Action ITAMs
Overview
Documenting and providing evidence that an organization complies with a standard is invariably an iterative process requiring a certain amount of back-and-forth communication with the organization. Action ITAMs represent a key tool in facilitating coordination and communication about a form, the actions that need to be taken, or any questions you or the organization may have.
In this section, we will explore the Action ITAM feature and how it clarifies requirements and moves your organization toward compliance.
Action ITAMs
An Action ITAM represents a small, trackable work item or question-related to a single field in a form. As you work with an organization to assist them in achieving compliance, there will naturally be items about which they will have questions or need clarification. Likewise, as you review their entries in a form, items need to be adjusted or explained. Action ITAMs are a tool to help facilitate that communication while providing a way to keep track of what still needs to be addressed and what has been completed.
Initiating Action ITAMs
Action ITAMs are always related to a particular field in a form and are initiated from the form while viewing that field. Below each field is a small ball with an arrow in it. This is the Action ITAM icon.
Note: The arrow will be gray when no Action ITAM is assigned.
Clicking on the Action ITAM icon will bring up the Action ITAM screen. The form will allow you to assign the Action ITAM to the appropriate party, enter the action or question desired, and assign a due date.
Clicking the Save Note button will save the details and create the Action ITAM. Clicking on Close will close the form without saving your changes. Once you create an Action ITAM, as soon as the form is refreshed, the icon will change to green, indicating a pending Action ITAM in the field. It will also display the profile picture of the user or examiner to whom it is currently assigned.
Viewing Action ITAMs
There are a couple of ways to view an Action ITAM assigned to you. The quickest is through the Dashboard. Viewing the Dashboard will display all of the Action ITAMs currently assigned to you, including the name of the form with which it is associated, the Title of the related field, the text of the Action ITAM, and the Due Date if assigned. The Form Name field is also a link directly to the field in the form.
Clicking on the form's name will bring you to the field in the form, which will highlight it for you in gray.
You can also access an Action ITAM by opening the form and navigating to the page. When accessing the Action ITAMs this way, the field in question will not be highlighted since you are not navigating to a particular field.
Regardless of how you access the form, you can view the Action ITAM in a field by clicking on the green icon on the right of the user profile. This will display the history of the Action ITAM and allow you to respond.
The final way to view Action ITAMs is by running the Action ITAM Report, if available. For more information about the Action ITAM Report, see the appropriate report description in the Report Types section of the guide.
Responding to Action ITAMs
If you have an Action ITAM assigned to you, responding is simple. The first step is to navigate to the form and field associated with the Action ITAM in one of the ways described above.
Once you have the field open, click on the first icon next to the user profile for the Action ITAM. This will open a form similar to the form displayed when initiating an Action ITAM. All you need to do to respond to an Action ITAM is to fill out the form and select the user to whom you need to send the response.
Clicking the Save Note button will complete the response and your Action ITAM. The field will update the next time the form is refreshed, displaying the user's icon to whom the Action ITAM is now assigned based on your response.
Completing Action ITAMs
Action ITAMs can be completed in two ways. As noted above, when responding to an Action ITAM, your action will be completed as soon as you assign the action to another user. In addition, if you initiated the Action ITAM and do not need to respond, you can delete the Action ITAM if no further action is needed. This is done when viewing the Action ITAM as described above. When viewing the information, there will be an option to delete it.
You will be prompted to confirm the deletion. Once confirmed, the deletion will be performed.