Comprehensive History Retention for Entity Updates in TargetProcess

Current Limitation:
TargetProcess currently retains historical updates only under specific conditions:

• Only changes to the entity state are consistently logged.
• Updates to other fields are not retained unless at least five minutes have passed between changes.
• According to the https://dev.targetprocess.com/docs/history-overview, this is expected behavior.

Issues Identified:

Incomplete History for Field Updates:
Updates to fields other than entity state are often not captured, especially if changes occur within a short time window. This limits visibility into recent activity and undermines auditability.

Missing History for Collection Changes:
Updates to collections—such as linking or unlinking related entities—are not recorded. For example, when a Feature is associated with a Team PI Objective and later removed, this change is not reflected in the history of either entity.

Inconsistent Logging of Parent/Child Relationship Changes:
Changes to parent/child relationships are sometimes logged only on the parent or only on the child entity. This inconsistency forces users to manually inspect both entities to determine where the change was recorded, adding unnecessary overhead and confusion.

Lack of Detail When Removing Users from Teams:
When users are removed from a team, the history log does not specify which user was removed. This omission creates gaps in the audit trail and complicates team management reviews.

Impact:

• Reporting Gaps: Incomplete or missing historical data leads to inaccurate or misleading reports.
• Audit Deficiency: Lack of consistent and detailed history undermines traceability and compliance.
• Automation Challenges: Rules and workflows that rely on historical timestamps or entity relationships behave inconsistently or fail to trigger.
• Administrative Overhead: Users must spend additional time investigating changes across multiple entities due to inconsistent logging.

Proposed Enhancement:

• Ensure all field and collection updates are captured in the history log, regardless of timing or field type.
• Log relationship changes (e.g., parent/child, linked entities) on both affected entities.
• Include detailed information when users are added to or removed from teams.
• Provide configuration options to allow organizations to tailor history retention behavior to their needs.

Benefits:

• Improved Reporting Accuracy: Enables comprehensive and reliable reporting across all entity changes.
• Stronger Audit Trail: Enhances transparency and accountability for all updates.
• Better Automation Support: Ensures consistent behavior of rules and workflows that depend on historical data.
• Operational Efficiency: Reduces manual investigation and improves user confidence in system records.