Tasks and issues

Everything in Verity eventually becomes work somebody has to do: collect this evidence, review that access list, fix the finding, update the policy. Tasks is where that work is assigned, tracked and closed. This page shows you how to raise, work and close a task.

Demonstration workspace

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The tasks and issues register, with filters for kind, status, priority, category and assignee, and a selected task's summary open beside the list

Tasks and issues#

Two kinds share one register. Use All, Tasks or Issues above the list to choose which you see.

• A task is planned work. It has an owner and a due date.
• An issue is something that went wrong. It carries a severity, and it can hold corrective and preventive actions underneath it.

The difference matters for an auditor: issues show that when something broke, you noticed, acted, and can show the actions you took. See Corrective actions on an issue.

States#

1. 1OpenRaised, not started
2. 2In progressBeing worked
3. 3BlockedWaiting on something outside the owner's control
4. 4Under reviewDone in the owner's view, waiting on a check
5. 5ClosedFinished
6. 6CancelledDropped on purpose, with a reason

1. 1OpenRaised, not started
2. 2In progressBeing worked
3. 3BlockedWaiting on something outside the owner's control
4. 4Under reviewDone in the owner's view, waiting on a check
5. 5ClosedFinished
6. 6CancelledDropped on purpose, with a reason

Raise and assign a task#

1. Start a new task

   Go to Tasks, choose New task, then choose Task. To record something that went wrong, choose Issue instead.

2. Say what done looks like

   Give it a title that says what done looks like: "Collect the Q3 access review sign-off from IT" rather than "access review".

3. Choose a category and priority

   Choose a Category (security, privacy, operations, data, regulatory, vendor or other) and a Priority.

4. Set the owner and assignees

   Set the Owner, who is accountable, and the Assignees, who do the work. They are often the same person.

5. Set a due date

   Set a Due date. If the work falls under a service level, choose its SLA level too. See Service levels and approvals.

6. Create it

   Choose Create. The assignees are notified.

Work and close a task#

1. Open the task

   Open the task from the register or from your notifications.

2. Start it

   Choose Start in the header to move it to In progress. Other moves, such as Block and Cancel, are in the Actions menu.

3. Keep the conversation in one place

   Use the Comments tab. Comments are part of the record.

4. Send it for review

   When the work is done, choose Send for review to move it to Under review.

5. Close it

   Once the work has been checked, choose Close and record how it was resolved. The note goes on the permanent history.

Every transition is recorded with the person and time on the Activity tab. Cancelling also asks for a reason, and the record is kept: nothing is deleted.

If the work produced proof for a control, add it as evidence and attach it to that control.

Demonstration workspace

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A task's detail page showing its code, kind and category, its status, priority, service level, owner and due date, and tabs for sub-tasks, related records, comments and activity

Break work down and see what it relates to#

• Sub-tasks break a large task into steps that can be assigned separately. On the Sub-tasks tab, type a title and press Enter. Each sub-task opens as a task of its own.
• Related shows what this task is attached to: the control, the finding, the vendor or the document that caused it. It also shows whether the task was raised by hand or promoted from a corrective action.

For service levels, approvals and corrective actions, see Service levels and approvals.