Monitoring and Approving Tasks for Controls

To ensure that all control task requirements are satisfied, Account Administrators and Scope Administrators can assign one or more Approving Managers to a control or to the tasks that the administrator has created for the control. To learn more about assigning Approving Managers to tasks, see the Task Approval Workflows section of our How to Work with Task Schedules for Controls article.

If you are the Approving Manager or a Second-level Approving Manager for a task, you will be responsible for reviewing the evidence that was submitted for the task and for approving the task. If you are the Group Lead for a group that is assigned to a control, you will be responsible for approving tasks for the control. 

See the sections below to learn how to monitor, review, and approve the tasks that you are assigned to. 

Jump to:

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

Monitoring Tasks That Need Your Approval

• My Dashboard Page
• Tasks Page
• Documents Page

Understanding Task Requirements

Reviewing Evidence and Approving Tasks

• Reviewing Evidence
• Approving Tasks

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

If you are an Approving Manager or a Group Lead for a task, you will receive an email notification when the User Assigned marks the task as complete (click to view). If you are a Second-level Approving Manager for a task, you will receive an email notification when the Approving Manager approves the task. You can click the View Task link in the email to navigate to the task.

You can also log in to your KCM GRC account to monitor and review the tasks that you are assigned to. To learn how to find the tasks you are assigned to, see the Monitoring Tasks That Need Your Approval section below.

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Monitoring Tasks That Need Your Approval

In your KCM GRC account, you can use the My Dashboard, Tasks, and Documents pages to view information about the tasks that require your approval. From the My Dashboard page and the Tasks page, you can navigate to the tasks that are waiting for your approval. From the Documents page, you can view evidence and control documents that have been submitted for the tasks that you have access to, including the tasks that are waiting for your approval.

To learn how to use each of these pages for task approvals, see the subsections below.

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My Dashboard Page

You can navigate to the My Dashboard page by selecting Compliance and then My Dashboard from your navigation panel. On the My Dashboard page, you can view the current and upcoming tasks that you are assigned to. In the Approvals section of your dashboard, you can view the number of tasks that are currently awaiting your approval next to the Need My Approval subheading. You can also click the number next to Need My Approval to navigate to the list of tasks that require your approval.

To learn more about this section of the page, see the Approvals section of our How to Use the My Dashboard Tab article.

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Tasks Page

You can navigate to the Tasks page by selecting the Tasks tab of your navigation panel. From this page, you can view all tasks for the controls that you have access to. This page may also include tasks that are assigned to other users in your account. 

To learn more about this page and how to use the available filters to find specific tasks, see the list below:

1. Awaiting Manager Approval: If you are the User Assigned for a task, select this check box to view the tasks that are awaiting approval from a Group Lead, Approving Manager, or Second-level Approving Manager.
2. Need My Approval: Select this check box to view 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: Select this check box to view only the tasks that you are assigned to. This will include any tasks that you are the User Assigned, Approving Manager, Group Lead, or Second-level Approving Manager for. 
4. Name: View the name of the task, or click the name to open the task's View Task page.
5. User Assigned: View the name of the user who is responsible for completing the task.
6. Approving Manager: View the name of the user who is responsible for reviewing the task evidence, when applicable. 
7. Second-level Approving Manager: View the name of the user who is responsible for reviewing the task evidence after the Approving Manager, when applicable. 
8. Status: View the current status of the task. To learn how to filter by specific statuses, see the list below:
   • To find your tasks that are currently due, select the My Tasks check box. Then, select Active from the drop-down menu.
   • To find your tasks that are past due, select the My Tasks check box. Then, select Past Due from the drop-down menu.
   • To find tasks that are in the Failed, Satisfied, or Closed Late statuses, select the My Tasks check box. Then, select Failed, Satisfied, or Closed Late from the drop-down menu. 
9. Approval Stage: View the current approval stage for the task. To learn about the approval stages, see the list below:
   • Open: The task is incomplete.
   • 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 an Approving Manager and closed. 
10. Satisfied Date: View the date when the User Assigned marked the task as complete.
    
    Note: In 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 time as 12:30 AM UTC on August 18, 2020. For this example, August 18, 2020 would be displayed under the Satisfied Date field.
11. Due Date: View the due date for the task.

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Documents Page

You can navigate to the Documents page by selecting the Documents tab of your navigation panel. From the Documents page, you can find the files or links that users have submitted as evidence or control documents for the tasks that you have access to. 

To learn more about control documents, see the Understanding Task Requirements section below. To learn more about reviewing task evidence, see the Reviewing Evidence and Approving Tasks section below.

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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 tasks you need to approve. You can navigate to the View Task page by selecting a task from the Tasks page. For more information, see the Tasks Page subsection above.

Click the drop-down menus below to learn more about the View Task page. 

Task Details

The Task Details section of the View Task page displays information about the task. This information can help you determine whether the evidence that was submitted for a task is sufficient.

To learn about the Task Details section, see the screenshot and list below:

1. Name: This field displays 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 screenshot above.
2. Description: This field displays 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. The task may have the same description as the control.
3. Starts On and Ends On: These fields display the date or dates when the task starts and ends. 
4. Due On: This field displays the date that the task should be completed by.
5. User Assigned: This field displays the user who is responsible for submitting evidence and completing the task.
6. Approving Manager: This field displays the user who is responsible for approving the task evidence before the task can be closed.
7. Second-level Approving Manager: This field displays the user who is responsible for approving task evidence after the Approving Manager. This field will only display if a Second-level Approving Manager has been assigned to the task.
8. Control Name: This field displays the name of the control that is associated with this task. You can click the control name to open the control and view additional details.
   
   Note: Under the Control Name, you may also see the Group Lead and Group Assigned to Control fields (click to view). If these fields are displayed, the Group Lead must review the task evidence before the Approving Manager.

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Example: Group Assigned to Control

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Task Notes

The Notes section of the View Task page displays any notes your administrator or the User Assigned have entered about the task evidence.

Tip: If you decide that the task evidence is insufficient for the task, you can use this area to enter notes for the User Assigned. For example, you could explain what additional evidence the user would need to provide for the task to be approved.

Task Approval

In the Task Approval section of the View Task page, you can use the Select Status drop-down menu to mark the task as either Approved or Insufficient.

Additionally, if multiple Approving Managers are assigned to a task, this area will display which Approving Manager is currently responsible for reviewing the task. For example, in the screenshot below, the Approving Manager has approved the task, and the task is currently awaiting approval from the Second-level Approving Manager.

If the task does not require approvals, the Task Approval area will not display on the View Task page. 

Note: In this section, you may also see a Group Lead field (click to view). If this field is displayed, the Group Lead will need to review the task evidence before the Approving Manager.

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Group Lead Approval Stage

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Supporting Evidence

In the Supporting Evidence section of the View Task page, you can view the evidence that the User Assigned has submitted for the task. The Supporting Evidence area will also display the format that the evidence is required to be submitted in, including File Upload or DocuLink Required, File Upload Required, DocuLink Required, or No Requirement. 

To learn how to review task evidence, see the Reviewing Evidence and Approving Tasks section below.

Control Documents

In the Control Documents section of the View Task page, you can view any control documents that your administrator has uploaded or linked to help you understand what action is required for the task.

For example, your administrator may upload a policy that you need to consider before approving the task. The administrator may also upload an example of the evidence that needs to be provided for the task.

If the control document is a link, click the link icon to open the file. If the control document is a file, click the cloud icon to download and view the file. You can also click the eye icon to preview the file.

Note: The preview feature depends on your browser version, the file type, and your pop-up window settings. You may need to allow pop-up windows in your browser settings before you can use this feature. If you click the preview button and your browser is unable to preview the file, KCM GRC will prompt a file download instead.

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Reviewing Evidence and Approving Tasks

Once a task is ready for your approval, log in to your KCM GRC account and open the task. To learn how to open tasks from email notifications, see the How Do Know When I Need to Approve a Task? section above. To learn how to open tasks from your dashboard or the Tasks page, see the Monitoring Tasks That Need Your Approval section above.

Then, see the subsections below to learn how to review evidence and approve tasks.

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Reviewing Evidence

The Supporting Evidence area of the View Task page will display a list of the evidence that the User Assigned has submitted for the task. Depending on the task, the User Assigned may have submitted evidence by uploading a file or by providing a link to the evidence.

In this area, you can view, download, and preview evidence. If the evidence is a link, click the link icon to open the link in a new tab. If the evidence is a file, click the cloud icon to download and view the file. You can also preview the file by clicking the eye icon.

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Approving Tasks

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

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

If you mark the task as Approved and there is not an additional Approving Manager assigned to the task, the User Responsible will receive an email notification that their task was approved.

If you mark the task as Insufficient, the User Responsible will receive an email notification that their task was declined.

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