See Documentation for Secure Workflow in SMS Pro

This 6 minute video walks you through the entire process of the Secure Workflow, including submitting ASAP reports, transmitting the reports to ASRS, and managing events in SMS Pro. The accompanying help script is shown below, if you prefer to read instead of watch.

What is Secure Workflow and ASAP

Click the diagrams below to download larger version:

The secure workflow basically adds an intermediary step between issue reporting and issue management for reporting forms that you flag as being potentially sensitive, such as ASAP reports.

Note: "Secure Workflow" does not mean you have to participate in ASAP to use the Secure Workflow process, however for the purpose of these training materials we will assume the both ASAP and Secure Workflow are being used.

With secure workflow enabled, configured report types will always be initially routed to the secure workflow module, where they will then be:

reviewed,
desensitized,
organized, and
manually released to the issue manager for processing.

Also, ASAP reports will automatically be forwarded to NASA's ASRS if configured.

Only users configured with the SMSSecureWorkflowAdmin role will be able to desensitize (and version) issues in the secure workflow module.

How to Use Secure Workflow and ASAP

Turning on Secure Workflow

There are two steps to turn on ASAP and secure workflow.

You turn on secure workflow in Setup >> Customize Settings module, under the Company Info tab. There is a setting for Use Secure Workflow for Issue Reporting. Checking it will enable the secure workflow, and you will need to make sure that it is visible under the Risk Management navigation dropdown. If the menu item is not visible, have your main SMSAdmin contact tech support.

Flagging Reporting Forms for ASAP

Next, you need to flag which reporting form or forms will be used for ASAP.

To mark a form as ASAP, you first need to tell us which forms you want to use for the Secure Workflow, at which point we will configure the form to be ASAP ready. Then, in Customize Settings >> Issue Report Types go to the Setup Emails and Secure Workflow section. Once your ASAP reports have been configured, you can check the checkbox under Use Secure Workflow for desired reports. Checked reports are now flagged for ASAP Secure Workflow. If you don’t see your report listed in this section, make sure it is a current Report Type to Show in the Issue Reports Setup section.

Only forms marked for secure workflow will be considered ASAP reports – these reports will go directly to the Secure Workflow module for processing; all other reports will not be processed through the secure workflow, they will go straight to issue manager.

ASRS Reporting (Needs to be Engabled By SMS Pro Technical Suppport)

Once enabled, submitted reports marked as secure workflow, or ASAP, will automatically be sent to ASRS once per day at 11:30 pacific time. You don’t need to do anything, it works like this:

User submits reports that is flagged as use secure workflow, or ASAP;
At end of day, each submitted ASAP report will be automatically sent to ASRS
Each ASRS report will also include the reporter’s contact info and address found in their profile, so its very important that they have this information updated;
Each day, admin users will receive a confirmation email saying how many reports were submitted to ASRS, which they will need to verify against the total number of secure workflow reports from the day before.

Once again, it’s very important that all employees click on their name in the upper right hand corner of SMS Pro, then click Edit Profile, and ensure that first name, last name, address details, and contact information is fully filled out. ASRS will send a receipt to the reporter based on this information.

Viewing Secure Workflow Issues

Once reports have been flagged for secure workflow, they will always need to be processed there before being sent to the issue manager. You will need to also ensure that applicable users have the SMSSecureWorkflowAdmin role, or they will not have access to the module.

As issues appear in this module, you can:

Desensitize the submitted report and release it by clicking View Details;
See basic details about the report; and
See whether or not it has been processed and released to the issue manager.

This list is filterable by using the filter boxes, just as many other modules.

Desensitize Issues

Desensitizing and releasing issues is quite straightforward. Basically, you have the ability to edit any aspect of the submitted report. So you can go through and change, omit, or add any information you would like to best suite the transparency practices your organization.

At any time, you can save your changes and come back later to make more changes, by clicking the Save button at the bottom of the page.

Release Issues

Releasing issues happens in two steps. When you have made the changes you want, click “Ready to Release for Safety Committee Review.”

Next, you can either cancel, and go back to editing, or if you would like to release it to the Issue Manager, pick the Safety Committee, and assign the manager who will be responsible for the issue and then click Release for Safety Committee Review.

Managing Events

What are Events?

Those who are already familiar with WBAT or ASAP will be familiar with managing Events. If you are using ASAP, we suggest you manage Event rather than manage issues. What’s the difference? Let’s say an issue occurs and 4 different people submit a hazard report.

Managing issues means investigating and managing each report, or simply deleting or merging all duplicate events to manage one report.

Managing events involves tying all reports from the same event together to a single report. This way:

no reports are deleted,
employees have access to the original report and can still communicate with managers regarding progress of the issue,
management can manage a single event with access to each individual report

Let’s briefly look at how events work.

Workflow Manage an Event Instead of Multiple Reports

So let’s say we have 4 reports that were submitted about the same event. Instead of deleting or merging them so that we are left with a single report, we will centralize them into the same event.

First, choose which report will act as your event "placeholder" - usually this will be the first report you receive of a particular event
As you receive other reports, ask yourself, "Is this describing an event that has already been reported?"
For each other report that describes the same event as your event "placeholder", go to its Assess tab, select your event "placeholder" report under the Merge this Event section, and click Merge event;
Now go back to your main event’s Assess tab, and you will see each report listed for this event;
You can view all original reports by clicking on them; and
Reporters will only have access to the original report they submitted, and not the parent event, so you can update each reporter by leaving comments in their original report.

Now you manage the entire event, have access to all reports of that event, and keep all relevant parties in the communication loop.

Video and Documentation for Secure Workflow, ASAP, ASRS, and Events in SMS Pro