p.s.  I'm going through the drill right now.  Our telephone system vendor has asked for a login with "sa" privs for their new reporting system.  They're into that "Well other...

Sounds like an interview question.

Good lord.  "Packaged Application" certainly does include Microsoft.  Here's what I found when I went to download SSMS 17.6.  Thankfully, I use precisely zero maintenance plans but I'll be damned...

I've no experience in such auditing software but can only imagine how much extra data you'll end up needing to store.  It also seems like a Catch-22... wouldn't you also...