Form Status Indicators

Overview

Status indicators are integral to the governance and audit process integrated into the IT Audit Machine. Status Indicators control the state of a given control or field on a form representing the associated entity’s progress in its efforts to comply with that control. These statuses, in turn, drive many metrics used in tracking and reporting on the entity’s overall actions toward compliance with the standard represented by the form.

In this guide section, we will discuss Status Indicators and their use. We will also briefly discuss the reports that the data feeds into, though more detail on the Report Types can be found in the Report Types section of the Guide.

Available Indicator States

The Form Status Indicators have four (4) possible states, each conveying different information about the field or control in question.

Gray

Indicates a field or control which has either not been filled out or evaluated

Red

Indicates a field or control which has been evaluated and is found to need remediation

Yellow

Indicates a field or control that is currently in progress

Note: A field will automatically gain this status once a user has edited it for the first time.

Green

Indicates a field or control which has been evaluated and is found to be compliant

 

Accessing Status Indicators

Status Indicators are visible on almost every screen where the individual data fields of a form can be viewed. This includes editing a form, reviewing form data, and viewing certain reports. Status Indicators can only be changed by an examiner or administrator and accessed from three different views for editing purposes.

The first way to access Status Indicators is by viewing form data entries. The detailed view of the form entry displays all fields in a list and includes Status Indicators that an Administrator or Examiner can modify.

The second way to access Status Indicators is to click on the View Status menu button while viewing an entry. This will bring you to the Status page for that entry, which will display all of the fields in an accordion view that separates them by status.

To view the fields in a particular state, click on the bar in the accordion view that corresponds with their current state. The fields in that state will be displayed and include a Status Indicator that can be updated.

The third and final way to work with status indicators is to go to the field in the form. The form value displayed will also include a status indicator, which an Examiner or Administrator can modify.

Working with Status Indicators

As an Examiner, you can communicate the status of a field or control by changing the Status Indicator to match your assessment of the information. Cycling and Selecting are two distinct ways to change the Status Indicator state on a field. The process you will use to change the state depends on the location you access the indicator.

Changing Vs. Cycling

You will use the cycling method to change the value while viewing the Form Details or the data in the form itself. To change the value via this method, simply click on the Status Indicator, and it will cycle to the next color. Keep clicking to cycle it to the desired state. The order of the states is Gray > Red > Yellow > Green. Clicking on a green Status Indicator will change it back to gray.

Changing Via Selecting

Suppose you want to change the value of a Status Indicator while viewing the Status page. In that case, when you click on a Status Indicator on that page, you will be given an option to select the indicator's state from the available states.

Click on the colored ball that matches the desired status, and the state will be changed.

Change All Statuses on a Form

When viewing an entry for a form, the right-hand menu has the option to change all of the Status Indicators at once. Click on the Set Status Indicators button in the menu, and a small dialog box will display, asking you to select the desired status.

Simply select the status from the options and click Yes. Click Reset to make the change, or click Cancel to avoid making the change.

Warning: Be careful when changing all Statuses in a form. As indicated in the dialog box, the action cannot be undone.