Who is this article for?

Administrators who need to Entity Actions.

Administrator access to the Universe module is required.

Entity Actions are created independently of an Audit and can be added to Entity ORCTs, Incidents or Key Issues, and maintained centrally in the Action Tracker module.

1. Understanding action types

Within the system there are three distinct types of Action:

• Universe level: Incidents and Key Issues
• Entity level: Entity Actions are created independently of an Audit and added to Entity ORCTs, Incidents or Key Issues
• Audit level: Audit Findings and Audit Actions

All types of Actions can be maintained centrally in the Action Tracker module and are subject to the normal Action Update life cycles.

Note: Audit level Actions must be the result of a Finding. Although they are defined and (usually) assigned to an Owner during the Audit they are typically executed after the Audit is Completed but must be Approved before the Audit can be Closed.

2. Identifying Entity Action parent types

2.1 The Entity Action parent must be one of the following:

• Entity Objective
• Entity Risk
• Entity Control
• Entity Test

2.2 The Client Action parent must be one of the following:

• Incident
• Key Issues

3. Configuring Entity Action definition properties

The following definition properties are available when creating an Entity Action:

• Entity/Process: the Area where the Action is located (that is, cell of the universe matrix)
• Ref: give the action a reference number
• Title: give the action a title
• Description: describe the action carried out (rich text format)
• Category: categorise the action, which is editable in Segmentations
• Priority: select whether it is high, medium or low priority (this pick list is editable in Segmentations)
• Department: select which department this action is assigned to
• Owner: assign the action to an owner, who is responsible for completing it
• Interested parties: add secondary owners, those who will be interested from a tracking point of view, but not involved in the action
• Current due date: select a current due date, which can be edited after the action has been created
• Original due date: select an original due date which can be edited after the action has been created
• Effective From date: the agreed date from which the action will be effective from
• Outcome: select whether you wish the action to appear in reports Segmentations
• Type: select whether you wish the action to be ultimately tracked or not (this dictates whether it appears in the track action screens)
• Cross References: the term Cross Reference is analogous to a Hyperlink where you are able to create a link to a record within the system that is of related interest

Note: When an Entity Action is added its Ref will default to the same as its parent.

4. Configuring Entity Action execution properties

The following execution properties are available when managing an Entity Action:

• Implementation date: the date that the action was implemented
• Resolution: select the state of the resolution, that is, completed or uncompleted Segmentations
• Resolution comments: add any extra comments to the resolution (rich text format)
• Sign off state: the sign off state shows whether the action is open, completed or approved (it is only possible to edit this after the action has been added)
• Review state: the review state shows whether the action has been reviewed
• Completion By: read only and system generated
• Completion Time: read only and system generated
• Approval By: read only and system generated
• Approval Time: read only and system generated

5. Setting the Entity/Process field

The Action Entity Process is a mandatory field (so it can be tracked) and is set as follows:

• When an Action is added to an Entity ORCT it will default to the same Entity Process as its parent
• When an Action is added to anything else the Entity Process will be left blank and allow the user to select its value
• With existing Audit Actions the user will be allowed to set the Action to any (active) cell of the Audit Universe but the initial list will be limited to those within the Entity or Incident Scope
• An Audit Action Entity Process will automatically default to its Finding (this can subsequently be changed by the user)

6. Understanding Outcome defaults

When an Entity Action is added the Outcome will default to the Outcome segmentation default value.

In contrast an Audit Action will use its parent Finding Outcome value as its default.