Cases

Cases are a helpful feature that allows you to keep track of all relevant information about any incidents that happen at work. Cases are used to log any incidents within the workplace and allow managers to store the history of any ongoing cases.

They also allow managers to log what happened, when it happened and who was involved. Cases are advantageous as they can be managed by multiple staff members pertinent to the case who can have a dialogue and upload case-relevant documents. Notably, cases can also be hidden from the subject involved, making this perfect for any ongoing disciplinary cases you might need to investigate. 

Setting up Cases

Before you can start creating a case you need to enable this feature via Global Settings > Features > Cases.

You will also need to enable a selection of permissions including the permission to:

• Create Cases
• Edit/add/remove Case Types (plus access to Cases)
• General access to cases and management of Cases

Building a Case

Once you have set these permissions up you can then go to into start building a case. Each case requires a case type, so before you can create a case you will first need to create your own Case Types. To do so go to System > Staff Data and Processes > Manage Case Types. 

Case Types

All Cases need to be organised by case types. Case types organise cases based on specific situations requiring the same protocols and privacy restrictions. There are four case types automatically set up in the system.

• Complaints - Can be used for when a staff member has submitted a complaint, either about another staff member or something else.
• Exceptional expenditure request - Can be used if a staff member has taken out a large or unexpected expenditure, to ensure all is in order.  
• Investigation - Typically used for incidents at the workplace or disciplinary action, if there have been cases of misconduct.
• Secondment request - Can be used when there has been a the temporary transfer of an official or worker to another position or employment.

You are able to use these templates, edit them or completely remove them and create your own templates, but these templates will give you a good idea of how case types might be used. To create a new template, in the actions bar, click Create New Case Type. 

When creating a case type all you need to do is create a title and set whether or not the subject of a case can view their case. This can be useful for more sensitive disciplinary cases.

For example, all disciplinary procedures might need the case subject not to be able to view their own case, and it might only be viewed by the managers involved.

Then, the last details to set are the permissions for cases. If you leave the box ticked only personnel who have been given general permission to view, add or manage all cases will be able to do so, but if you untick this box you can set specific permissions for this case type.

For example, are certain case types may contain highly sensitive information, such as disciplinary cases, which require restricted access. You could in this case, configure permissions so that only specific roles, such as direct line managers, have permission to view them.

Conversely, for case types like expenditure requests, you might want to grant access to finance team members who do not typically handle standard HR cases so might not be included under normal circumstances.

You can also determine whether they have permission to edit or add to a case or can view or change the case status. You can also be specific about it only being editable by the subject of the case manager. 

Creating a Case 

Now you have created a case type, you can set up a case. Cases are where you will primarily manage your ongoing investigations. To create a new case, go to My Account > My Cases and click Create a New Case.

In settings, you can set your case type, which will automatically apply the permissions we looked at before.

You can specify the event or the staff member's name in the title and describe what happened. This might include details necessary to the case, including staff members involved, location, time, and assets involved.

Documents & Notes

You can view additional case information once you have set up your case study. You can add documents or notes throughout your case as more information is added. 

Notes might be information about the case or short updates instead of evidence. Documents are used to provide supporting evidence for a case. This information is stored and available to view while the case remains active.

Assigned Staff

Then, you have the option to add case subjects. The system will only notify them if they have been given permissions that require them to remain informed. You can have multiple case subjects in one case.

Additionally, you can add staff members who are not involved in the case as Subjects to the case. You can specify whether they will have access to view the case here as well. This feature is helpful if you want to add staff members as Witnesses but don’t want them to be able to view sensitive case information. Whereas, as a case admin, you would like to be able to see documents. You can also add the case reporter. Having these roles can help keep all members of staff involved with the case in the loop up to date with key information. You can also remove people from the case if they are no longer relevant.

Case Status

You can set the status here to whether it is an ‘open and confirmed’ case, which will be the default or a speculative case that has been opened but will need the manager's approval to get final approval.

You can also update the case status as the case continues. You have multiple status options, including in review and progress, and when it is closed, you can even specify whether the case was answered. Alternatively, if there has been a delay with information for the case, you can put the case on hold. You can choose to hide or view archived cases as well.

Log & Archive

You can also view the case history and a log of recent changes. Whenever any changes have been made to a case or any documents added, these will be updated and stored. The last viewed case will come up as the most ‘recent’. When you are finished, you can archive a case so that if you need it for historical records, you still have it stored in the system and can be retrieved until it has been destroyed.

Case Reports

You can view a report per staff member of the cases that they were involved in between two dates
. This will streamline the investigation process of a staff member’s case history log. You can filter this further by case type if you are only interested in investigating a certain type of case. You can find this under 
a staff member’s profile and in the actions menu under Reports, then choose Case Reports and set a time frame you want to look back through.