Recording what happened.
WHAT MUST BE RECORDED
Every money movement Every change to customer data Every privileged action Every decision made automatically Every manual override
WHAT EACH RECORD NEEDS
What happened When, precisely Who or what caused it What the values were before and after The reason, where applicable
WHY THE ACTOR MATTERS
Internal fraud investigation depends on it.
WHAT TO MAKE THE TRAIL
Append-only, and separately protected.
WHY SEPARATELY
Someone able to alter records can alter the trail.
WHAT TO RESTRICT
Ability to read the trail, since it contains sensitive detail Ability to delete anything
WHAT RETENTION APPLIES
As required by regulation, frequently years.
WHAT TO ENSURE
That records remain readable and interpretable over that period.
WHY THAT IS NOT AUTOMATIC
Formats and system knowledge decay.
WHAT TO TEST
Reconstructing a past transaction entirely from records.
WHY
It is exactly what will be asked when something is disputed.
WHAT TO PROVIDE CUSTOMERS
Statements they can verify against their own records.
