Creating & Classifying Findings

A finding documents a deviation, observation, or risk identified during an audit. Findings are linked to a specific question response in the audit’s question catalog and can have action items and file attachments.

Creating a Finding

Findings can only be created when an audit is In Progress.

1. Open the audit and navigate to the Question Responses section
2. Open the question response where you identified an issue
3. In the response, choose Add Finding
4. Fill in:
   • Title — brief summary of what was found
   • Category — classifies the finding type (configured in Master Data)
   • Severity (required) — ISO 9001 severity classification (see below); every finding is a deviation by definition, so a severity must always be selected
   • Description — detailed explanation of the finding
   • Root Cause — analysis of why the deviation occurred
   • Audit Criteria — the specific norm clause or internal procedure the finding relates to, selected from the Audit Criteria master data (see Audit Criteria); if the underlying question already has an Audit Criteria set, this is pre-filled automatically but can be changed
   • Responsible Person — person accountable for addressing this finding
   • Due Date — deadline for resolution

Finding Severity (ISO 9001:2015)

A finding is by definition a deviation, so qportal uses an ISO 9001-aligned three-level severity classification:

Severity	Meaning
Observation	Minor issue or improvement potential; not yet a nonconformity
Minor Nonconformity	Isolated failure to meet a requirement; limited impact
Major Nonconformity	Systematic failure to meet a requirement; significant impact on the quality system

If a question response is fully conformant, no finding is created for it in the first place — see Conducting Fieldwork for how question responses are classified.

The severity is separate from finding categories — your Master Data Admin configures categories as an additional classification layer (e.g. Process, Documentation, Infrastructure).

Attachments

You can attach evidence files (photos, documents, records) directly to a finding using the Attachments section. These serve as audit evidence for the identified deviation.

Assigning Action Items

From a finding, you can create action items to track corrective measures:

1. In the finding, open the Action Items tab
2. Choose Create Action Item
3. Fill in the title, responsible person, due date, and optionally a description and priority

The action item appears in the Action Items module for the assigned person.

Starting a Root Cause Analysis

An action item fixes what went wrong; a root cause analysis works out why it happened. Choose Start Root-Cause Analysis in the finding’s header to open a structured analysis directly from the finding:

1. Pick the method — 5-Why for a quick linear investigation, 8D for a full team process (see choosing between them)
2. Give the analysis a title and, optionally, a description of what needs to be explained
3. Choose OK — qportal creates the analysis and takes you straight into it

The finding keeps a link to every analysis started from it, in its Root-Cause Analyses section:

Starting an analysis is not mandatory, but when you move a finding to In Progress without one, qportal reminds you — ISO 9001:2015 (10.2.1 b) expects the cause to be evaluated, not just the symptom fixed. The reminder is a note, not a block.

Next Steps

• Finding Lifecycle — status flow from Open to Archived
• Findings Overview — monitor findings across all audits
• Root Cause Analysis — investigate why a finding happened