Tracker 4 Set-up

From SymbiantWiki

The first time Symbiant Tracker is used the system should be set-up to meet the requirements of the internal audit team. Setting up Tracker is done via the administrators set-up screen, accessible by clicking the [Set-up] menu link.

Set-up allows the configuration of user divisions, selection items, the user interface, login and welcome information, report branding and formatting, help text and automated emails triggered for special events within Tracker.

Contents 1 Adding selections 2 Customising appearance 3 Customising emails

Adding selections

Because the terminology used to identify internal audit reports, ratings, finding types etc. varies from company to company, Tracker allows bespoke descriptions (and colour flags) to be defined.

Within Tracker's set-up, expand the set-up index for General > Selections and then select the area to customise.

• Issue Status – the status of the issue, i.e. Outstanding, Implemented etc.
• Issue Rating – the rating of the issue, i.e. High, Medium, Low.
• Audit Report Name – the name of the audit report, i.e. Compliance Review.
• Audit Report Category – the category of the audit report, i.e. IT, HR, Finance.
• Finding Types – the weakness finding, i.e. Opportunity, Risk Exposure.
• Action Relates – allows individual actions to be targeted, i.e. UK, USA, IT, HR.

To edit the description of an item click on the text and type over it. To add a new item (except for Issue Status), click on the {Add New} text, type the description for the item then click the button.

The Issue Status and Rating selections allow colour flags to be defined for each item. These are used in reports to draw attention to certain issues. Click the colour to display a colour selector, select the new colour from the available choices.

To give more importance to an item or simply re-position it in the list of drop-down items so when defining issues the choice is more accessible, use the ↕ arrows to move the item up and down the list (except for Issue Status).

If a selection is no longer required or was added accidentally it can be removed by clicking the next to the item to remove (except for Issue Status). However, if an item is in use by Tracker (if this is not its first use) then the item cannot be deleted until all associations to it are removed.

Customising appearance

Further to just configuring the selectable items in Tracker all the key text can be changed and the application branded with the company logo.

To change the text used to identify the key internal audit areas of Tracker, under set-up, select index Skin > Text. Locate the text to change, click in the second column over the text and enter the new description. To help identify where the text is used, mouse over the next to the default text. To write any changes to Tracker, click the [Save] button.

The text displayed on the login page and start page can also be customised by selecting Welcome Texts > Login or Start Page. Here a familiar text editor allows the entry of formatted text that is displayed to the user. Fonts, colours and even Hyperlinks can be entered to provide the required information. The Login page text should, amongst other things, inform the user what to do should they forget their username or password (obviously this screen is not displayed if Tracker is integrated with an Active Directory). The Start Page text is a good place to keep users informed of key auditing deadlines and to provide links to useful resources. Click the [Save] button to update the system with any changes.

Other useful formatting set-up options include branding Tracker with the company logo. This is done by selecting Skin > Branding and browsing for an image from the computers hard drives or network to upload and display in the top left corner of the Tracker interface. It is important to ensure the image is uploaded as it should be displayed, no resizing or colouring of the image is performed by Tracker. Click the [Upload] button to upload and place a company logo.

The colours used to identify issues that require attention can be set by going to Skin > Highlighting. These colours are used on the Issues grid. Click the colour to display a choice of alternative colours for selection. Click [Save] to update Tracker.

Report headers and footers can be customised in the same way as the Welcome Texts by selecting Reports > Header or Footer. The report itself can be formatted by selecting Reports > Body. Here the font and colour of report sections such as the report title, header, individual row and alternate row items can be set. A selection of web safe fonts, sizes (selectable from drop-downs) and styles (checkable) are available as well as colours. Click [Save] to format the Tracker reports.

Finally it is possible to update the context sensitive help displayed to users when they click the Help link. Every help item can be edited or replaced even those associated with their own set-up. To edit a help item, select Help Text and then the area the help item relates to, i.e. for the help file displayed when adding a new issue select, Help Text > Issues > Add New. Again the familiar text editor used for the Welcome Text and Report Headers/Footers is displayed to perform the editing. Click [Save] to save the help text changes.

Customising emails

Tracker includes 4 automated emails that are triggered following key actions or at key times within the internal audit process. To customise the email recipients receive, under set-up select index Emails and then the email to configure. The emails included in Tracker are:

• New Assignment – sent when a recommendation action is assigned to an auditee.
• Status Update – sent when a manager responds to an auditees response.
• Reminder – sent to alert auditees when an action is close to its action by date.
• Feedback – sent to key individuals to alert them of an issues change in status.

All emails require a Reply Email address to be specified by clicking on the existing address and overwriting it. Alternatively (except for Reminder emails), by checking the [Use admin / managers email address] check box, the user responsible for assigning or updating the issue's email address will be used.

All emails should also include a subject and the message body. Both these can include special marker text that is replaced when sent with information from Tracker. These markers include:

#NAME#                account holders name
#AUDIT_NAME#          audit report name
#AUDIT_CATEGORY#      audit report category
#AUDIT_REFERENCE#     audit report reference
#REFERENCE#           issue reference
#SUMMARY#             issue summary
#DETAILS#             issue details

Further markers can be defined on certain emails, see the associated Help files for a complete list of those that can be used with each email.

Finally most emails have a [Send email] check box (except Reminder emails), this should be checked to active the email. It is important to ensure that emails are correctly configured in the Configuration Utility if they are enabled otherwise Tracker may error. Click [Save] to store any changes made to the email settings.

The Reminder and Feedback emails have a couple of additional fields that can be configured. The Reminder email includes a drop-down where the email can be set to be triggered a number of days before the action becomes overdue. The Feedback email includes a field where the address the email should be sent to can be entered, each address should be separated with a comma (,).