Change Events
About Change events
The Change events feature lets Administrators review supported successful changes made through the WorkflowGen Administration Module (including the Configuration panel) and User Portal.
The Change events menu item is available only to Administrators and appears only while the audit mode is set to Standard or Full. It can also record eligible successful page navigation when Full mode is enabled. When the mode is Off, new capture stops and retained Change events history is hidden from the Administration Module interface until the feature is enabled again.
Change events can support operational review, troubleshooting, and governance processes. It is not a complete database-activity monitor or, by itself, a compliance guarantee. Direct database changes or unsupported integration paths are not automatically recorded.
Access and visibility
Only WorkflowGen Administrators can access the Change events interface and exports. Recorded events can still represent supported Portal-user activity. The Administration Module navigation item and Change event routes are available when Standard or Full mode is configured.
When the mode is set to Off:
WorkflowGen does not capture new change events
The Change events item is hidden
Retained history is unavailable through the Change events interface
Engine service retention can continue when the original integrity key remains available.
Turning capture Off does not delete retained records, repair an unhealthy chain, or remove the requirement to preserve the original integrity key.
Modes
The audit mode is set in the Change events section on the Configuration panel General tab.
Off
Stops new capture and hides Change events history (default)
Standard
Records supported successful create, update, and delete operations
Full
Includes Standard and records eligible successful user-visible page navigation
Capture scope
Administration Module
Applications and parameters
Participants
Directories
Users
Groups
Delegations
Categories
Folders
Global lists and display order
Process definitions
Activities
Parameters
Notifications
Process data
Forms
Workflows
Related supported operations
User Portal
Requests
Actions
Comments
Delegations
Saved views
Configuration panel
General
Portal
Administration
Synchronization
Integration
Applications
AI
Remote Approval
Full navigation
Eligible successful user-visible User Portal, Administration Module, and Configuration panel page displays.
Browsing and filtering events
The Change events list displays the captured date and time, user, operation, module and entity context, affected item, process context (when available), and access to event details.
Use the available date, user, operation, module, entity, process, and item filters to narrow the result. Sorting and paging operate on a stable result snapshot so that newly captured events don’t unexpectedly shift records between pages during the current browse operation. Refresh or reapply the filter when a new snapshot is required.
Viewing previous and new values
Open an event to see its identity and context and, for mutations, the semantic difference between Previous values and New values. Unchanged fields are de-emphasized so that changed fields are easier to review.
If a retained payload is malformed, the page displays the stored Previous and New payloads as inert encoded text. JSON parseability and HMAC authenticity are independent: malformed JSON can still belong to a Valid authenticated chain. Use the Integrity status and verification report, not parsing success, to determine whether the record is authenticated.
Export events
Administrators can export the current result as CSV or JSON or open a printable view. Exports can contain usernames, identifiers, process context, and before/after business data. Protect exported files with the same access, retention, transfer, and disposal controls used for the source data and database backups.
In Full mode, a successfully generated Change events CSV, JSON, or printable export creates a READ event. Other downloads remain outside Full navigation capture. When integrity readiness is unhealthy, an administrator may still be able to generate an export as an unverified diagnostic copy; that export may not create a new READ event because the chain cannot safely accept new records.
Integrity status
Open Integrity to view the latest verification result. The panel shows when verification completed and, when available, the number of Change events verified. Select Verify integrity to run a new verification; processing time depends on the retained history.
Valid means WorkflowGen did not detect an integrity issue in the retained Change events covered by that verification. If the result is marked as out of date, the retained history changed after the report was created; run verification again for a current result.
Integrity verification does not encrypt Change events data and does not confirm that every business operation was captured.
If verification fails, is interrupted, or cannot use the configured integrity key, preserve the database and do not modify Change events data directly. Confirm that the original integrity key is configured without displaying, logging, or sharing it. Follow the supported recovery procedure in the WorkflowGen Technical Guide (choose the version of the guide that corresponds to your version of WorkflowGen) or contact WorkflowGen Support, but never send the integrity key.
Diagnostic access when integrity is unhealthy
When Standard or Full remains configured but integrity readiness is unhealthy, WorkflowGen restricts normal Administration Module and Configuration panel access while keeping the General configuration and the Change events diagnostic area available to administrators. If retained storage can be read, history and exports can be shown as unverified diagnostic copies.
Preserve a database copy before recovery. Do not edit event hashes, event rows, the chain-head row, or retention checkpoints manually.
If immediate access to other Administration Module pages is required, switch the mode to Off under Change events on the General tab in the Configuration panel. This restores those pages but hides Change events, stops new capture, and does not repair or authenticate the retained chain.
Retention
Set the retention period in the Change events section on the Configuration panel General tab.
The default retention period is 365 days. WorkflowGen interprets the setting as exact 24-hour periods. On its cleanup schedule, the engine service deletes only an authenticated contiguous expired prefix in bounded transactions. The authenticated checkpoint maintains continuity from the deleted prefix to the surviving chain without recreating deleted payloads.
Deletion is irreversible from WorkflowGen. Only an external database backup can recover payloads that retention already removed. Retention continues while capture is Off when the original key is available. Lowering retention can make older events eligible for deletion during the next cleanup.
Full mode can materially increase storage volume. Monitor measured event growth, cleanup completion, and database capacity in the customer’s workload; do not rely on a generic sizing formula.
Privacy and masking
Change events can contain personal identifiers and business data. Integrity does not encrypt payloads. Restrict Administrator access and protect the database, backups, and exports throughout their lifecycle.
WorkflowGen masks known sensitive configuration and credential fields, including protected connection-string updates. It does not use field-name heuristics to decide that arbitrary process data or customer-defined values are passwords. Keep customer-specific secrets out of audited definitions by using approved <WF_APP_SETTING_name> macros backed by protected application settings or a customer-supplied external secret mechanism. External secret resolution is not provided by Change events.
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