Issues

Issues Module

This page contains information to assist our customers with utilizing the Issues module in RegScale. It describes what it is, why you would use it, the benefits, and provides instructions on getting started.

What is it?

An issue is the process of documenting non-compliances with policies or procedures. Common synonyms for issues might include:

• Findings
• Deficiencies
• Plan of Actions and Milestones (POAMs)
• Opportunities for Improvement (OFIs)
• Weaknesses

Why would you use it?

Issues are commonly used to document non-compliances and to track corrective actions for remediation. An effective issues management program is a key strategic driver of continuous improvement. There are many reasons to perform issues management which include:

• Tracking issues from discovery to closure
• Identifying non-compliances with laws/regulations and internal policies
• Tracking corrective actions
• Ensuring issues are closed by the assigned due date
• Managing accountability for each non-compliance
• Identifying root causes for non-compliances

What are the benefits?

A strong issues management program results in multiple benefits for an organization; to include:

• Driving accountability for addressing non-compliances
• Ensuring compliance with laws and regulations to avoid fines and brand reputation damage
• Driving continuous improvement of organizational processes
• Preventing recurrence of issues and becoming more pro-active
• Reducing the costs associated with issues (i.e. defects, fines, and down time)

How do I use it?

The issues module in RegScale Community Edition (CE) provides a number of key features that are useful in managing a robust program, to include:

• Tracking progress against due dates
• Evidence collection for non-compliances
• Corrective action management
• Real-time tracking and dashboards
• Automation via our Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)
• Single pane of glass assignment tracking via our work bench
• Automated workflows for review and approval
• Interactive timeline builder
• Social collaboration via our News Feed (LinkedIn for Compliance) and real-time commenting system
• Secure evidence management with our file upload and encryption system
• Audit history including every view, update, print, email, etc.
• Calendar view to see issues due within any given period

For our Enterprise Edition (EE) customers, you get all the great features above, plus we add:

• Ability to create custom fields to extend the schema and build out customer specific data entry forms
• Integration with Microsoft Teams and Slack for real-time collaboration
• Ability to host a multi-tenant version to segregate data by site, customer, organization, etc. to run many different issues management programs with complete data isolation from a single installation
• Real-time interactive dashboard with Microsoft PowerBI AddOn
• Facility specific views of issue due dates with Geographic Information System (GIS) overlays