The ChartMaker® Clinical application is exclusive to Microsoft Windows and relies on the domain controller to synchronize with an SNTP time provider to ensure accurate time/date stamping. This configuration is done by utilizing the time service running on the windows server. This is a continually running process with the domain controller passing the updated time along to all client workstations joined to it.
ChartMaker® Clinical uses this time to track changes to records and tracks those time stamped changes into an audit database for review later should such inquiry be desired. ChartMaker® Clinical uses this audit database to keep track of changes occurring in the main database that holds medical information. The audit database is separate from the database that holds medical data though they run side-by-side in MS SQL. When data in ChartMaker® Clinical is inserted, updated or deleted, a record is inserted into the audit database to track these events, for example, when a user is created, when a clinical note is signed, or when a note is printed. Every insertion of a row of data into the audit database (that tracks additions, changes and deletions) utilizes a time stamp. A time stamp is datetime data type of MS SQL Server that pulls the current system time and inserts the value into the database. The datetime data type occupies eight bytes: four to store the number of days before or after January 01, 1900 and four more for the number of 3.33ms clock ticks since midnight.
The current system time used in that time stamp is determined either by the time service running on the windows server, a continually running process passing the updated time from the domain controller to all client workstations joined to it. The ChartMaker® Clinical application uses this synchronized time in all audit records that keep track of additions, changes and deletions.