What do the values of AUDIT_EVENT.ERROR_CODE mean?

If you have spent some time with your Business Objects XI auditing data then you have probably asked yourself what significance is of the the error code values for the AUDIT_EVENT table’s ERROR_CODE property. If you haven’t yet pondered this then I suspect you haven’t looked closely at your data, OR you don’t have enough data to have produced a suspicious error code.

What are those weird values for AUDIT_EVENT.ERROR_CODE?

Here are some of the values that I have seen over the years in my BO XI R2 auditing database. The list below is a distinct list of all error codes with their corresponding EVENT_TYPE_DESCRIPTION:

ERROR_CODE | EVENT_TYPE_DESCRIPTION
1 | List of values
5 | Get page
86 | Get page
87 | Get page
303985 | Generate SQL
2147500037 | Apply format
2147500037 | Document refresh
2147500037 | Get page
2147500037 | List of values
2147500037 | Select prompt
2147760471 | List of values
2147760472 | Document refresh
2147760472 | List of values
2147760642 | Document refresh
2147760642 | List of values
2147760644 | Document refresh
2147760644 | List of values
2147760646 | Document refresh
2147760646 | List of values
2147760675 | List of values
2147760677 | List of values
2147775010 | List of values
2147776034 | List of values
2147776072 | List of values
2147776088 | List of values
2147776301 | Get page
2147776326 | Get page
2147776341 | Apply format
2147777058 | Get page

I must state that this list is in no way comprehensive, but I think it is a good sample. It might have helped the search engine help you to reach this page. Anyway, the point here is that it doesn’t matter if we build a comprehensive list because it is near impossible/pointless to build an error code translation for each ERROR_CODE value.

What do all of those ERROR_CODE values mean?

Some of you may have that handy-dandy Business Objects error code cross-reference document (I should see about sharing it next time I find it) and you are thinking these error codes can be found there. Sorry, nice try, wrong, thanks for playing. Failing that look-up I asked around and this is what I found out:
Very Short Answer: nothing
Short Answer: they can only be used in deep debugging analysis
Long Answer: Those error codes are internal Web Intelligence error codes which depend on the workflow followed and on the specific API which failed. The error codes should be able to be referenced in the trace logs produced through active “-trace” logging on the corresponding WebI Report Server (more on this topic in our article “Business Objects Classic Logging and Standard Tracing“).

So can I find any meaning in the ERROR_CODE values?

In my experience the number of errors perceived by the users of the system exceed the number of non-zero/non-null ERROR_CODE values stored in the Business Objects XI auditing data. Truthfully, some of this makes sense. If a BOXI user gets an error immediately when they click on a report in InfoView then the CMS may never get a chance to capture the error to be able to write an auditing record. More truthfully, I don’t really know.

All I can say is that the best use of AUDIT_EVENT.ERROR_CODE values is to count them as Boolean values. Did an error occur, or did no error occur. Moreover, if you find that the ratio of errors to non-error events seems to disagree with other sources of error tracking information (or user perception) then the data still has value. It has relative value. You can track it to measure trends. If you see the ratio of errors to non-error events increase/decrease over time then you know something, and knowing is half the battle.

Mystery Solved?

My sources tell me that this is fixed in BO XI R3 SP1 (XI 3.1). In fact, if you want to dive deeper take a look at ADAPT01092225. The “fix” is to limit all AUDIT_EVENT.ERROR_CODE values to 0 or 1. So, if it were previously possible tie auditing data to Web Intelligence Report Server trace logging through the error code value, that ability is revoked in R3 SP1. Therefore, the only purpose remaining for this property is the relative trend value I detailed above. Good luck.