Actions are planned interventions in response to non-conformances, improvement opportunities or identified risks. They are assigned to one or more responsible users who carry them out and, as a rule, they include a final effectiveness review by the supervisor.
Each action has a type, chosen when it is created. The default action types all include a final review:
Corrective action
Intervention to eliminate the cause of a non-conformance.
Improvement action
Intervention to improve a process or a situation.
Risk mitigation action
Intervention to reduce the impact or the likelihood of a risk.
Structurally, all action types behave in the same way: the only difference is whether or not they require a final review. The available types are configurable by the administrator: your organisation may have changed the names, added new types or changed which types require a review. Types without review are typically used as sub-actions (see Tasks).
The action list
The Actions page shows all the actions you have access to. The list opens with no filters active. As with the other lists, actions are loaded progressively as you scroll. The filter panel opens with the magnifying glass (
) (see Search filters). The download button (
) exports to Excel all the actions matching the applied filters, including those not yet loaded on screen (see Excel download).
The process
As soon as it is created, an action is in Draft: you can set its details and assign the responsible without the work starting. To start it you use the «Schedule action» button, which becomes active only once at least one responsible user has been named and all the fields that are mandatory at opening have been filled in. From that moment the action moves to In progress status and the responsible takes it on.
For types that include a final review, once the work is complete the responsible submits the action to the supervisor (Awaiting review status), who assesses its effectiveness: if the outcome is positive the action closes, if it is negative it reopens and goes back to the responsible, and the cycle can repeat until the supervisor is satisfied. For types without review (tasks) the responsible closes the action directly when the work is finished.
These steps are reflected in the four statuses the action goes through, from creation to closure:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | Being prepared, not yet scheduled |
| In progress | Scheduled, being carried out by the responsible |
| Awaiting review | The responsible has completed the work, waiting for the supervisor to review it |
| Completed | Process concluded |
Opening
Actions can be created by managers and, as part of a non-conformance assessment, by the users in charge of that assessment. Whoever creates an action automatically becomes its supervisor and must select at least one responsible before it can be opened. The responsible receives a notification and finds the action on the «Assigned to me» page.
You can always create an action from the non-conformance assessment of an issue. If the feature is enabled, actions can also be opened from the detail page of an item in a collection (for example a risk register, a list of opportunities or of processes), automatically keeping the reference to the starting item. You can:
- Create a new action (selecting the type)
- Link an existing action (
), if the problem is already being addressed
This keeps everything traceable and records the link between the problems, risks and opportunities identified and the actions taken to address them.
Carrying out and reviewing
While carrying out the work the responsible fills in the form progressively with the details of what has been done (see Filling in the form), updating it until the work is finished. Completion then differs according to the action type. As a rule corrective, improvement and risk mitigation actions include a final review. When the responsible considers the work complete, they submit the action for the supervisor's review with the right arrow button (
) (see Filling in the review). Where no review is required (for example for tasks), the responsible can close the action directly when the work is finished.
Roles on an action
Four functional roles can be assigned on each action: Supervisor, Responsible, Involved and Informed. There must always be at least one supervisor and one responsible on the action.
The default informed users for the action type are added automatically. Using the bell icon (
), anyone can add themselves to Informed to be notified of what happens on the action, or remove themselves.
| What they can do | Supervisor | Responsible | Involved | Everyone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edit the fields | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Submit for review / close | ✓ | |||
| Carry out the review (where required) | ✓ | |||
| Assign (and remove) users to the various roles | ✓ | (partial) | ||
| Add attachments and comments (if the relevant sections are enabled) | ✓ |
Special cases in user management MANAGERS
- Managers can always manage users, whatever functional role they hold on the action.
- The responsible has more limited powers: they can manage involved and informed users, add other responsible users (but not remove them) and cannot change the supervisors.
The detail page
The detail page of an action is organised into sections:
- Header
- Review (where required by the action type)
- Tasks
- Linked issues
- Users
- Attachments
- Comments and history
The order of the sections may vary and some may not be present, depending on how the action is configured. The sections that need a specific explanation have their own heading below; the rest are listed in Other sections.
The header shows the fields of the action that have been filled in (empty fields are hidden, see How forms work). The action buttons are shown at the bottom:
| Button | Function | Who can use it |
|---|---|---|
|
Notifications | Everyone |
|
Download PDF | Everyone |
 |
Edit fields | Responsible, Involved |
|
Submit for review (types with review only) | Responsible only |
 |
Delete | Supervisor only (Draft and In progress statuses) |
Filling in the form
The form is configured by the administrator and is the same for all action types. As a rule you will find a Title field and a Description field, unless the administrator has changed or removed them; all the other fields are added by the organisation according to its own needs. Some fields become mandatory only at later stages (see Mandatory fields).
Tip
Since the forms are designed for your organisation, for clarification on what to fill in or which values to enter we suggest asking the colleagues who look after the application.
Filling in the review
The review applies to the action types that require it. This is where the supervisor assesses whether the intervention has actually solved the problem.
The review form is configured by the administrator: the fields present can be customised, except for the outcome field, which is always present. The outcome has two possible values (the labels may vary depending on the configuration):
| Outcome | Effect |
|---|---|
| Positive (e.g. "Effective") | The action is closed. |
| Negative (e.g. "Not effective") | The action is reopened and goes back to the responsible. |
If the outcome is negative the cycle can repeat until the supervisor is satisfied with the intervention.
The issue closes automatically
If the action had been created as part of a non-conformance assessment, once the outcome is positive and all the actions linked to that issue are closed, the issue closes automatically too.
Tasks
Tasks are actions of type Task linked to a main action: they do not require a review and are closed directly when the responsible completes them. They do not have to be completed before the main action is submitted for review. The form is the one shared by all action types.
They are useful when an intervention requires several separate pieces of work to be shared out among different people: instead of opening separate actions, the responsible for the main action can create tasks and assign them to the relevant people.
Whoever opens a task automatically becomes its supervisor and must select at least one responsible before it can be opened.
Other sections
Depending on the configuration, the following may be present:
- Linked issues: the issues the action originated from
- Users: see Users section
- Attachments: see Attachments section
- Comments and history: see Comments and history