This article covers setting up a recurring audit schedule, and managing it afterwards: editing, copying, deleting, and reassigning individual activities.
You’ll need the Supervisor privilege for managing record schedules to do any of this. See Managing Users and Permissions for the full list of scheduler permissions.
Creating a schedule
To set up a new recurring audit:
- Open Schedules and start a new schedule.
- Give it a unique name. Use something recognisable, such as “Monthly Warehouse Safety Audit”. Each schedule name must be unique.
- Categorise it. Select an appropriate category for this schedule. This category field can be managed in Picklist Data Dictionary. Use this to help with filtering and reporting.
- Choose the audit. The Audit module is pre selected, you can choose the iQ template to be completed. If you do not select an iQ template, the assignee will be able to do this when completing the activity. This can be useful for audit programs where you do not need to define exactly which audit the user will do, they can select the appropriate one when carrying it out.
- Assign it. Pick the org unit(s) and the user(s) who should complete the audit. You can add more than one user per org unit, and each person receives their own activity which they must complete. You will only see users who are allowed to edit the Audit module for that org unit, or users who are AssureGO+ only.
- Set the recurrence. Choose a start date, how often it repeats (daily, weekly, monthly, on a set day, and so on), and an end date. The start date must be in the future, and the end date cannot be before the start date. Recurrence works much like it does in tools such as Outlook. As you set it, the screen shows a preview of the first date the schedule will be due and the date the activity will first appear based on the lead time, or a warning if the settings don’t produce any valid dates.
- Set a scheduled activity lead time. Decide how long before the due date the activity should appear for the assignee. This gives them a window to complete the audit rather than a single fixed day. It can be set to 0 if you want the activity to appear only on its due date. Once an activity is Not Completed it can’t be completed so ensure you allow your users appropriate time to complete their activities.
- Decide how it completes. Tick auto-complete if the activity should be marked complete the moment the iQ template is completed. Leave it unticked if you want the assignee to step through a short completion confirmation when they save the record.
- Save. Anyone who already has an activity inside the scheduled activity lead time receives a summary email straight away.
How scheduling works
When activities appear and when they are due
Activities are generated automatically from the recurrence and the scheduled activity lead time. An activity only appears to the assignee once it enters its scheduled activity lead time.
Editing a schedule
Changes apply to future activities only. If you add or remove org units or users, or change the recurrence, end date, or scheduled activity lead time, those changes affect activities that are still Not Started. Completed and Not Completed activities are left exactly as they are. If an activity is In Progress and no longer falls within the updated schedule, it changes to Not Required.
When you save an edit, the schedule locks briefly while it reprocesses the affected activities.
Copying a schedule
Copying opens the create screen with all the details pre-filled. You can adjust anything you need and save it as a brand new schedule, which is a quick way to set up a similar audit for another area or template.
Deleting a schedule
- Deleting removes all of its scheduled activities, and a clear warning explains this before you confirm.
- It does not delete completed audit records. The audits people have already carried out remain, though the schedule name no longer appears on them.
- Only delete the schedule if you no longer need any of the scheduled activities. If you need a schedule to stop running, adjust the end date. This will stop activities from being generated, and keep all remaining activities.
Reassigning an activity
If you can manage schedules, you can reassign a single activity occurrence to another eligible user.
To reassign a scheduled activity, open Tasks & Schedules, Schedule Management, Scheduled Activity Manager
Select the cog wheel for the activity you need to reassign, and select Reassign
Choose the user you need to reassign to, you will see users who can edit in the Audit module for the org unit, and AssureGO+ only users, select Save and Close
The user will receive an email to tell them they have an activity assigned to them.
Emails
Assure will generate a number of different emails to users for their scheduled activities:
- Create schedule: on schedule create, Assure sends one summary email to assignees with any activities generated
- Edit schedule: on edit, Assure sends one summary email to assignees with any changes to the schedule
- Window shift: when a new activity hits the visibility window and is generated, the assignee will be notified
- Reassign single activity to other user: when an activity is reassigned the new assignee will be notified
- Reassign activities and schedules from one user to another: from user management when using reassign tasks, the system notifies the new assignee
- Schedule activity reminders: overnight reminder emails now include scheduled activities
In system settings, you can control the scheduled activity reminder email, by defining how many days before the due date the reminder will send.