Requesting documentation

Request documentation from business owners and stakeholders and store relevant discussions in the Projects app.

How it works

To request documentation, you add a request and assign it to the appropriate person. Once assigned, the person receives an email notification with a link to access the request, and has the option to add an attachment or post a comment.

When the assigned person updates a request, the requester is notified by email. You can either continue a discussion with the person by attaching additional files or posting a comment, or close the request.

Examples

Example requests

The following short list provides some different types of documentation that are frequently requested from business owners:

  • Fixed asset depreciation schedules
  • A list of new and terminated employees in the past year
  • A list of user accounts with super admin access to the ERP
  • The control self-assessment results for a sample of transactions
  • Firewall network diagrams
  • Financial close process documentation

Working with requests

The table below describes the areas where you can work with requests in the Projects app.

Area Description Information
Requests panel Quickly add a new request, update an existing request, and view or download attachments associated a request. Adding requests
Bulk Importer in Launchpad Bulk upload requests to a project. Bulk importing requests
Request List Tracking page

Add new requests, update existing requests, view or download attachments associated with requests, and track all requests within the project.

 Managing requests
Task Tracker

Track all to-dos, requests, and reviews for all projects within the Diligent One instance

Assigning responsibility for requests

You can control who has access to a request by assigning a person as a request owner. If you need to include additional people to contribute to a request, you can CC them on the request item.

Note

Owners and contributors of requests do not have to be added as users to a Diligent One instance.

Notes

  • Interface terms are customizable, and fields and tabs are configurable. In your instance of Diligent One, some terms, fields, and tabs may be different.
  • If a required field is left blank, you will see a warning message: This field is required. Some custom fields may have default values.

Requesting documentation from Human Resources

Scenario

You need to gather additional information from the Human Resources department pertaining to employees that have been on-boarded during the past year.

Process

You send a request to Human Resources, asking for a list of newly hired employees:

  • Requestor yourName
  • CC None
  • Description A system-generated listing of employees hired during the audit period (a sample will be selected for testing)
  • Source Control Test
  • Owner Human Resources
  • Due Date 04/02/2018
  • Status Open

Result

Human Resources receives the request and is able to provide the relevant documentation by attaching a file.

Notifications

There are two types of notifications related to requests:

  • Email notifications
  • Notifications within the Projects app

Email notifications

Once you assign a person as a request owner, or CC a person to contribute to a request, the person receives an email notification.

Notifications within the Projects app

Requesters, request owners, and CC'ed persons are notified of new attachments () and comments () on the Request List Tracking page and Task Tracker.

The notification for new attachments in the Requests panel is indicated by a paperclip with a red dot .

Sending recurring reminders

If you need to send recurring reminders about requests, you can configure how often email notifications should be sent to request owners and CC'ed persons.

For more information, see Sending recurring request reminders.

Locked requests

When a section is checked out by another user using Offline Projects or Diligent One for iPad, requests within the section are locked into read-only mode.

Locked requests are identified on the Request List Tracking page and in Task Tracker with a lock icon  next to the appropriate request.

Security features

To provide secure and appropriate access to requests, Diligent has implemented a series of security features.

Tokenized URL

The request link is a tokenized URL that is automatically generated for each request. The tokenized URL contains a combination of lower case, numeric, and special characters.

Note

The tokenized URL is intentionally complex to ensure data access security.

Caution

Since the tokenized URL acts like a password, it is important to keep it secure and private. Avoid sharing the tokenized URL with other parties.

Assigned access

Once a request is assigned, an email notification is sent to the responder with a link to access the request.

  • If you assign a request to a Contributor Manager, Contributor Tester, or Contributor User, the user must click the link in the email and sign in with their Launchpad credentials before they can access the request. Email notifications sent from Projects redirect Diligent One users to the Assessments app. Each card within Assessments has a link back to Projects. Users who are not registered on Diligent One receive a public URL.
  • If you assign a request to a non-licensed user, the person is sent a public link via email to access the request.

Restrictions

When the responder clicks the link in the email, they are redirected to the request Details page, and are restricted to the following actions:

  • Uploading or viewing attachments
  • Attaching comments
  • Viewing the following fields: Requester, Description, Contact, Due Date, and Status.

Expiration of request links

The link to access the request expires if:

  • the user assigned the request is removed from the project
  • a project is archived or deleted
  • a request is assigned to another licensed or non-licensed user
  • a request is deleted
  • a request is closed
    Note

    If the request is re-opened, you can send a new notification to the appropriate person, which automatically creates a new link to the request.