Please note: Worldox GX3 brings additional changes made since this topic was written. So illustrations and references here may not match what you see on GX3 screens and dialogs.
Though quite powerful, the GX Audit function was not all that easy to use. This has changed in GX2.
Audit trail queries are a type of search, in this case looking for events recorded for Worldox-managed documents in one or more audit trail databases.
Most Worldox users (those with access to this Admin-level feature) experience audit trail queries as a per-document search. Typically, you would right-click on a document listed in the work list, then select Audit Trail from the right-click menu. That starts the query. As the query ran (in GX), you would see the empty Audit Trail History dialog, with the Scanning Audit Trail dialog above it, showing progress so far - as pictured here.
In the example linked above, more than 1000 items have already been found. Worldox is working backward from today's date. With a large audit trail database and long time period in which to search, this query will take another 8 minutes to complete.
The difficulty with this feature in GX came in ease-of-use, and in wait times:
First, the default time period for audit trail searching in GX can be quite large. So the typical query can take a while; much searching has to be done to produce all findable results.
The other problem is how query results are made available. No found events display in the Audit Trail History dialog until all matching events are found. In effect, you have to wait for the entire search to run before you can see even the first result.
This factor - coupled with the long time periods searched by default - adds up to unnecessary wait times.
The problem is obvious. You may already have found the audit event you're looking for. However, since no found events display until the search ends, there is no way to tell for sure.
Note: Experienced Worldox users learned that hitting Cancel stopped the query and displayed any items found so far in the underlying Audit Trail History dialog, as did pressing the Esc key.
Finally, here is the other dialog you might see in audit trail searching
in GX. The Audit Trail Filter dialog is
where you go to specify a follow-on query after one has finished running,
or to do a general (not specific to one document) audit trail search.
This dialog is available via clicking the binoculars 
icon in the Audit Trail History
dialog, or by selecting Search
from the Worldox Audit pull-down
menu. There are ease-of-use issues in the GX
version of this dialog as well. They will easier to spot after you examine
the redesigned version of this same dialog.
One key GX2 enhancement may not be obvious at first, though the effect certainly is noticeable. That is, the default search range for audit trail queries is now only 90 days. That's very different from the multi-year default period used in GX.
The big change is how Worldox displays interim, found results. Here you see an audit trail query in progress, post GX2 improvement.
Tip: Since GX2 was introduced, the Audit Trail dialog name changed. Now it's called Audit > Search. |
In that illustration: note the Events from and thru fields at the upper right of the dialog. These fields reflect the new, 90-day default search period. Unless you specify otherwise when doing an audit trail query by right-clicking on a listed file, Worldox always searches up to the last 90 days for audit events.
It's the context in which this dialog appears that marks the most significant change. Still referring to that illustration:
• 7 events have been found so far. Worldox still has 31 days to time to search, judging from the progress bar and message at the bottom of the dialog. Whereas in GX, you would not have seen any results until the search concluded, in GX2 you see any results found so far. Because that Scanning Audit Trail dialog disappears after the first result is found, the progress bar that appears there now appears at the bottom of the File dialog once the first found event displays.
• This ability to see interim results is a big improvement over how audit trail queries operated in GX. Now you don't have to guess about whether events have been found. If they are found, you see them. It's that simple. If effect, there is no need to hit Esc. Once you've found what you're looking for, you can just click to close the window. That stops the query if it is still running.
The other significant improvement in ease-of-use is in the redesigned Audit Trail Filter dialog. Here is how the Audit Trail > Filter dialog looks in GX2. It's so much easier to recognize and act upon query choices in this redesigned dialog:
Tip: Since GX2 was introduced, the Audit Trail > Filter dialog name changed. It's called Audit > File or Audit > Search, depending on the type of audit query being run. |
• Criteria selection choices are better organized, much clearer. The new drop-down menus are particularly useful in this regard.
• You can now search by specific document descriptions.
• The choice to not set certain criteria is obvious, where it was not before. You don't have to clear fields; just select "Don't care" radio buttons as appropriate.
• Users and Events choices are now available in separate dialogs, by clicking Users and Events respectively. Because these choices are not available in dedicated dialogs, scrolling is minimized. (In the GX version, you might have had to scroll down repeatedly to see all possible event choices.)
• Your last query is remembered in this dialog, assuming you access it directly via selecting Search on the Audit pull-down menu.
• The ability to query audit trails for multiple (or all) profile groups is new in GX2.
