Common use of Automated Audit Trail Clause in Contracts

Automated Audit Trail. SWA’s receiving SSA information through the ICON system must implement and maintain a fully automated audit trail system capable of data collection, data retrieval and data storage. At a minimum, data collected through the audit trail system must associate each query transaction to its initiator and relevant business purpose (i.e. the SWA client record for which SSA data was requested), and each transaction must be time and date stamped. Each query transaction must be stored in the audit file as a separate record, not overlaid by subsequent query transactions. Access to the audit file must be restricted to authorized users with a “need to know” and audit file data must be unalterable (read only) and maintained for a minimum of three (preferably seven) years. Retrieval of information from the automated audit trail may be accomplished online or through batch access. This requirement must be met before DOL will approve the SWA’s request for access to SSA information through the ICON system. If SSA-supplied information is retained in the SWA system, or if certain data elements within the SWA system will indicate to users that the information has been verified by SSA, the SWA system also must capture an audit trail record of any user who views SSA information stored within the SWA system. The audit trail requirements for these inquiry transactions are the same as those outlined above for SWA transactions requesting information directly from SSA.