Reviewing work and signing-off
Sign-off on work you have prepared or reviewed, and assign another person as the next reviewer.
How it works
Once you have documented all relevant information on a page, you can sign-off on your work, and assign another person on your team to review your work. The person assigned as the next reviewer receives an email notification, notifying them of the page they have been requested to review.
Levels of review
There are three levels of review:
Reviewer | Description |
---|---|
Preparer | prepares or drafts information on a page |
Detail Reviewer | provides a detailed review of the Preparer's work |
General Reviewer | provides a high level review of the Preparer's work |
Sign-offs and page types
You can sign-off as a Preparer, Detail Reviewer, or General Reviewer on two types of pages:
- Individual item pages shows information pertaining to a specific item, such as an individual walkthrough
- Summary-level pages shows a list of items, such as a list of Walkthroughs
Individual item pages
After the Preparer has signed off on an individual item page, the page becomes read-only. This provides control over the sign-off and review process as individual items are completed.
Signing off on the Follow-up & Remediation tab in an issue makes actions (for example, the name and description of an action) in the Information and Email notification tabs read-only. However, you can still update actions in the Action Follow-Up and Complete Action tabs post-sign-off. See View or update an action for more information.
Example individual item pages
- Planning File
- Walkthrough
- Test Plan
- Test
- Issue Information
- Follow-up & Remediation
- Retest Information
- Results File
Summary-level pages
If you sign-off on a summary-level page, individual items do not become read-only.
For example, signing off on the Test Plan page will not make individual test plans read-only. Similarly, signing off on the Risk Control Matrix will not make individual risks and controls read-only.
Example summary-level pages
- Risk Control Matrix
- Walkthroughs
- Test Plans
- Testing
How sign-offs impact the project completion percentage
As you sign off on work in a project, the project completion percentage increases. However, not all sign-offs impact the project completion percentage:
- Summary-level page sign-offs do impact the project completion percentage.
- Individual item page sign-offs do not impact the project completion percentage.
For more information, see Understanding project progress charts.
Limitations and considerations
- You cannot sign off on individual risks or controls You can, however, sign off on the Risk Control Matrix.
- Individual narrative sign-offs do impact the overall project completion percentage While you cannot sign off on all narratives at once, you can sign off on individual narratives. Signing off on individual narratives does increase the project completion percentage.
Reviewing work
If you are assigned as a reviewer, and notice errors or omissions as you review, you can create a to-do for the Preparer to complete. To-dos are typically used as review notes or review comments.
For more information, see Assigning to-dos.
Sign-off workflows for different teams
The sign-off and review process is flexible and can be adapted for any team size or QA workflow.
Small teams
Any user that has access to the project can set themselves as the Next Reviewer. If you are the only person on the team, you can remove your own sign-off, and update information on a page as needed.
For two-person teams, one person can sign off as both the Preparer and the Detail Reviewer and assign the other person as the General Reviewer.
Additional review cycles
Even after all three levels of review have been signed-off, you can still assign a next reviewer. This can be helpful if you find a mistake after the final sign-off, and you need to assign the item back to the appropriate person so that they can remove their sign-off, fix the mistake, and re-sign-off.
Some organizations have an extra level of review (typically called QA) that occurs after a sign-off, so you can also assign these people as the next reviewer to conduct a final review.
Examples
The examples in this panel are connected. The first tab presents the start of the scenario.
Scenario
Cathy, a staff auditor, is documenting the results of an audit procedure. Once she is finished preparing the information, she needs to send her work to Simon, her auditor supervisor, for review.
Process
Cathy records the outcome of the audit procedure and logs two issues. She then signs off on the audit procedure as the Preparer, and sets Simon as the Next Reviewer:
Result
Simon receives an email, notifying him that he has been requested to review the audit procedure.
Scenario
Simon clicks the link in the email notification, and begins reviewing the audit procedure. He recognizes that the results documentation is not as comprehensive as it could be, and suggests that Cathy provide more information.
Process
Simon removes Cathy’s sign-off as Preparer, creates a To-do item as a review note, and assigns the To-do to Cathy. Cathy receives an email notification about the review note, updates the results information as requested, and signs-off again as Preparer. Once again, Cathy sets Simon as the Next Reviewer.
Result
Simon re-reviews the updated procedure, signs-off as Detail Reviewer, and then sets Michelle, the Audit Manager, as the Next Reviewer:
Scenario
Michelle clicks the link in the email notification, and begins reviewing the audit procedure. In the process of reviewing, Michelle learns of new information that impacts the documented results.
Process
Michelle removes the Preparer sign-off, creates a To-do item as a review note, and assigns the To-do to Cathy.
Result
Cathy receives an email notification about the review note, updates the results information as requested, and signs-off once more as the Preparer. Cathy restarts the review and sign-off workflow by setting Simon as the Next Reviewer:
Simon signs off on the audit procedure, and sets Michelle as the Next Reviewer:
Finally, Michelle signs off as the General Reviewer:
Permissions
Signing off as the Preparer
Professional Managers and Professional Users can sign off as the Preparer on any page. Contributor Testers can only sign off as the Preparer on control tests they have write access to.
After the Preparer has signed off
Once the Preparer has signed off, the page becomes read-only, and the review workflow is restricted as follows:
- Professional Managers, Professional Users, and Oversight Executives can set the Next Reviewer if the Preparer assigned them as the Next Reviewer. Note
Since Oversight Executives can only view published issues, they cannot be assigned as the Next Reviewer to sign off on issues.
- Contributor Testers can set the Next Reviewer on control tests they have write access to after they have signed off as a Preparer, but they cannot be assigned as the Next Reviewer.
Removing sign-offs
- Only the Professional Manager can remove the Preparer’s sign-off and allow the page to be updated, or remove a Detail Reviewer's sign off.
- Professional Users must be assigned the Next Reviewer to be able to remove the Preparer’s sign-off.
- Removing the Preparer sign-off automatically removes the Detail Reviewer and General Reviewer sign-offs.
- Professional Managers, Professional Users, and Oversight Executives can remove their own sign-offs.
Signing off as the Detail Reviewer or General Reviewer
Professional Managers can sign-off as the Detail Reviewer or General Reviewer before or after the Preparer has signed off.
Professional Users and Oversight Executives can sign-off as the Detail Reviewer or General Reviewer if the Preparer has signed off and set them as the Next Reviewer.
Sign-off on work and assign the next reviewer
Sign-off on work you have prepared or reviewed and assign another person as the next reviewer.
- Do one of the following:
- Navigate to the page where the sign-off is required.
- Click the appropriate link from the following options in the sign-off section at the bottom of the page:
- Sign-off as preparer
- Sign-off as detailed reviewer
- Sign-off as general reviewer
- Select the next user required to sign off on the page in the Next Reviewer drop-down list, and click Set and Notify Reviewer.
Result Your sign-off is captured on the page, and the next reviewer is notified via email about their review assignment.
Tip
Issue sign-offs are also displayed on the Issue List page under the Sign-offs column in the table. Each subtab sign-off (Issue Information, Follow-up & Remediation, and Retest Information) is noted with a lock icon
.
Remove a sign-off
Remove a sign-off from a page.
- Do one of the following:
- Navigate to the page that has been signed off.
- Scroll down to the Sign-offs section, and click Remove sign-off next to the person's name.
Result The sign-off is removed.
Override a sign-off
Override a sign-off to make further updates to information on a page.
- Do one of the following:
- Navigate to the page that has been signed off.
- At the top of the page, in the Read Only box, click Override Sign-off.Note
To override an issue sign-off, click Override Sign-off in the yellow banner.
Result The sign-off on the page is retained and you can update information on the page.
Manage reviews
Manage all reviews assigned to you across multiple projects.
- Open the Task Tracker app.
- Click the Reviews tab.
A list of reviews displays, sorted alphabetically by title.
The lock
indicates that the section containing the review has been checked out by another user using Offline Projects or HighBond for iPad, and the review is read-only.
- Locate a review by doing any of the following:
- Search or apply the Project filter to restrict the list of reviews.
- Sort reviews by clicking
next to the column title.
- Click the appropriate link under the Title column to navigate to the project page you have been assigned to review.
Result You can review the information on the page, and sign-off when you finish the review.