems, on a risk-based schedule · lab, plant, study and quality systems
Agents at work
Log collectorexport · checksum
Then
Log normaliserone lane per person
Then
Rule screener12 rules
Pattern finder90-day baselines
Then
Finding writerstory · cited rows
A person decides
Data integrity reviewerdecides every finding and signs
What comes out
Flagged lanes, rows cited
Deviation drafts for QA
Signed review record
One case, step by step

One week's audit trails, from export to a signed record

Northwind Bio runs nine GxP systems across Leiden, Waterford, Raleigh and clinical study VLT-302. It is Wednesday, October 7, and week 40 (Sep 28 – Oct 4) is due for review. Here is what happens next, screen by screen, in the working solution.

  1. 01Wednesday morning

    The week as one lane per person

    Priya Raman · Data integrity lead, Leiden

    Priya opens User swimlanes: 12 people and accounts across seven days, rostered shifts as bands, 20:00–06:00 shaded as out of hours. Every screened event is a tick; 2,219 events of interest, and 7 of 8 flags still open — “Reprocessed ×3”, “3 sessions at once”, “Self-approved ×14”, “Clock set back 2 h 10”, “Back-dated ×37”. CDS Waterford was collected at 06:10 and is waiting to be screened.

    “Click a flag in a lane to see its hour, the rows behind it and the rule that raised it.”

  2. 02Thursday, 21:58

    Joris Vermeulen's Thursday night, zoomed to the hour

    Pattern finder and Rule screener

    Joris is a QC analyst at Leiden, rostered 07:00–15:30. His lane is flagged on Thursday night: a test injection, the sequence, processing at 94.1%, then three manual integrations, the third reported at 95.3%. Four checks raised it — repeated reprocessing, manual integration without a reason, trial injection before a sequence, and out-of-hours edits to critical data.

    “Reprocessed 3 times in 21 min, then reported.”

  3. 03Open finding

    Every sentence of the story cites its log row

    Finding writer

    F-112: the automatic integration gave an assay of 94.1%, below the 95.0–105.0% specification for Corventa 50 mg lot CV50-2609-14. Over the next 21 minutes the main-peak baseline was moved three times; the third version reported 95.3% and was signed three minutes later. Two of the three manual integrations have no reason, the “sst-check” test injection was excluded the next morning, and no OOS investigation is linked to the lot. Suggested: open a deviation, confidence 92.

    “Rows are shown exactly as exported — the agents never change them.”

  4. 04Her decision

    A deviation, drafted on evidence and approved by QA

    Priya Raman · Data integrity lead, and Omar Haddad · Site quality head

    Priya chooses “Open a deviation” and notes a possible OOS not investigated. The deviation drafter writes DEV-2026-0612 from 9 cited rows: lot CV50-2609-14 on hold and not released, three other lots the analyst tested after 20:00 in September, an OOS investigation on the 94.1% result, manual integration restricted pending review, and a proposed class of Major. She sends it to Omar Haddad, who approves it, and it is raised in the QMS.

    The deviation drafter never raises a deviation in the QMS on its own — QA approves first.

  5. 05The schedule

    A bad week means more frequent reviews

    The agents, citing SOP QA-DI-007

    Environmental monitoring at Leiden had a High finding this week: the workstation clock was set back 2 h 10 min, then the particle alert limit for Grade B room 2.14 was raised from 2,000 to 3,500 per m³ (F-115). The schedule proposes moving it up one tier, citing the SOP section that says so.

    “QA-DI-007 §5.5 moves a system up one tier for 8 weeks after a High finding: before each batch release, plus weekly, until Nov 30.”

  6. 06Applied

    Ten weeks re-planned, with the rule behind every date

    Priya Raman and Omar Haddad

    Priya applies it and sends it to QA; Omar Haddad approves. Env. monitoring · Leiden is Critical until Nov 30, and its reviews over the next ten weeks rise from 10 to 26. The plan now holds 205 reviews across 5 critical systems.

  7. 07Review records

    One record per system and period, with its due clock

    Priya Raman · Data integrity lead

    Nine records are open. Environmental monitoring is due tomorrow; CDS Leiden (148,220 rows, 3 findings) and LIMS (186,410 rows, 2 findings) in two days; CDS Waterford is still at Screening with 121,906 rows collected. Since go-live in May, 136 records have been signed.

  8. 08Run the review

    CDS Waterford, screened while she watches

    Log collector to Finding writer

    121,906 rows exported, checksum verified, no gaps in sequence numbers. 38 accounts resolved to people and server and workstation clocks compared. 12 rules raise 290 events of interest; the pattern finder compares people and their instruments with their 90-day baselines. Two findings, citing 5 log rows — six impurity peaks integrated by hand with the same copied reason, and an aborted run with a reason recorded.

    The record preview fills as the agents work: scope, rule set v4, every finding and its decision.

  9. 09Signed

    Every finding decided, then the record signed and locked

    Priya Raman · Data integrity lead

    On the CDS Leiden week 40 record, F-112 is a deviation QA approved. Priya accepts the suggestions for the medium and low findings — ask Anouk Smit why method v7 was used before it took effect, and justify the aborted run. She signs with the meaning “Reviewed — all findings decided”. Every rule states its result, and “no anomalies” is written down for the 8 rules and pattern checks that found none.

    “The record is locked. Any change needs a new version with its own signature.”

Who it’s for

Built for everyone who answers for data integrity.

The same week of audit trails, seen by the five people who carry it — what their review looked like, and what it looks like now.

PR
Priya RamanData integrity lead, Leiden · signs nine systems' review records
Data integrity lead
Before
“I can't read half a million rows.” She samples what she can, and a late-night reintegration can reach release before anyone reads the rows.
Now
Sees the person and the hour that matter, with the rows behind each flag; decides every finding and signs every period on schedule.
OH
Omar HaddadSite quality head · approves deviations, rule sets and schedule changes
Site quality head
Before
“If a system had a bad week, review it more often — and tell me which rule says so.”
Now
Approves each deviation draft before it reaches the QMS, each rule set version, and each schedule change with its SOP section cited.
MC
Dr. Maya ChenSystem owner, chromatography · 46 CDS users at Leiden
System owner, chromatography
Before
“Who did what on which instrument — with the rows, not a hunch.”
Now
Sees the findings for her system with each statement tied to a row in the export, answers questions and fixes access.
SP
Sam PatelQC second-person reviewer · reviews results before release
QC second-person reviewer
Before
“If the trail is clean, I want that written down too.”
Now
Signs the records for his systems. The ELN Raleigh September record had no findings — he still signed it, and it says “No anomalies found” for all 14 rules and pattern checks.
DO
Dana OkaforClinical data manager, VLT-302 · EDC review per site, monthly
Clinical data manager, VLT-302
Before
“Late entry isn't fraud — ask the site before you accuse it.”
Now
Site 104's 37 late visit dates come to her as “Ask the person”, measured against the site's own 3-day median lag.
Built on the engine

7 agents. Each with one job, and hard limits.

Five agents collect, map and screen every audit trail into one lane per person; two more draft deviations and the review record. A data integrity reviewer decides every flag and signs.

Log collector

Exports each system's audit trail for the period on its schedule, with every column, the user and role list and the shift roster; checks that row counts match the system's own count with no gaps in sequence numbers, and stores the export unchanged with its checksum.

  • Never filters or shortens an export
  • An incomplete export stops the review and alerts the system owner
Log normaliser

Maps each system's columns to one event — who, what, object, old and new value, reason, workstation, server and workstation time — and resolves account ids to named people, roles and shifts, marking generic or unowned accounts.

  • Keeps the original row beside the mapped one
  • Unmapped events go to a person
Rule screener

Applies every active rule in the approved rule set — deletions, repeated reprocessing, manual integration without a reason, trial injections, method changes after a run, clock changes, shared accounts, self-approval, elevated rights — and counts what each rule checked and raised.

  • Rules change only through an approved rule set version
  • Every rule reports a count, including zero
Pattern finder

Builds a 90-day baseline for each person, instrument and site — late-night clusters, bulk back-dating, unusual rerun rates — and says which baseline, how far off, and what normal looks like.

  • Labels a pattern as a pattern, never as a violation
  • Explains the baseline it used
Finding writer

Groups events on the same record, person and hour into one finding, tells what happened in time order, states the result before and after against its specification, and suggests Justified, Ask the person or Open a deviation, with the reason.

  • Every sentence cites a log row
  • Suggests — never decides
Deviation drafter

Turns a finding the reviewer sends to deviation into a QMS-ready draft: title, event date, system, description with citations, potentially affected lots and results, immediate actions and a proposed classification.

  • A person approves before it reaches the QMS
Review record writer

Assembles the record for each system and period from the review data: scope, export checksum, rule set version, counts per rule, every finding with its decision and decider, links to deviations, and “no anomalies found” where that is true.

  • Never signs — a person does
  • Signed records are locked
Data integrity reviewer

Decides and signs; QA approves deviations. The agents propose; a named person decides.

Ask in plain words

Ask about any system, finding or person

Ask in plain words about a system, a finding, a person or a rule — or say what to change. Every answer points to its log rows.

What needs me before Friday?

Start with F-112: a Corventa assay moved from 94.1% to 95.3% by three manual reintegrations late on Oct 1. Environmental monitoring is due first, tomorrow — one finding, a clock change.

Any shared accounts?

One: qc_shift_b in the LIMS signed in from three workstations within 7 minutes on Sep 30 and entered 41 results. Three people were on shift B, so none of the 41 can be attributed. It was a label-printer account given result-entry rights in 2024. Suggested: open a deviation and disable the account.

Who changed a system clock?

On Oct 2 at 03:15 the environmental-monitoring workstation was set back 2 h 10 min, then the particle alert limit for Grade B room 2.14 was raised from 2,000 to 3,500. Separately, EDC site 104 entered 37 visit dates 3–6 weeks after the visits, against a usual lag of 3 days.

Add a rule: flag sequences rerun more than twice in 24 hours

New rule for both chromatography data systems. Over the last 90 days it finds 3 sequences: SEQ-24-1187 at Leiden (already F-112), and two at Waterford that were reruns after documented instrument faults. It sits in rule set v5 for Omar Haddad's approval, and is in the audit trail.

Every screen

The working solution, as it ships.

13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.

User swimlanesThe week as one lane per person or account, rostered shifts and out-of-hours shaded, flags on the lanes, and the risk-based schedule below.
A flag, zoomed to its hourThe cited rows on a time strip, the three reintegrations bracketed, the story, the rules that raised it and the suggested decision.
The finding and its rowsWhat happened with every statement cited, the timeline, the chromatogram of the reported integration, and the export rows exactly as exported.
Decision and deviationThe deviation draft — affected lots, immediate actions and proposed class — approved by the site quality head and raised in the QMS.
Risk-based review scheduleEach system's tier and the reviews due in the next ten weeks, the SOP section behind every date, and the proposal after a High finding.
The schedule, re-plannedEnvironmental monitoring moved up to Critical until Nov 30 under §5.5, approved by QA, with its ten weeks updated.
Review recordsOne record per system and period with its risk tier, rows screened, findings, stage and the days left before it is due.
A review runEach agent's step on CDS Waterford — rows exported and checked, accounts resolved, rules and baselines applied, findings written — and the record filling in.
The signed recordCDS Leiden week 40: every finding decided, every rule with its result, “no anomalies” for those that found none, and the signature with its meaning and time. The record is then locked.
A clean period, still signedELN Raleigh, September: 27,604 rows screened, no findings. All 14 rules and pattern checks state “no anomalies”, and Sam Patel signs the record.
Screening rulesThe 14 rules and patterns the agents apply, what each looks for, where it applies and its hits over 30 days.
DashboardReview coverage, rows screened, findings by severity, reviewer hours, what the agents find and decisions by system.
Your rulesReview frequency per tier, the out-of-hours window, reviewer independence, approvers and the connected systems.
Governance

Built for inspection: every row cited, every finding decided, every period signed.

Every statement cites a log rowEach finding's story, timeline and deviation draft link to the exact rows in the export they come from, shown as exported beside the finding.
Exports kept unchangedEach system's audit trail is stored as exported with its checksum and a completeness check; the agents never filter, shorten or alter a row, and the mapped event sits beside the original.
A person decides every findingThe agents screen and suggest. The data integrity reviewer decides each finding — justified, ask the person, or open a deviation — and High findings always need their own decision and a second approval.
Reviewers stay independentNobody reviews a period in which they created or changed records, and the record names its reviewer as independent of the records reviewed.
Signed with meaning, then lockedEvery record is signed with its meaning, name and time — including periods with no findings — and is then locked. Any change needs a new version with its own signature.
QA approves what changesDeviation drafts, new rule set versions and schedule changes go to the QA approver first. A schedule change cites the SOP section behind it, and every step is on the audit trail.
Configuration

Your SOP and risk assessment, not ours

How often each tier is reviewed, what counts as out of hours and who approves what are settings — versioned, and on the audit trail.

SettingDefaultChoose from
Critical systems (CDS, LIMS, MES)Weekly, plus release-linked trails before each releaseDaily · Weekly · Every 2 weeks
High-risk systems (environmental monitoring, EDC)WeeklyDaily · Weekly · Every 2 weeks · Monthly
Medium-risk systems (QMS, ELN)MonthlyWeekly · Monthly · Quarterly
Out-of-hours window20:00 – 06:00, unless the person was rostered19:00 – 07:00 · 20:00 – 06:00 · 21:00 – 05:00 · 22:00 – 05:00
Reviewer must be independentOnOn · Off
Second approval for High-severity findingsOmar HaddadOmar Haddad · Priya Raman
Deviations raised in the QMS after approval byOmar HaddadOmar Haddad · Lena Ortiz
Sign records that have no findingsOn — the record states “no anomalies found”On · Off
Connections

Works with the systems your audit trails already live in

Chromatography data systemsinjections, sequences, processing methods, manual integrations and result signatures
LIMSresults entered, reviewed and approved, stability pulls, sessions by workstation
MES and environmental monitoringbatch steps, sign-ins, alarm limits, acknowledgements and workstation clocks
EDCfield entries and changes per study site, with entry lag against the visit
QMS, ELN and document managementCAPA edits and rights used on quality records, notebook and document changes; deviations raised after QA approval
Identity and roster feedsuser and role lists, temporary grants and the shift roster, so every event has a person
What it changes

The difference, in numbers.

Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.

target
100%
of audit-trail rows screened, up from about 20% sampled by hand
every row, 9 of 9 systems
estimated
73%
less reviewer time, while screening every row
By hand100% of the hours
With agents27% of the hours
target
1.6days
median to a signed review record, every period on schedule

“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate · Northwind Bio and the people named on this page are characters in the working solution. Context: 21 CFR 11.10(e) · FDA Data Integrity and Compliance With Drug CGMP, Q&A (2018) · MHRA GXP Data Integrity Guidance (2018) · PIC/S PI 041-1 (2021) · EU GMP Annex 11 draft revision (2025).

Questions

What QA and data integrity teams ask us.

What is GxP audit trail review software?

Software that collects the audit trails of your GxP systems, screens them for data integrity risks and records who reviewed each period and what they decided. Audit Trail Review adds seven agents that collect every system's export on a risk-based schedule, map each event to a person, flag what needs a look with the exact log rows, and draft the deviation and the review record. A data integrity reviewer decides every finding and signs.

Does it review every audit-trail row or a sample?

Every row. In the sample company the agents screened 490,574 rows across 8 systems for one week. Events that are explained — a manual integration with a valid reason, for example — stay out of the findings but are counted in the record.

What does it flag in a chromatography data system?

Repeated reprocessing, manual integration without a reason or with a copied one, trial injections before a sequence, aborted runs, processing methods changed after the run, and edits outside the rostered shift — alongside rules for every system such as deletions, clock changes, shared accounts, self-approval, elevated rights and audit-trail settings changed.

How does the risk-based review schedule work?

Each system is scored on impact, configurability and findings over 90 days, and the score sets its tier and how often its trail is reviewed, with the SOP section shown beside every date. After a High finding the schedule proposes moving the system up one tier for 8 weeks; it changes only when QA approves.

Can it tell who is behind a shared or generic account?

It resolves every account to a named person from the identity and roster feeds and marks accounts that have no single owner. In the sample, a LIMS shift account used on three workstations at once could not be attributed to any of the three people on shift, so it was raised as a finding with a deviation suggested.

Does the AI decide findings or change the audit trail?

No. The agents never change, filter or shorten an export, never decide a finding, never raise a deviation in the QMS and never change the schedule on their own. They suggest, with every statement cited to its row.

Do people stay in control of the review?

Yes. A data integrity reviewer decides every finding and signs every record with its meaning, name and time; reviewers cannot review periods in which they changed records; High findings, deviations, rule sets and schedule changes need QA approval. A signed record is locked.

How long does it take to go live?

The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents — your review SOP, risk assessment, system list and sample audit-trail exports — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on your own exports first.

See it on
your audit trails.

We'll run Audit Trail Review on a sample of your own audit-trail exports.