Audit Trails & Data Retention

The Compliance Package includes three core features:

1. Complete Audit Trail - Track every action in your account: user logins, vehicle changes, report submissions, setting modifications, and more. See who did what, when, and from which IP address.

2. Legal Holds & Data Retention - Protect records from deletion during litigation, investigations, or disputes. Place date-range holds with case references that override normal retention policies.

3. Court Integrity Certificates - Generate cryptographic proof (SHA-256 hash) that your data has not been tampered with. Each certificate includes a unique verification code that anyone can check on our public verification page.

An Integrity Certificate is a document that proves your records have not been altered since they were created.

How it works: When a record is saved, we compute a SHA-256 cryptographic hash of the data. This hash is like a digital fingerprint - if even a single character changes, the hash changes completely. The certificate compares the current hash to the original, proving the data is unchanged.

Use cases:
• Court evidence submissions
• Responding to subpoenas
• Disputed parking violations
• Insurance claims
• Regulatory compliance audits

Public verification: Courts and attorneys can verify certificates at fieldpad.app/verify-certificate without needing an account.

Legal holds protect records from permanent deletion. Here's how they work:

1. Select a date range: Choose which records to protect based on when they were created.

2. Assign a hold type: Court Order, Regulatory Investigation, Internal Investigation, Litigation Hold, or Customer Dispute.

3. Add a case reference: Link the hold to a specific case number (e.g., CASE-2024-001).

4. Records are protected: All matching records are exempt from automatic deletion, even if they exceed normal retention periods.

Important: Legal holds do not expire automatically. You must explicitly release a hold when it's no longer needed. All hold and release actions are logged in the audit trail.

No account required. The verification page at fieldpad.app/verify-certificate is accessible to anyone, but a unique verification code is required to view any data.

This code is printed on the Certificate and is shared with authorized parties (courts, attorneys, auditors).

If you have a code, then you can:
• Confirm the certificate is genuine
• See the record count and agency name
• Verify each record's current integrity status

This allows authorized parties to verify data integrity without needing a FieldPad account.

The audit trail captures all significant actions in your account, including:

User Activity: Logins, logouts, password changes, profile updates

Vehicle Management: Vehicle additions, modifications, deletions, status changes, permit registrations

Report Activity: Report submissions, approvals, rejections, PDF generations

Configuration Changes: Settings modifications, notification rule changes, user permission updates

Data Management: Bulk imports, exports, deletions

Each log entry includes: timestamp, user name, action type, target record, IP address, and detailed before/after values where applicable.

Yes. You can export the audit trail to CSV for external analysis or compliance reporting.

Filter options:
• Date range
• Action category (e.g., vehicles, reports, users)
• Specific user
• Keyword search

Exported files include all available fields: timestamp, action, user, target, details, IP address, and more.

The Compliance Package is a monthly add-on to your subscription. Pricing is displayed on the upgrade prompt when you visit Settings → Audit Trail or Settings → Data Retention.

What's included: Unlimited audit log entries, unlimited legal holds, and full access to all compliance features.

Individual certificates: Court Integrity Certificates can also be purchased individually at $10 per certificate for agencies without the full package.

If you cancel the Compliance Package:

Existing legal holds remain active - records under hold continue to be protected from deletion.

You cannot create new holds - the legal hold feature becomes unavailable.

You cannot release existing holds - contact support if you need to release a hold after cancellation.

Audit trail access is suspended - historical logs are preserved but not accessible until you resubscribe.

When viewing your legal holds in Settings → Data Retention:

1. Click on a case reference to view all protected records

2. Click Download PDF to generate a merged PDF containing all report submissions

This creates a single document perfect for court submissions or attorney review. Each page shows the original report submission with all fields, photos, and signatures.

Yes. The audit trail shows before and after values for most record modifications.

Click on any audit log entry to see the full details, including:
• Old values (what the record contained before the change)
• New values (what the record contains after the change)
• Which fields were modified

This level of detail is essential for investigating disputes and understanding the history of any record.