Compliance
Keeping compliance answers verified
Purpose Purpose
Some requirements have to be checked again and again: first aiders refresh their training every year, first aid kits are checked every quarter, and eyewash stations are tested every month. A Compliance answer that was true a year ago may not be true today.
An expiration interval on a question tells 21RISK how often each site must verify its answer. When a site's verification is older than the interval, the answer expires: 21RISK moves it out of its closed status, so the board's compliance reflects that the check is overdue.
This is relevant for compliance managers who own a standard with recurring checks, and for site managers who answer them. Findings can have an expiration of their own too; see Recurring findings with an expiration.
Setting an expiration interval Setting an expiration interval
Open Questions by site on the board, open the question with Ctrl/Cmd + click on its name, expand Verification, and fill in Must be verified every with a number and a unit: days, weeks, months or years. Leave it empty if answers to the question never expire.
- Only questions can have an expiration interval. Sections cannot.
- Changing or removing the interval is a minor change. It applies straight away to every site's answer, using the date each answer was last verified.
- Each question can have its own interval, so a standard can mix monthly, quarterly and yearly checks.
Fixed periods or rolling expiration Fixed periods or rolling expiration
Once a question has an interval, choose how answers expire under How answers expire. The editor shows when an answer verified today would expire with the selected choice.
| Fixed periods | Rolling | |
|---|---|---|
| How it works | Time is divided into periods of the interval. Each site verifies once per period. | Each answer expires one interval after it was last verified. |
| When an answer expires | When the period it was verified in ends | One interval after its last verification |
| Verifying early | Does not move the deadline: the period still ends on the same day | Moves the deadline earlier |
| Best for | Checks that belong to a period, such as a quarterly inspection, where you want to see that every period was covered | Checks where each site needs the full interval from its own last verification, such as training that is valid for 12 months |
For example, with an interval of 3 months:
- Fixed periods starting on 1 January give the calendar quarters. An answer verified on 20 November expires on 1 January, and so does one verified on 1 October. Every site has to verify again in the new quarter.
- Rolling: an answer verified on 20 November expires on 20 February.
With fixed periods, Periods start on sets the date the periods are counted from. It defaults to the 1st of the current month and must be a day from 1 to 28. For example, a 3-month interval from 1 January gives the calendar quarters, and a 12-month interval from 1 April gives a year that starts in April. Periods begin at midnight UTC.
- Questions created before this choice existed use rolling expiration.
- Changing the interval, the mode or the start date is a minor change. Every answer's expiration date is recalculated straight away, and answers whose new expiration date has passed expire within the hour. The editor warns you before you save.
Tip: When you add an interval to a question that sites answered a long time ago, answers that were last verified before the interval began will expire the next time 21RISK checks. That shows honestly which sites are overdue, but let the sites know before you do it.
How an answer is verified How an answer is verified
An answer counts as verified on the day it moves to a closed status, such as Compliant. You can see it in the answer: under the status, 21RISK shows how often the question must be verified, when the answer was last verified, and when it expires.
With rolling expiration, when the check has been done again and the answer is still correct, click Verify. It records that the answer was verified today and restarts the interval. The button changes with what you have edited:
| Button | When |
|---|---|
| Verify | Nothing has changed; you are verifying the answer as it is |
| Verify with comment | You have written a comment, for example about the evidence you checked |
| Verify with changes | You have also changed other fields, such as the status or the files |
- Verify only appears for questions with rolling expiration, while the answer's status is a closed status.
- With fixed periods there is no Verify button. Moving the answer to a closed status verifies it for the current period, and when the period ends the answer expires, so it is checked again in the next one.
- To require evidence for each period, add a status rule with the Files attached condition to the closed status. Only files attached in the current period count. See Requiring evidence.
- The verification is always today's date. It cannot be backdated.
- While files you attach are still uploading, Verify is unavailable. It becomes available again as soon as the upload finishes.
- Verifying an answer that was already verified today changes nothing.
Seeing how each period went Seeing how each period went
When a question uses fixed periods, the answer's activity is shown period by period. Periods is selected when you open the answer; choose Activity for the full history.
Each period shows its dates, the answer's last status in the period, and how many comments and files were added to the answer and its sub-tasks in it. A period where nothing happened keeps the status it started with, so a missed period stands out. Open a period to see everything that changed in it; one period is open at a time, starting with the current one.
The answer's files are shown by period too. Next to Files, the current period is selected, so you see the evidence that counts for it. Pick an earlier period to see the files that are still attached and were first attached in it, or All files to see everything attached to the answer. Files removed since are not listed, so a period's file count under Periods, which also includes removed files and files added to sub-tasks, can be higher. Files you add always belong to the current period, and downloading from the file preview downloads the selected period's files.
- The periods follow the question's current interval and start date. When you change them, the history is divided again.
- Periods are divided at midnight UTC. An answer expires after its period has ended, so the period it was verified in keeps its closed status, and the expired status shows in the next period.
What happens when an answer expires What happens when an answer expires
21RISK checks for expired answers every hour. When an answer passes its expiration date, 21RISK:
- Moves the answer to the board's expired status, or to the board's default status if none is chosen.
- Keeps everything else on the answer, including notes, files, responsible and the date it was last verified, so the next verification can build on it.
- Records the change in the answer's history as an Automation entry marked Verification expired.
- Sends notifications and runs automations as it does for any other status change.
Answers that are not applicable to a site do not expire. When the question becomes applicable again, the answer is checked like any other.
Choosing the expired status Choosing the expired status
Open the board's Settings and go to Expired answers. Choose the status expired answers should move to, for example a status called "Verification due". To use the board's default status instead, click the chosen status again to clear it, and save.
- The status must be an open status that is used on the board. Closed statuses are greyed out, because an expired answer is no longer compliant.
- When you replace the status on the board, expired answers move to the replacement instead. When you remove or delete it, they move to the board's default status.
Following up on expiring answers Following up on expiring answers
The Questions table has a Verified and an Expires column. They are hidden by default; show them with Manage table to see when each answer was last verified and when it expires. You can sort and filter on them too, for example to find everything that expires in the next 30 days.
The same columns can be used in automations. For example, a scheduled automation that notifies the responsible person about answers that expire within the next month gives sites time to verify before an answer expires.
Major changes Major changes
A major change to a question resets its answers, and with them their verification: the new version has to be answered and verified again. If you reset all answers to a closed status as part of the major change, they count as verified that day.
For API users For API users
- Set the interval with
expiryIntervalAmountandexpiryIntervalUnit(day,week,monthoryear) when creating or updating a question. Sendingnullfor the amount removes the interval. - Choose fixed periods with
expiryMode: "fixed"and the start date inexpiryAnchor(YYYY-MM-DD, day 1–28). WithoutexpiryAnchor, periods start on the 1st of the current month.expiryModedefaults torolling. - Get an answer's fixed periods with
queryItemExpiryPeriods, and the changes in one of them withqueryItemChangeHistory, setting itsdatefilter to the period'sstart..end. Get the files first attached in a period withqueryItemFiles, setting itsattachedAtfilter the same way. - Verify an answer with
verify: truewhen updating it. The request is rejected if the answer does not end up in a closed status, or its question has no interval or uses fixed periods. With fixed periods, moving the answer to a closed status verifies it. - Choose the expired status with
updateBoardExpiredStatus, passingexpiredStatusId, ornullfor the board's default status.