---
title: Who changed the reading, and what did it say before?
description: When an answer on a job is changed, Stratum Track keeps the earlier value, who changed it and when, shows it beside the answer, and lets a manager put the earlier value back as a recorded change.
published: 2026-10-13
updated: 2026-10-13
---

# Who changed the reading, and what did it say before?

A client rings about a gearbox you reported on in March. Your report gives the drive end
journal as 79.980 mm, inside tolerance. Their fitter measured it at 79.96 on reassembly,
and the client asks whether 79.980 is what your technician measured or a number that was
changed afterwards.

The job sheet says 79.980. If a different figure was ever in that box, it was typed over.
The supervisor who checked the report corrected two readings that week, and nothing on
the sheet says which two.

Correcting a reading is ordinary work. The record kept only the last number.

## What it costs

An afternoon goes on phone calls and a search through old emails to rebuild what happened
to one number. At the end of it there is still no record of the earlier figure.

An assessor asks the same question. ISO/IEC 17025 clause 7.5.2 expects a laboratory to
trace an amended technical record back to the earlier version, and to keep the original
and the amended data with the date of the change and the person responsible. A cell that
was typed over holds the amended value alone.

## What good looks like

Each change to a recorded answer keeps the earlier value, the person who changed it and
the time. The history is shown beside the answer, on the screen the person is already
reading. Putting an earlier value back is recorded like any other change.

## How Stratum Track does it

Answer history is part of the October 2026 release. It is on for every company, with
nothing to switch on, and it records changes made from that release onward.

When an answer on a step is changed, Stratum Track shows a clock marker beside it.

![A measurements table with a clock marker beside the drive end journal reading](/assets/screens/history-01-marker.webp)

Pressing the marker opens the **Value history** panel: the value now, then each change
with the earlier value, the new value, the person and the time.

![The Value history panel for one reading, with three changes](/assets/screens/history-02-panel.webp)

A manager can put an earlier value back. Stratum Track asks for a reason, which is
optional, and records the restore against the manager's name as a new line in the
history. The value it replaced stays in the history.

![The Restore this value? dialog, with a reason typed in](/assets/screens/history-03-restore.webp)

The job's **Activity** page lists changes save by save, with the old and the new value
under each line.

![The Activity page: a restore with its reason, and the two changes before it](/assets/screens/history-04-activity.webp)

The report prints the answer as it stands and none of the history.

## Reading and restoring a value

### Step 1: Open the history

Open the step and press the clock marker. On a field outside a table the marker is a pill
that reads **1 change** or **3 changes**. In a table it is a clock icon in the cell.

### Step 2: Read each change

The panel shows **Value now** at the top. Each entry gives the earlier value, the new
value, the person's name, and the date and time in your workshop's time zone. Edits one
person makes within five minutes are folded into one line, with a link that shows the
changes in between. An answer that was emptied reads **Cleared**.

### Step 3: Restore an earlier value

A manager presses **Restore** on the entry. The button carries the value it puts back,
such as **Restore 79.890**. The **Restore this value?** dialog states that value and the
value the field holds now. Type a reason if you want one on the record, then press
**Restore value**. The page reloads at the field with the restored value in it. A
technician reads the same history and has no **Restore** button.

### Step 4: See every change on the job

Press **All job activity** in the panel, or **Show full history** on **Job Details**. A
save that changed several answers lists the first three and gives a count of the others,
which are in each field's own history.

## Questions people ask

#### Can a technician undo a change?

A technician can type a different value, and Stratum Track records that as another change
under their name. Restoring an earlier value from the history is for managers. In both
cases the earlier values stay listed, so a reading changed from 79.890 to 79.980 and then
back to 79.890 shows both changes.

#### Can anyone edit or delete the history?

No screen in Stratum Track edits or removes a line of history, and a restore adds a line.
The history also survives a change to the form: if the field is renamed or removed later,
each line keeps the label and the values as they were. History is removed only when a
manager deletes the job, which can be done once the job is archived.

#### Is every change recorded?

Changes to typed and picked answers are recorded: text, numbers, measurements, dates,
times, dropdowns, yes or no answers, lookups and equipment, in single fields, table
cells, rows a technician added and item checklists. The first answer typed into an empty
field is the original, so it is not listed as a change. Photos, videos and signatures
have no value history, and the **Activity** page records when one is uploaded, deleted
or replaced. Calculated fields and job details such as the customer or the order number
are not covered. At a company that has not switched on offline working, a correction a
person makes to their own answer within five minutes of first giving it shows no marker.

#### What about an answer changed with no signal?

Offline working is off until a manager switches it on under **Settings**, **Offline
Access**. With it on, a change made with no signal is kept on the tablet and sent when
signal returns. Stratum Track dates the change by the time it was made on the tablet and
stores the time it arrived as well. When the two are more than a minute apart, the panel
reads **recorded offline, received** with the arrival time. With no signal the marker
does not open, and the tablet says **Reading what this value used to be needs signal.**

#### Does this make our records compliant with ISO/IEC 17025?

No. Your quality system decides what evidence you keep, and your accreditation is yours.
Stratum Track records each amendment as it is made: the earlier value, the new value, the
person who made the change and the time. Whether that meets your procedures is for you
and your assessor to decide.