If you're on the hook for compliance reporting in sales comp or finance, you already know the drill: you need a clear, trustworthy record of who did what, when, and why. Audit trails aren’t just a checkbox—they’re your best defense when regulators, auditors, or even your own CFO starts poking around.
This guide walks you through setting up and actually using audit trails in Varicent so you’re not sweating the next time someone asks, “Can you prove who changed this?”
Why Audit Trails Matter (And What to Ignore)
Let’s cut through the hype. Audit trails are not magic. They won’t stop fraud, fix a broken process, or save you from angry auditors if you’re not using them right. What they do—if you set them up properly—is give you a solid, searchable record of changes in your system. This is critical for:
- Proving compliance with SOX, GDPR, or your internal policies.
- Investigating mistakes or “mystery” changes.
- Ditching the spreadsheet-and-email nightmare when someone asks for an audit log.
Ignore fancy dashboards and “AI-powered anomaly detection” unless you actually need them. Start with the basics: reliable, readable records.
Step 1: Understand What Varicent Tracks (and What It Doesn’t)
Before you dive into settings, get clear on what Varicent actually tracks in its audit trails. In most Varicent configurations, audit trails record:
- Who made a change (user ID, sometimes more detail if SSO is enabled)
- When the change happened (timestamp)
- What changed (old value, new value)
- Where in the system (object/table/field)
But here’s the catch: not every action is tracked by default. For example, some system-level changes or data imports might not be fully logged unless you’ve set up audit policies or enabled advanced logging.
Pro tip: Make a list of your “must-track” actions (e.g., compensation plan changes, user role updates, payout approvals). Check with your Varicent admin or support team to confirm which are covered out of the box, and which might need extra configuration.
Step 2: Set Up Audit Logging in Varicent
Setting up audit trails in Varicent is mostly about configuring what’s already there, but you’ll want to do it right the first time. Here’s how:
2.1. Access Admin Settings
- Log in with an account that has admin or configuration privileges.
- Navigate to the “Administration” or “System Configuration” area—Varicent’s UI changes slightly between versions, so look for the gear icon or “System” menu.
2.2. Enable Audit Logging
- Find the “Audit” or “Logging” section.
- Turn on audit logging for the modules you care about (e.g., Compensation Plans, User Management, Data Imports).
- Some objects may have checkboxes for “Track Changes” or “Enable Auditing”—tick these as needed.
2.3. Set Retention Policies
- Decide how long you need to keep audit logs (most companies go with 7 years for SOX, but check your policies).
- Set up log retention in the settings. Don’t just leave this at the default—disk space isn’t free, and too-short retention gets you in trouble later.
2.4. Choose What to Track
- For sensitive data, enable “Field-Level Auditing” if available. This lets you track changes to specific fields (like payout amounts or bank account numbers).
- Skip low-value logs like “user viewed report”—these just clutter up your audit trail.
Heads up: Some advanced features (like API call logging) might require extra licensing or setup. If you’ve got a basic package, don’t expect to track every single event.
Step 3: Test Your Audit Trail (Don’t Trust Defaults)
Just because you “enabled” audit logging doesn’t mean it’s working how you think. Always test:
- Make a few real changes as different users (change a comp plan, update a user role, approve a payout).
- Go to the audit log viewer or reporting tool in Varicent.
- Check: Does the log show the correct user, timestamp, old/new values, and object? Is anything missing or weird?
- Download/export a sample audit report. Open it up—can you actually tell what happened, or is it a mess of cryptic IDs?
If something’s off, now’s the time to tweak your settings or talk to support—not three months from now when the auditors show up.
Step 4: Set Up Regular Reporting and Alerts
Most compliance headaches come from not knowing something changed until it’s too late. Avoid this by setting up:
4.1. Scheduled Audit Reports
- Use Varicent’s built-in report scheduler (or your BI tool) to email key audit logs to yourself or your compliance team weekly or monthly.
- Focus on critical tables: compensation plan changes, user access, big payouts.
- Don’t spam everyone with everything—target the reports.
4.2. Alerts for Sensitive Changes
- Set up alerts (email or in-app) for high-risk changes, like new admin accounts or changes to security roles.
- If Varicent doesn’t support in-app alerts for audit events, use scheduled exports and a simple script to flag outliers. It’s not fancy, but it works.
Step 5: Make Audit Trails Usable for Auditors (and Yourself)
A giant CSV of log entries is useless if nobody can read it. Here’s how to make audit trails actually helpful:
- Use clear field labels: Don’t accept cryptic column names—rename or document them for your team.
- Explain your audit process: Keep a short SOP (standard operating procedure) that explains how you generate and interpret audit logs. Auditors love this, and it saves you headaches.
- Save sample reports: Keep a few “golden” audit trail exports handy to show what’s normal and what’s not.
Pro tip: If you ever need to present logs to an external auditor, clean up sensitive info (like passwords or PII) and walk them through the format. Don’t just dump raw data.
Step 6: Review and Update Regularly
Audit requirements change, and so does your business. Once a quarter (or whenever your process changes), review:
- Are you still tracking the right actions?
- Are your logs easy to access and interpret?
- Have there been any missed changes or unexplained gaps?
Bring in someone from compliance or IT security for a second opinion. It’s easy to get “audit log fatigue” and miss something obvious.
What Works, What Doesn't, and What to Watch Out For
Let’s be honest: Varicent’s audit trails do the job, but they’re not perfect. Here’s where they shine and where they fall short:
What works: - Easy enough to turn on and configure for most common actions. - Decent export and reporting options. - Meets baseline audit/compliance needs for most companies.
What doesn’t: - The interface can be clunky. Finding a specific change sometimes takes longer than it should. - Not all actions are tracked by default—you have to know what to enable. - Advanced filtering and “nice-to-have” analytics are limited unless you invest in extra tooling.
Watch out for: - Over-logging: Tracking every trivial action leads to noise and makes actual issues hard to spot. - Under-logging: Missing a key audit point (say, admin privilege escalation) is a common pitfall. - Assuming “enabled” means “compliant”: Always check your actual logs and retention settings.
Keep It Simple, Iterate as You Go
Audit trails aren’t glamorous, but they’re essential. Start simple: track what matters, make sure you can explain your logs to someone else, and don’t over-engineer. You can always add complexity later if your compliance needs grow.
Remember, the goal isn’t to impress auditors with fancy setups—it’s to be able to answer, “Who changed this, and why?” without breaking a sweat. Set up your audit trails, test them, and sleep a little easier.