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KCM GRC: Monitoring and Approving Tasks (a Guide for Approving Managers)

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Lauren Ashley
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How Do I Approve Tasks for Controls?

To ensure that all control task requirements are satisfied, the Account Administrator or Scope Administrator can assign one or more approving managers to a control or to the tasks that the administrator creates for a control.

To learn more about assigning approving managers to tasks, see the Task Approval Workflows section of our Working With Task Schedules for Controls article.

You are required to approve tasks and task evidence if either of the following scenarios applies to you: 

  • You've been assigned to a task as either an Approving Manager or a Second-level Approving Manager.
  • You are a Group Lead for a group and your group has been assigned to a control.

In this article, you'll learn how to monitor, review, and approve the tasks that you are assigned to as a Group Lead, Approving Manager, or Second-level Approving Manager. You'll also learn tips for viewing task requirements and instructions. Use the jump links below to learn more.

Note: If you're new to KCM GRC and you need assistance with activating or accessing your account, please see: Account Activation, Account Access, and Resetting Your Password. 

Jump to:

How Do I Know When I Need to Approve a Task?

Navigating Your Account and Monitoring Tasks

Navigating to Tasks

Understanding Task Requirements

Reviewing Evidence and Approving Tasks

 

How Do I Know When I Need to Approve a Task? 

If you're an Approving Manager or a Group Lead for a task, you will receive an email once a task is marked as completed by the User Assigned (click here to see an example of this email). If you're a Second-level Approving Manager for a task, you will receive an email notification once the Approving Manager approves the task.

Note: If multiple tasks are sent for your approval around the same time, you may receive multiple task approval notifications in one email. If an email contains more than one notification, the email subject line will read "KCM GRC Email Digest." To learn more about email notifications, please see our Email Notifications and the Email Digest article.

In addition to these email reminders, you can log in to your KCM account to monitor and review the tasks that you are assigned to. See the next section to learn more.

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Navigating Your Account and Monitoring Tasks

In your KCM GRC account, there are three areas available to you from the navigation panel. See the following subsections to learn more about each area: 

Note: You may have additional options available in your navigation panel, this depends on your user permissions.

My Dashboard

On the My Dashboard page, you can view and access your current and upcoming tasks that you are assigned to as the User Assigned, Group Lead, Approving Manager, or Second-level Approving Manager.

The Need My Approval category under Approvals shows the number of tasks that are currently awaiting your approval. Please see the My Dashboard article to learn more about the information available on this page.

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Tasks

Navigate to the Tasks page by clicking Tasks from the navigation panel. From this page, you will see all tasks for the controls that you have access to, including tasks from the past, present, and future. This may also include tasks that are assigned to other users in your account. 

See the screenshot below to learn more about this page and how you can use the available filters to find specific tasks.

Image of Tasks page with numbers

  1. Awaiting Manager Approval: If you are the User Assigned for a task, click this checkbox to see your tasks that are awaiting approval from a Group Lead, Approving Manager, or Second-level Approving Manager.
  2. Need My Approval: Click this checkbox to see only the tasks that you are assigned to as the Group Lead, Approving Manager, or Second-level Approving Manager and that are currently awaiting your approval. 
  3. My Tasks: Click this checkbox to see only the tasks that you are assigned to. This will include any task in which you are the User Assigned, Approving Manager, or Second-level Approving Manager.
    • Additionally, if you are the Group Lead in a user group, you will see all of the tasks for the controls that your group is assigned to. To learn more about our User Groups workflow, see: Assigning User Groups to Controls.
  4. Name: The task's name. Click on the name of a task to open it.
  5. User Assigned: The user who is responsible for completing the task.
  6. Approving Manager: The user who is responsible for reviewing the task evidence (when applicable).
  7. Second-level Approving Manager: The user who is responsible for reviewing the task evidence after the Approving Manager (when applicable).
  8. Status: The current status of the task.
    • To find your tasks that are currently due, make sure My Tasks is checked, then, select Active from the drop-down menu.
    • To find your tasks that are past due, make sure My Tasks is checked, then, select Past Due from the drop-down menu.
    • Additionally, to find Failed, Satisfied, or Closed Late tasks, make sure My Tasks is checked, then, from the drop-down menu, select Failed, Satisfied, or Closed Late.
  9. Approval Stage: This column will show one of the following stages:
    • Open: The task has not been completed.
    • Awaiting Approval: Evidence has been submitted for the task and approval is required before the task can be closed.
    • Approved: The task has been approved by a manager and closed, or, when evidence was not required, the task is closed. 
  10. Satisfied Date: The date that the User Assigned marked the task as complete.
    Note: Under the Compliance Management Module, time is recorded in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Therefore, it is possible that the date shown in this field is one day off. For example, if a user marks a task as complete at 5:30 PM PST on August 17, 2020, the system records this as 12:30 AM UTC on August 18, 2020. Under this example, August 18, 2020 would be displayed under the Satisfied Date field.
  11. Due Date: The task's due date.

As an alternative to monitoring your tasks from the Tasks page, you will also receive task reminder emails, as described in the above section: How Do I Know When I Need to Approve a Task?.

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Documents

The Documents page shows the files or links to external information that have been submitted as evidence or control documents for the tasks that you have access to.

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Navigating to Tasks

There are three different ways you can navigate to your tasks in your account. See these options below: 

  1. The My Dashboard page: From the Task Calendar area, click on a task to open it.
  2. The Tasks page: Use filters to find your Active, Past Due, or Failed tasks. Then, click on a task name to open it.
    • For details, see the Tasks section, above.
  3. Task reminder email notifications: Once you're logged in to your account, click the View Task link from the applicable email (click to view example), to navigate directly to that task.

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Understanding Task Requirements

This section explains the areas of the View Task page where you can find helpful information about the task you need to approve. Additionally, there are three areas where your administrator may have provided instructions, requirements, or examples of the evidence that is required for the task. Expand the drop-down menus below to learn more. 

Task Details

The top-left area of the View Task page includes task details such as the task name, description, and due date. See the image and details that are outlined below.

Image of the View Task page, showing the task information.

  1. The name of the task. The task name is also shown in the Task Calendar on the My Dashboard page, and in your task approval email notifications.
    • The task may have the same name as the control, as shown in the example above.
  2. The task description. Your administrator may use the task description to provide details, requirements, or instructions for the task.
    • You will also see the task description in your "Task Awaiting Approval" email (click to view example).
    • The task may have the same description as the control. If this is the case, be sure to check the other areas that are outlined in this section for task requirements.
  3. Starts On and Ends On: The date or dates on which the task starts and ends. 
  4. Due On: The task should be completed on or before this date.
  5. User Assigned: The user who is responsible for submitting evidence and completing the task.
  6. Approving Manager: The user who is responsible for approving the task evidence before the task can be closed.
  7. Second-level Approving Manager: If this field is shown, this is the user who is responsible for approving task evidence, after the Approving Manager, before the task can be closed.
  8. Control Name: The name of the control that is associated with this task. If necessary, you can click the control name to open the control and view additional details.
    Note: Under this area, you may see two additional fields that are not shown in the image above: Group Lead and Group Assigned to Control (click to view example). If these fields are shown, this means that your administrator is utilizing the user group workflow and that the Group Lead must review the task evidence before the Approving Manager. 
Task Notes

From the View Task page, check the Notes area at the top-right to see if your administrator or the User Assigned has left details about the task or task evidence.

Image of the Notes area on View Task page.

Tip: If you decide that the task evidence is insufficient for the task, you can use this area to leave notes for the User Assigned.
Task Status
Under the Task Status area, after you have reviewed the task evidence, you will use the Change Task Status drop-down menu to mark the task as either Approved or Insufficient (click to view example).

Additionally, if there are multiple approving managers assigned to a task, this area shows which approving manager is currently responsible for reviewing the task. For example, in the image below, the Approving Manager has approved the task and the task is currently awaiting approval from the Second-level Approving Manager.

To learn more, see the Reviewing Evidence and Approving Tasks section below.

Note: Under this area, you may see an additional field that is not shown in the image above: Group Lead Approval Stage (click to view example). If this field is shown, this means that your administrator is utilizing the user group workflow and that the Group Lead must review the task evidence before the Approving Manager, when applicable.
Supporting Evidence

The Supporting Evidence area of the page is where you will see the evidence the User Assigned has submitted for the task. The Supporting Evidence area also shows which format of evidence is required for the task, as shown below.

An image of the Supporting Evidence area with interface text specifying the following: File Upload or Link Required.

The evidence requirement will show one of the following:

  • File Upload or DocuLink Required
  • File Upload Required
  • DocuLink Required
  • No Requirement

The User Assigned may be required to submit evidence in one of two ways: by uploading a file to the account or, by providing a link to externally-hosted evidence if your organization stores information on an internal server or uses an online file sharing service.

For information about reviewing task evidence, see the Reviewing Evidence and Approving Tasks section below.

Control Documents
Scroll to the bottom of the View Task page and look for any items under the Control Documents area. Your administrator may have uploaded files or added links that point to external documentation that could help you understand what is required for the task. For example, your administrator may include a policy that you need to keep in mind before approving the task or an example of the evidence that needs to be provided for the task to be satisfied. 

Example of a file under the Control Documents section of the View Task page.

  • If the control document is a file, click the download icon () to download and view the file.
  • If the control document is a link, click the link icon () to open the file.

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Reviewing Evidence and Approving Tasks

Once a task is awaiting your approval, log in to your account and open the task. For navigation instructions, see the Navigating to Tasks section above. Then, follow the sections below:

Reviewing Evidence

The Supporting Evidence area of the View Task page will contain the evidence that the User Assigned has submitted for the task. Depending on the task's requirement, the User Assigned may have submitted evidence in one or two ways: by uploading a file or providing a link to externally-hosted evidence, as shown below.

Under the Actions column on the right-hand side, do the following:

  • If the evidence is a file, click the download icon () to download and view the file.
  • If the evidence is a link, click the link icon () to open the link in a new tab.

Approving Tasks

Once you've reviewed the evidence, you will mark the task as Approved or Insufficient.

From the Task Status area of the page, click the Change Task Status drop-down menu and select Approved or Insufficient. Then, click the Save button.

  • If you mark the task Approved and there is not an additional approving manager assigned to the task, the User Responsible will receive an email notification (click to view example).
  • If you mark the task Insufficient, the User Responsible will receive an email notification (click to view example).
    Tip: If you'd like, you can use the Notes area to communicate information to the User Responsible for the task (click to view example).

 

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