1. Using Access Certifications
  2. Follow Up on Certifications

Follow Up on Certifications

While reviewing a worksheet, a role manager or an owner may follow up with the certifier to resolve issues. Follow-ups may occur at any point in the certification process, either before or after a worksheet is submitted. Owners or role managers may question whether individual certification decisions are correct, or may look into any other issue, such as whether decisions require further justification or supporting attachments.

Owners, role managers, and certifiers create and respond to comments as they complete the follow-up process. All the follow-up comments that apply to each user-role combination are added to its comment history.

If you're an owner or role manager, take these steps to initiate a follow-up:

  1. Select one or more records of user-role combinations, then click Follow-Ups > Request Follow-Up.

  2. A Request follow-up panel opens. In it, write a comment that applies to all the user-role combinations you've selected. Explain the issue that prompts you to follow up, for example why the disposition of the selected records needs to be reconsidered.

  3. In the panel, click a Request button. The panel closes, and an icon appears in the Follow-Ups column for each of the selected records.

  4. If you're working with a worksheet that's been submitted, navigate to your overview page and set the status for the certifier worksheet to Reopened (see Certification Workflow).

If you're the certifier, you receive a notification if a worksheet has been reopened. Even if you don't receive a notification, you can work with new requests:

  1. Open the worksheet and sort on the Follow-Ups column to identify records displaying the follow-up icon.

  2. Review the follow-up requests. If there are more than one, review them one at a time. That's because the request is a comment, and comment history is inaccessible when you select multiple records of user-role combinations. You can do either of the following:

    • Select the icon in the Comments column for each record, or select the record and click More Actions > Add Comments.

    • Select the record and click Follow-Ups > Address Request.

  3. Requests typically propose that you do something, such as changing the certification decision from Keep Role to Remove Role (or vice versa), expanding the justification for your decision, or adding an attachment. For each user-role combination whose follow-up request you agree with, take the requested action.

  4. Respond to the follow-up requests. For this step, you may select one or multiple records, and then click Follow-Ups > Address Request. An Address request panel opens.

    • If you agree with the request, write a comment reporting that you've completed the requested action.

    • If you disagree, write a comment explaining why you disagree.

    Then click an Address button to close the panel.

    Note that it's appropriate for you to select multiple records only if the single comment you create applies to all of them. If you do, moreover, you won't be able to see the follow-up request (or any comments other than the one you're creating) for any of the records.

  5. If you're working with a previously submitted worksheet that the owner or role manager reopened, resubmit the worksheet.

If you're the owner or role manager, you receive a notification if the certification has been resubmitted. Even if you don't receive a notification, you can work with new responses to your requests:

  1. Open the worksheet. Identify the records the certifier has addressed. You can:

    • Sort on the Follow-Ups column to find which of its records display the follow-up icon.

    • Add the Follow-Up Status column to the display, then filter on it for records at the Addressed status.

  2. Review the certifier's responses to the requests. Once again, you can use comment features or follow-up features to do so. In either case, however, you need to select one record at a time to see the comment history, which contains the certifier's response.

  3. Select one or multiple records, then take either of two actions:

    • Click Follow-Ups > Resolve Request, add a comment agreeing with the certifier's action, and click a Resolve button to close the panel. This completes the follow-up process.

    • Click Follow-Ups > Request Follow-Up, add a comment disagreeing with the certifier's action, and click the Request button. This, in effect, restarts the follow-up process.

    Once again, select multiple records only if your comment and action apply all of them. If you do, you won't be able to see the certifier's follow-up response (or any comments other than the one you're creating) for any of the records.

At any point in the follow-up process, an owner or role manager may remove requests to follow up on specific user-role combinations:

  1. Select one or more records of user-role combinations for which a follow-up request has been made.

  2. Click Follow-Ups > Remove Request. A Remove request panel opens.

  3. Add a comment explaining why follow-up is to be discontinued.

  4. Click a Remove button to close the panel.

    For the removed records, follow-up comments remain in comment history, but the follow-up icon disappears from the Follow-Ups column, and the Follow-Up Status column is reset to no value.