Audit logs in Dynamics 365 can either be a goldmine for insights or a silent source of bloat. In this post, we’ll walk through the value they bring, when to use them, their limitations, and how to ensure they’re not silently consuming your storage or degrading performance.
What Are Audit Logs in Dynamics 365?
Audit logs are Dataverse-level features that track changes to records — including field changes, user access, and operations like create, update, delete, and even data exports.
They’re essential for:
- Security & compliance
- Debugging data issues
- Monitoring user activity
- Supporting business process review
Key Features
- Field-level change history
- Date/time stamps and user info
- Record creation and deletion tracking
- User login access logs
You can enable auditing at the environment, table, and field level — giving you fine-grained control.
Why They're a Goldmine
- Traceability: Know who changed what and when.
- User Behavior: See who accessed what records (great for usage analysis).
- Debugging: Troubleshoot workflows or plugins that went wrong.
- Governance: Meet audit/compliance requirements with minimal effort.
When It Becomes an Overhead
- Storage Impact: Audit data accumulates quickly. With Dataverse storage limits, it can be expensive.
- Performance: Heavy auditing on frequently updated entities can lead to latency in save operations.
- Lack of Visibility: Audit history is not exposed in charts, views, or dashboards unless exported manually.
Pro Tip: Storage Insights
You can view your audit log storage in the Power Platform Admin Center > Resources > Capacity > Storage Usage.
Use the “Data Management > Audit Summary View” in the app to clean up old logs based on a retention policy.
What to Audit (and What Not To)
| Type | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| User Access Logs | Always audit |
| Contact/Account edits | Audit key fields |
| Plugin-triggered changes | Optional |
| Temporary Data Tables | Avoid auditing |
Exporting Audit Logs
Need to analyze logs in Power BI or Excel? You can:
- Use the “Audit” entity via Advanced Find or FetchXML
- Export via Power Automate and push to a Data Lake or Blob
- Use Audit History Extractor Tool (XrmToolBox) for bulk export
Proactive Tips
- Set a retention policy (e.g., 90 days) and purge older logs regularly.
- Disable audit on lookup fields that rarely change.
- Periodically review your Environment Settings > Auditing configuration.
Summary
Audit logs are powerful when used wisely. Treat them as a compliance asset, but manage them like a resource hog. A good admin ensures their org gains insights without compromising performance or incurring hidden costs.
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