Review, revise, and finalize reports

This topic explains how reports move through review, revision, and finalization workflows. These workflows include supervisor review, revising rejected reports, Records review and final approval. Additionally, once a report is finalized, users with specific privileges can revert it as necessary.

Supervisor review

When a supervisor reviews a report, they must review the contributions of each user who contributed to the report (if multiple users contributed to the report) before submitting the report to the Records department for finalization.

To review a report:

  1. Find the report to review:
    • If you are already assigned as the reviewer, the task appears in your My Tasks inbox.
    • If you are in another inbox, use the filters to find the task. If you are not yet assigned as the report reviewer, before beginning your review, you must assign yourself using the assign/reassign buttons on the task inbox or in the Report Writer footer.
    • If the report contains multiple contributions, you can choose to review all contributions that have been submitted for review or a single contribution.
      • The original contributor or other users can take over and edit contributions that are submitted for supervisor review. However, once a reviewer is assigned to review the contribution, it can no longer be edited.
        The image shows two task inboxes for reviewing reports. In the top Supervisor Tasks inbox, several tasks are listed with options to start or continue the review process. Yellow highlights emphasize key actions, such as Continue Review, Start Review. In the bottom My Tasks inbox, a specific report link is highlighted, indicating that the report can be opened and reviewed.
  2. If the report has multiple contributors, use the drop-down menu at the top of the navigation menu to select a contributor. You can also review all contributions by selecting Full report.
    • When viewing the full report, each section is labeled with the initials of the person who contributed it.
    • If the report has a single contributor, the drop-down menu does not appear.
      The image shows the Report Writer interface displaying a report under review. A dropdown menu, highlighted in yellow, allows the selection of different report views for each of the report contributors, including Full Report. The left panel lists report sections such as Names, Vehicles, Property, and Narratives, while the right panel provides an Incident Overview with key details like report purpose, incident date, and zip code.
  3. Review the report, adding comments as needed using the sidebar.
    • The comment is added to the section of the report you are currently viewing and will only appear when that section is open. Be sure to select the section of the report the comment applies to before you create it to ensure it is associated correctly.
  4. Users with the appropriate privileges can also edit a report while reviewing it by using the Review and edit option from the More actions [...] menu. This option is only available if the report is assigned to you for review.
    • Being able to edit a report during the review process allows reviewers to make necessary changes without the inefficiency of sending the report back to the original author.
    • When editing another user's contribution, a gray banner appears at the top of the report stating: "You are making changes on behalf of the user."
    • You can make changes to any part of the report, and the changes will automatically save.
  5. While reviewing the report, select the arrow in the top left to reveal a list of all reports included in that incident. Select a report name to open that report.
    The image shows Report Writer with a report review in progress. The yellow highlight emphasizes a dropdown menu in the top left corner that lists multiple reports related to the same incident and a popup displaying details of all associated reports.
  6. When you are finished with your review, select Approve or Reject in the Report Writer footer.
    The image shows the Report Writer interface. The left panel contains report sections, while the main panel displays the Incident Overview section. The yellow highlights emphasize the comment and activity icons in the top right corner and the Reject and Approve buttons at the bottom right, allowing the reviewer to take action on the report.
  7. Add a routing note and mark if the task is urgent (as applicable.)
  8. Select either Reject to send the report back to the contributor for revision or Approve to send to the Records Tasks inbox for finalization.

If the report has multiple contributions you want to approve:

  1. Use the drop-down menu at the top of the navigation menu to view the full report.
  2. Select Approve All My Assigned Contributions in the Report Writer footer.
  3. Each approved contribution is listed on the Routing screen.
    The image shows two sceenshots. In the top image, Report Writer is shown with the Full Report dropdown and the Approve All My Assigned Contributions button highlighted. The bottom image displays the routing screen that lists contributors whose work will be approved.

If the report has multiple contributions, and you need to reject one or more, take these steps:

  1. Use the drop-down menu at the top of the navigation menu to view a specific contribution.
  2. Select Reject in the Report Writer footer.
  3. Add a routing note, mark if the task is urgent (if needed) and select Reject to send the report back to the author for revision.
  4. After rejecting the contribution, you'll return to the report where you can reject another contribution from the report menu or approve all remaining contributions.

This video provides an overview of collaborative editing for supervisors.

Revise reports

If a report you submitted is rejected by a reviewer, a Revise task is added to your My Tasks inbox.

You can add additional offenses, names, vehicles, property, narratives, and files when revising a report.You can also edit any information that already appears in the report (except for narratives submitted by other users).

After making all requested changes, select Submit to send the report back for a rereview.
Shows how to revise and resubmit a report.

Note

You cannot edit (take over) a report section that was written by another contributor if that section is currently assigned to a supervisor for review. You can edit report sections you own until you submit them for review, even if other report sections written by other contributors are currently undergoing review.

Records review

Once all contributions to a report have been approved by the appropriate supervisors, a single task appears in the Records Tasks inbox to be approved and finalized or rejected and sent back for revision.

To perform a review:

  1. Find the report to review:
    • If you are already assigned as the reviewer, the task appears in your My Tasks inbox.
    • If you are in the Records Tasks inbox, you must first assign yourself to the task by selecting Assign in the Assignee column. The task will move to your My Tasks inbox (as well as to the Assigned tab of the Records Tasks inbox) where you can open the report to review.
      The image shows a Records Tasks inbox with a list of unassigned tasks. The highlighted yellow box emphasizes the Assign button in the Assignee column for one of the tasks. Each row in the inbox includes task details such as date created, author, last approved by, and status.
  2. If the report has multiple contributors, use the drop-down menu at the top of the navigation menu to select a contributor. You can also review all contributions by selecting Full report.
    • When viewing the full report, each section is labeled with the initials of the person who contributed it.
    • If the report has a single contributor, the drop-down menu does not appear.
      The image shows the Report Writer interface displaying a report under review. A dropdown menu, highlighted in yellow, allows the selection of different report views for each of the report contributors, including Full Report. The left panel lists report sections such as Names, Vehicles, Property, and Narratives, while the right panel provides an Incident Overview with key details like report purpose, incident date, and zip code.
  3. Review the report, adding comments as needed using the sidebar.
    • The comment is added to the section of the report you are currently viewing and will only appear when that section is open. Be sure to select the section of the report the comment applies to before you create it to ensure it is associated correctly.
  4. Users with the appropriate privileges can also edit a report while reviewing it by using the Review and edit option from the More actions [...] menu. This option is only available if the report is assigned to you for review.
    • Being able to edit a report during the review process allows reviewers to make necessary changes without the inefficiency of sending the report back to the original author.
    • When editing another user's report, a gray banner at the top of the report indicates that "You are making changes on behalf of the user".
    • You can make changes to any part of the report, and the changes will automatically save.
  5. While reviewing the report, select the arrow in the top left to reveal a list of all reports included in that incident.
    • Select a report name to open that report.
    • Reports from related incidents are not included in this list.
    • Select All reports to see more information about each report, including:
      • Status (In Progress includes reports that are currently in Supervisor Review)
      • Author
      • Assignee
    • Use the checkboxes beside the reports in Records Review to bulk-assign those reports to yourself, or bulk-approve reports.
      The image shows an incident report with multiple highlighted elements. The top left highlight emphasizes a dropdown menu listing different reports associated with the incident. The lower section displays a pop-up window listing reports under the same incident, categorized by status, with checkboxes for selection. At the bottom, there are options to assign, approve, or reject the selected reports.
  6. When you are finished with your review, select Approve or Reject in the report footer.
  7. If you are rejecting a report that was written by multiple people, you must select which contribution(s) to reject, then select Continue.
    • If a report is approved and finalized, users with the appropriate privileges can later revert the finalization as necessary.
      The image shows a Reject Report dialog box where users can select contributors to reject a report to. It includes a list of contributors with checkboxes next to their names and associated details. At the bottom, there is a Continue button that is currently inactive.
  8. Add a routing note, mark if the task is urgent (if needed), and select either Reject to send the report back for revision or Approve to finalize the report.

This video provides an overview of collaborative editing for records clerks.

Revert finalized reports

After a report has been finalized, users with the appropriate privileges can revert the finalization. When this occurs, the report is returned to a Review state where it can again be reviewed and rejected for revisions as necessary.

To revert the finalization of a report:

  1. Select Revert finalization from one of two locations:
    • The More actions [...] menu of the report
    • The More actions [...] menu for the report on the Recently completed tab of the Agency Tasks inbox
  2. Assign who the report should be reviewed by.
  3. Add a note (required).
  4. Select Revert finalize.

When a report finalization is reverted, the report history shows when the finalization was reverted and who reverted it.

Revert finalized incident reports

When reverting a finalized incident report that contains multiple supplements, only the latest supplement is reverted. The previous supplements remain finalized, and none of the changes made to the reverted supplement are reflected in the previous supplements.

If an incident contains both an Incident Report and Narrative Only reports, you can revert finalize each of the Narrative Only reports individually. Narrative Only reports are different from incident report supplements and are independent of one another.

For example, the table below shows the reports contained in Incident ID 12345. The second column indicates which reports can be reverted.

Report ID

Can be reverted?

Incident Report 12345-01

No

Supplement 12345-02

No

Supplement 12345-03

No

Narrative Only 12345-04

Yes

Supplement 12345-05

Yes

Narrative Only 12345-06

Yes