Audit Lifecycle

Every audit in qportal moves through a defined set of statuses. Only certain transitions are allowed, ensuring data integrity and a clear audit trail.

Status Flow

Draft ──► Planned ──► In Progress ──► Completed ──► Findings Published
  │          │              │
  ▼          └──────────────┴──► (Reopen → back to Draft)
Cancelled
(from Draft or Planned only)

Allowed Transitions

Action	From Status	To Status	Who
Plan	Draft	Planned	Audit Manager
Start	Planned	In Progress	Audit Manager
Complete	In Progress	Completed	Audit Manager
Publish Findings	Completed	Findings Published	Audit Manager
Reopen	Planned, In Progress, or Findings Published	Draft	Audit Manager
Cancel	Draft or Planned	Cancelled	Audit Manager

Note: Cancelled audits cannot be reopened. If an audit was cancelled by mistake, create a new one.

What Changes at Each Step

Draft → Planned

• The audit is officially scheduled
• Team assignments and question catalog should be finalised before this step

Planned → In Progress

• Fieldwork can begin: auditors can now record question responses
• Findings can be created

In Progress → Completed

• Fieldwork is concluded; question responses are locked
• Findings remain editable during Completed — this is the review stage, where findings can still be adjusted before publication (see Finding Lifecycle)
• Action items remain open and active

Completed → Findings Published

• Findings are formally published to stakeholders
• This is the final status for the audit content itself

Reopen (any → Draft)

• Returns the audit to Draft for corrections
• Previously locked data becomes editable again
• Use sparingly — intended for corrections, not routine edits

What You Can Edit at Each Step

Which header fields you can change depends on the audit’s current status — this keeps earlier planning decisions traceable once fieldwork has started.

Field(s)	Editable until
Audit number, Audit Type, Question Catalog	Draft only — these define the audit and shouldn’t change once responses exist
Title, Organizational Unit, Location, Audited Partner, Planned Start/End Date	Planned
Lead Auditor, Scope, Objective, Criteria	In Progress
Actual Start/End Date	In Progress
Opening Meeting Date, Closing Meeting Date	Completed
Everything else	Read-only from Completed onward

If you try to change a field outside its editable window, the save fails with a message naming the field and the current status. If you need to correct something after the window has closed, use Reopen (see below) rather than working around it.

Who can edit, not just when

The table above governs which fields are open at each stage — but who can use that window differs by role. Audit Manager can make direct edits to an audit record at any stage shown in the table. Auditor’s direct edits are limited to while the audit is In Progress — the fieldwork window — regardless of which fields would otherwise be open at other stages (e.g. an Auditor cannot edit the Title while the audit is still Planned, even though the field itself is open for editing at that stage). Outside In Progress, an Auditor can still trigger status-transition actions they’re permitted for (Start, Complete, Reopen, …), and can read the audit at any status — but for direct field edits at other stages, only Audit Manager can make the change.

Audit Team Locking

The audit team (team members and their roles) can still be changed while the audit is Draft, Planned, or In Progress — by convention, finalise it before fieldwork starts, but the system doesn’t hard-block edits until then. It becomes read-only once the audit reaches Completed (and stays locked through Findings Published/Cancelled) — team composition shouldn’t change retroactively once fieldwork has concluded. See Audit Team & Roles for how to assign team members.

Deleting an Audit

An audit can only be deleted while it’s in Draft or Planned status. Once it has moved to In Progress or beyond, delete is disabled — use Reopen if it needs correction instead.

Recording the Opening & Closing Meeting

Good audit practice calls for a documented opening meeting at the start of fieldwork and a closing meeting once fieldwork concludes, where findings are presented to the audited area. The audit object page has an Opening Meeting Date and a Closing Meeting Date field for recording when these took place.

• Both fields are optional and don’t gate or block any status transition; editable through Completed (see “What You Can Edit at Each Step” above)
• Fill in the Opening Meeting Date once the kickoff discussion with the audited area has happened, typically around the time the audit moves to In Progress
• Fill in the Closing Meeting Date once findings have been discussed with the audited area, typically before or around Complete

Tips

• Use the Reschedule action to adjust planned start/end dates without changing the status (useful for drag-and-drop rescheduling in planning views)
• The audit number (auditNo) is a free-text field you can use to reference external audit plans or numbering schemes