Checklists are a data entry method that allows you to respond to a series of questions in a form-filling UI. Users can also review the answered checklist in the same UI. There are two ways to start a checklist: through a configured user action or as a lifecycle state entry action on an object record. Starting a checklist creates a task and assigns it to one or more respondents. To respond to the checklist, the assigned user can open it through a link on the task.
Starting Checklists
Depending on your configuration, you can start a checklist through either a lifecycle state change (with configured entry action) or a user action on the object record. When you start a checklist through a user action, Vault automatically assigns the workflow owner as the checklist respondent.
When starting through an entry action, Vault relies on the entry action configuration to determine the respondents. During configuration, an Admin chooses a role from the object. Any users in that role at the time when the lifecycle state change occurs will see the checklist task as an available task.
Checklist Creation Processing Time
Checklist creation occurs “asynchronously,” meaning that there may be a delay before you see the task and checklist record, particularly on vaults with a lot of activity. Once you start a checklist, Vault puts the action in a queue with other asynchronous tasks. To prevent duplicate checklists, Vault does not allow you to create a new checklist for the same object record during this delay.
Responding to Checklists
You can see any checklists that you need to respond to from Home > My Tasks. If a task is not yet assigned but is available to you, you’ll see it in Home > Available Tasks.
How to Respond
To open and respond to the checklist, click the link within the task description. Each section in the checklist appears as a separate page in the response UI. Respond to each question within a section and click Next when finished. You can return to a previous section using the navigation panel on the left. If your Admin provided guidance for how to answer a question, you can hover over the question to see the question mark icon (?) in the top right corner of the question. Click the question mark icon (?) to display the guidance text.
Checklist responses are saved by batch. This means that some responses may not be immediately available in the audit trail until they are batch saved to the record.
Note: Some questions or multiple choice answers may contain reference images that provide a visual related to the question. Click an image to focus it on screen and view the question or answer as a caption under the image.
How to Add Questions
If configured, you can add questions to a checklist instance on an ad hoc basis. This may be useful if you want to submit responses that are not otherwise captured in the checklist. Click on the Create button and select Question to add a question to the checklist. In the dialog, enter the Question Text. Click Continue to add the question to the end of the section you are currently viewing. Then, enter your response as you would for any other question.
You can click the Pencil icon to edit the question text or the delete icon to remove the question from the checklist.
Note: You cannot add questions to the introduction or review sections of a checklist.
How to Add Documents
Depending on the way a question was configured, you may be allowed or required to attach one or more documents related to your number, text, date, or multiple choice answer. Beginning in 20R1, documents can also be allowed or required based on an answer choice for multiple choice questions when configured by an Admin using the Documents Allowed and Documents Required fields. If attaching documents is allowed when configured by an Admin using the Attachment Allowed (Document) field, the Related Document label appears in the response UI. If attaching documents is required when configured by an Admin using the Attachment Required (Document) field, the Related Document* label appears in the response UI with an asterisk.
To attach one or more related documents, click +Add, then select the appropriate documents. If the question is configured to allow a single document, the Select Document dialog closes after you select a document. If you are allowed or required to select multiple documents, the Select Document dialog remains in view until you select the appropriate number of documents, and then click Close. The selected document or documents displays in the Related Document section.
Note: You cannot add more than 10 documents to a single response.
How to Add Sections
If configured, you can add sections to a checklist instance. Click the Create button and select Section to add a section to the checklist. In the dialog, enter a Name and optional Description. Click Continue to add the section to the end of the checklist instance. From there, you can add new questions to the section.
You can click the Pencil icon to edit the section name and description or the X icon to remove it from the checklist. You can only delete a section you’ve added if there are no questions in it.
How to Create Action Items (QualityOne)
This section applies only to QualityOne Vaults for checklists with a target object that is the following:
- Quality Event object and its object types
- NCR object
- CAR object
- Complaint object
- Continuous Improvement Initiative object
- Change Control object
- HSE Event object
- Material Verification object
Depending on the way a question was configured, you may be allowed or required to create action items related to your number, text, date, or multiple choice answer. If creating action items is allowed when configured by an Admin using the Action Items Allowed field, the Action Items label appears. If creating action items is required when configured by an Admin using the Action Items Required field, the Action Items* label appears with an asterisk. Creating an action item as part of your response creates a record in the Action Item object and automatically associates the action item record with the related Checklist, Checklist Section, and Checklist Response. This allows you to differentiate between action items created as a result of responding to a Quality Event checklist versus creating an Action Item record from the Quality Event record.
If an Admin has configured the Suggested Actions field to provide guidance on the type of action item to create, a question mark appears beside the Action Items label. You can click the question mark to view the hovercard containing the Admin-provided suggestions for creating action items.
To create one or more action items, click +Create, then select the type of action item and click Continue. Provide the details for the action item, and click Save.
How to Complete a Checklist
On the final section, click Review to see a summary of all responses. On the review page, you’ll also see dependent questions that did not appear for you. These will be greyed out. Dependent questions are those that can appear or not, depending on the answer given for another question. If all responses are correct, click Complete to open the Complete Checklist dialog. Provide any required information, and then click Complete. This final step also marks the task as complete.
Reviewing Checklist Responses
You can access a completed checklist from Business Admin > Objects > Checklists (with Business Admin permissions), or from a Related Records section on an object record page. When you click into the checklist, Vault displays the same UI as you use to give responses, but without options for editing responses. You can click through each section using the Next and Back buttons, or jump directly to a specific section using the navigation panel on the left.
If you added any related documents as part of a response to a question, the documents are listed on the review page. You can hover over the link to view a thumbnail for each related document.
Canceling and Deleting Checklists
Depending on the way a checklist was configured and as long as the Checklist is not in the completed lifecycle state, you may be able to cancel a checklist response using the Cancel Workflow user action. After canceling the checklist, you can delete the checklist and its related records by clicking the Actions menu and selecting the Delete action.
Accessing Checklists from Mobile Devices
A mobile-optimized version of the UI allows you to respond to checklists from your mobile device’s web browser. With the few exceptions listed below, you can answer questions, upload attachments, add related Vault documents, review your answers, and complete checklists.
The following types of checklists currently do not support the mobile-optimized view:
- QualityOne:
- Quality Event Checklists
- Audit Checklists
- Quizzes
- Quality:
- Audit Checklists with Findings
Note: This refers to accessing checklists from a mobile web browser. The Vault Mobile app does not currently support checklists.
Known Issue
In some security configurations, the Create button may appear under Checklists on Quality Event records. Vault displays an error when you use this button to create a checklist. To avoid this error, create checklists by selecting the Start Checklist option in the Actions menu.