The audit trail in Dapple is a record of every change made in your account — who made it, what they did and when. Every award, payment schedule, released condition, payment recorded as paid and change to a fund is logged automatically. You don't need to switch anything on, and entries can't be edited.
You can see the audit trail in two places:
The Activity log shows every change across your whole account.
The History tab on a submission shows every change to that one submission and its award.
Use them to answer questions such as "Who approved this payment?" or "When was this award increased?", and to give auditors and funders a clear record.
What does Dapple record in the audit trail?
Every entry shows the same four things:
Column | What it shows |
Date | The day and time of the change, such as "08 Oct 11:05" |
User | The person who made the change |
Action | What was changed and how, such as Submission – Mark As Paid or Fund – Update |
Activity | A plain-English description of the change, including amounts and references |
For awards and payments, entries look like this:
When you… | The Activity column shows |
Award a submission | Awarded £4,000.00 from "Materials Grant" |
Save or edit a payment schedule | Updated payment schedule (£2,000.00 of £2,000.00 scheduled) |
Tick a release condition | Condition met for "First payment": Grant agreement signed |
Record a payment as paid | Recorded payment "First payment" as paid (ref BACS run 53928) |
Increase an award | Increased award by £500.00 |
Change a fund's settings | Updated fund "Materials Grant" |
Move a submission to another stage | Changed "Stage Name" from "In Review" to "Completed" |
How do I see every change across my account?
Open the Activity log. It lists every change across all your teams, newest first.
Open Settings, then Organisation Settings.
Click Data & Activity.
Click View activity log.
The count above the table shows how many entries match your filters, such as "Showing 10 of 212 items". For more on the log in general, see Where Can I See the User Activity Log in Dapple?.
How do I filter the Activity log?
Use the four filters above the table to narrow the log down. Each filter has a search box, and you can tick more than one option. Filters combine, so you can show, for example, only payments marked as paid on one fund in one month. The count above the table updates as you filter.
Filter | What it does |
Item Type | Shows changes to one or more kinds of record |
Action | Shows one or more kinds of change |
Date | Shows changes in a date range |
User (person icon) | Shows changes made by one person |
Item Type options
Group | Item types |
Funding | Fund, Budget, Payment |
Submissions and people | Submission, Creator, Bulk action |
Set-up | Project, Stage, Form, Review panel |
Your account | Organisation, Team, User |
Award changes, payment schedules, released conditions and payments marked as paid are all logged against the Submission they belong to. To see them, filter Item Type to Submission, not Payment.
Action options
Group | Actions |
Records | Create, Update, Delete, Archive, Restore |
Money | Mark as paid, Approve, Reject, Refund |
People | Invite, Remove, Role change |
Data and messages | Export, Send |
Useful filter combinations
To find… | Set these filters |
Every payment recorded as paid last month | Action: Mark as paid · Date: last month |
Every award, increase and schedule change | Item Type: Submission · Action: Create, Update |
Changes to fund settings, including approvers | Item Type: Fund |
Who was added, removed or given a new role | Action: Invite, Remove, Role change |
Everything one team member did this week | User: their name · Date: this week |
Who exported data from Dapple | Action: Export |
How do I export the Activity log?
Set the filters you want. For example, Action: Mark as paid and Date: the last quarter.
Click More.
Choose Export Query.
The export includes every entry that matches your current filters, not just the ten shown on screen. It's the quickest way to give an auditor or funder a record of who did what and when.
How do I see the history of one submission and its award?
Open the submission.
Click the History tab.
The History tab shows every change to that submission, newest first. That covers the award and its payment schedule, payments recorded as paid, conditions ticked off and stage changes. It's the quickest way to answer a question about one awardee — for example, why their award went from £4,000 to £5,000, and who changed it.
Which should I use: Activity or History?
Use the Activity log when… | Use a submission's History tab when… |
You need every change across the account, or across a fund | You're looking into one awardee or one submission |
You're preparing for an audit or a funder report | An awardee asks about their award or a payment |
You want to see everything one team member did | You want to see how one award changed over time |
Who can see the audit trail?
The Activity log is for Organisation Administrators.
A submission's History tab is visible to team members who can open the submission.
Awardees and reviewers never see the audit trail.
How far back does the audit trail go?
It depends on your plan. On some plans, the Activity log and History tab show the last 30 days. If yours is limited, a note on the page tells you — for example, "Activity is limited to 30 days on the current plan". If you need a longer record for audits or funder reporting, contact us about upgrading your plan.
Best practice
Write meaningful payment references. They appear in the audit trail word for word, so "BACS run 53928" is far more useful than "paid".
Give every award change a clear reason, so the trail explains why as well as what.
Make sure each person uses their own login. Shared logins make the User column meaningless.
Check the Activity log after each payment run, filtered to Mark As Paid, to confirm everything was recorded.
If your plan limits history to 30 days, review the trail regularly, before entries fall outside the window.