Entry Manager
- Christopher Rushing (Unlicensed)
Contents
Overview
All of the work put into creating a form would be useless without the ability to review and interact with the data that users enter into the form. An Entry is the term ITAM uses to refer to data a user has entered on a form. The Entry Manager is the tool ITAM provides to allow you to see the data entered as well as import, export, or delete entries, review entries, update statuses, edit entries and interact with users
In this section we will cover how to work with the Entry Manager to select an entry to review and the various options available when looking at a particular entry.
Accessing the Entry Manager
To access the Entry Manager select a Form from the Forms List in the Form Manager and then select the View button on the advanced options above the form entry.
The main page of the Entry Manager consists of multiple sections. There is a main table that displays all the records of your entries. Depending one the data in each entries, the table will display the Entity, the Template Document (if any are associated), an option to enter audit mode and the date the record was created.
On the top left of the table, options to Delete, Export, or Import From Computer entries are provided. On the top right of the table, there are options to let you filter users and display selected fields. On the bottom right of the table, a drop-down menu to sort your entries by any fields is available.
On the lower half of the page is a list of Administrators, Examiners and Portal Users with access to the form with which the entries are associated. At the bottom of the page is some metadata about the form including Created Date, the Administrator who created the form (Created By), total Completed and Incomplete entries, and the time since the last Entry.
Managing Entries
The Entry Manager comes with some features for filtering and organizing the entries to allow for precise control of the data displayed, allowing you to quickly access and view the desired data.
Filtering Entries
The filter entries feature is one of the most powerful functionalities of the IT Audit Machine and is designed to help you find a specific entry on a form. You can filter entries based on one or more conditions. Click on the Filter Entries link on top of the entries and the Filter Builder will be displayed. Select the field to use as the filter from the drop-down, select a logic option, and define the comparison value.
Note: the Filter Users tool filters the entries on a form and not the “users” with access to the form denoted below the entries.
Filter Builder
Add more conditions by clicking the plus icon on the right. After defining all the necessary filters, click the Apply Filter button. All entries matching the defined filters will be displayed. Note that by default IT Audit Machine will “remember” the last filter applied to a specific form even when the user logs out of ITAM.
To edit an existing filter click the Edit link in the Display filtered entries pane. To remove a filter set click the Clear Filter link in the Display filtered entries pane.
Note that neither applying a filter nor the clearing filter removes the data from the database. Filters only affect the entries selected for display and/or export.
Displaying Selected Fields
The field column space on the Entry Manager display is limited. Depending on the form and your needs, it may be necessary to modify the fields that are displayed to restrict the view to only the most important fields.
Click the Select Fields button on the top right corner of the entries list to display a list of the fields in the form. Select the fields to be displayed and then click Apply and the display will be updated to show the selected fields.
Exporting Entries
IT Audit Machine allows the export of all of the form entries to an Excel, CSV, or tab-separated text file. Simply filter and select the entries to be exported and then click the Export button located at the top-left of the Entry Manager list. If no entries are explicitly selected, ITAM will export all of the entries applying any defined filters.
Importing Entries
Previously exported entries can be imported as a ZIP file of data. Clicking on the Import From Computer button in the Entry Manager will open a dialog on your computer to select the file for import. Select the file you wish to import and click Open to import.
Deleting Entries
Entries can be removed from a form using the Delete button in the Entry Manager. Select one or more entries from the list and click the Delete button.
Audit Mode
An entry can be set in Audit mode via a toggle button visible on the list of entries on the dashboard. Audit mode places that specific entry on the form in a read-only state where no regular users can edit the entry. This is frequently used for a final QA Review prior to completing the Audit process, but can be used prior to temporarily freeze the state of the entry so it can be reviewed.
Entry Detail
Once a form has been submitted, it is important to review it to make sure the data entered is correct and sufficient. This will require that you view the data and possibly interact with the user who entered it to update it or fix any deficiencies. Most of that work is accomplished via the Entry Detail screens.
The Entry Detail screens have three main areas for you to interact with the entry. At the top of each page is a bread crumb trail showing the ID of the current entry and providing navigation back to the related form and the Entry Manager for that form.
Additional navigation and management functions are also available in a side pane that allows you to move between different views of the current entry’s data as well as different entries. The actions displayed as you work with the entry using the various capabilities will change based on the context of the functionality you are currently working within.
View Entry
To view the detailed information on an entry, click the row in the entry list on the main page of the Entry Manager.
Note while working within an entry there will sometimes be a Back to Details or a View button available which will also take you back to this page.
In addition to the standard bread crumb navigation, on the top right is a tool that can be used to move the data to another Portal Entity.
Below those options is a graphical display of the Status, Risk, and Maturity Scores.
Note that the Status score chart displays the total number of data points in the entry in the middle of the circle as well as the number in each status in the ring around the graph.
Below the scores are the details about the data in the specific entry. Most of these can be edited using the Edit Field link provided.
There is also a View History link, which allows an admin to view the changes on that field over time and even rollback to a previous value.
The bottom of the Data Detail screen contains metadata information for the entry such as the creation date/time, user, and IP address are displayed at the bottom of the page along with a graphical representation of the status timeline showing changes in the score and maturity values over time.
Navigating Entries
As an alternative to opening each entry from the Entry Manager, once an administrative user opens an entry, the user can iterate through the other entries using the forward and back buttons provided.
Editing an Entry
When viewing the details of an entry, you may edit the entry by clicking the Edit link on the top right corner of that page. Placing the entry in edit mode allows edit access to all pages of a multiple page form.
The Date Updated field will be updated each time the entry is updated.
If an entry is locked by a user, the edit options will be redirected to the view page and a notification will be displayed indicated who locked the form and the date. A button will be available to unlock the form if the user is certain that the locking user is no longer modifying the form.
Clicking the Unlock button will discard any unsaved changes made by the locking user.
It is also important to remember that forms submitted via the Admin Portal will generate a new database record that may be viewed within the Admin View function whereas the User Portal is more collaborative based and a single database entry will be made and updated with each form submission for as long as the User is subscribed to that specific form.
The reason for these two unique form-submission behaviors is to offer a collaborative experience to groups updating a single form with the User Portal and individual assessments by administrators from the Admin Portal form viewer.
Note there are links on various pages that will bring you to the Edit form as well. Many of those will not only take you to the Edit Entry page but also to a specific field on the Form.
Forward an Entry (Email)
Forwarding or re-sending an entry to one or more email accounts is as easy as clicking the Email Entry Data link on the View Entry page. If sending to multiple email addresses, separate each entry with a comma.
View Status
The View Status button in the Entry Manager takes a user to the Status Overview page. The Status Overview page provides an accordion view of the possible statuses with a count of how many controls are currently in each status for the Entry being viewed.
Clicking on one of the Status Tiers expands the view of the Tier and allows the Administrative User to view the Controls which are currently assigned that status. The Go To Field links for each field can be used to navigate directly to the field on the form being reviewed.
Status Indicators can be updated anywhere they are visible. See the Form Status Indicators page for more information on how to work with status indicators.
Print Entry
The Print Entry Data button engages your system's built-in print capability to print the Entry.
Generate PDF
The Export to PDF button generates a PDF of the current Entry and initiates a download to your system.
Generate CSV
The Export Status To CSV button generates a Comma Separated Variable (CSV) file containing the data from the current Entry. This file can be used to open up the data in a Spreadsheet program or to import the data into another database.
Generate Document
The Generate Document uses an associated template to generate a Word or Excel document from the data. To find out more about templates see the section on the Template Manager.
Delete Entry
Selecting the Delete Entry Data button will delete the current Entry.
In this topic we reviewed the capabilities of the Entry Manager and how the tool allow you to view and work with the data entered into a form. In the next section we will look at Form Status Indicators and how to update the status of a field in the Manager.
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