Conducting a Third-Party Audit

As of May 2020, Simplifya's Audits module gives advanced auditing functionality, including the ability to mute questions, a condensed question view for quicker auditing, and the ability to re-order questions.

To skip ahead:

• Question Tree
  • Question tree views: "Category" vs "List"
  • Icons in the question tree
• Question View
  • Question views: "Full" vs "Condensed"
  • Components of the question view

Selecting your device: Computer vs. iOS app

First, you'll need to decide how you want to conduct the audit. You have a few options:

1. Use a Computer to Conduct the Audit:
   Log into your account on a computer or tablet and go to the Manage Audits module. Find the audit you'd like to conduct, click on it, and then click the "Conduct Audit Now" button. You must be connected to the internet during the audit. The same steps can be taken when using a web browser (e.g. Chrome) on a mobile device.
   
   
2. Use the Simplifya iOS App the Conduct the Audit:
   Download the Simplifya iOS app on an iPhone or iPad. Upon logging in, you'll see all Pending audits that have been assigned to you. 
   Note: When conducting an audit on the iOS app, you'll need to be connected to wi-fi to log in and download the audit questions to your device, but you do NOT need to be connected to wi-fi during the audit. Once you've answered all the questions and are connected to the internet again, you can sync the audit to Simplifya's database. This transfers all the audit question data (answers, notes, pictures) to the web.

If you're not sure how you want to conduct the audit, check out this article that explains the benefits of using the iOS app to conduct an audit. 

Conducting the Audit

Once you've decided how you want to conduct the audit, the next step is to log in, open the audit, and start answering questions!

Navigating to your audit

You can view and conduct your audits through the "Audits" sub-module. To conduct an audit:

1. Click the hamburger menu icon in the top right of the screen.
2. In the slide-in navigation, select "Audits", and then "Audits".
3. On the "Audits" tab, find the audit your looking for (you can filter by audit number, location, etc.) and click the ellipses menu  .
4. In the pop-up menu, click "Conduct Audit".

Exploring the "Conduct Audit" interface

Once the audit is opened, you'll see:

• The question tree. Aka, the left-hand pane with the list of question categories. Every facility is laid out differently and every auditor has different preferences on the order of how they'd like to conduct the audit, so we've categorized the audit questions and allow the auditor to jump around from question to question.
• The question view. The question view contains all the parts of the questions, including the answer buttons.

Question Tree

Question tree views: "Category" vs "List"

When conducting an audit, you can click the  icon to toggle back and forth between two views:

• Category view. The category view displays questions grouped by category. Every Simplifya and custom question is required to have a category. When Question Groups are in use, any questions in a Question Group will display under the group name, and not the category.
• List view. The list view displays all question titles in one continuous list. As such, it offers the maximum flexibility when re-order your questions.

Icons in the question tree

In addition to being a table of contents for the questions in your audit, the question tree also shows:

• Answered questions. Once a question has been answered, you'll see a checkmark next to the question in the category list. Once all questions in a category have been answered, you'll see a checkmark next to the category name in the category list.
• Muted questions. The question tree denotes questions you've muted with the  icon. Muted questions don't have to be answered to complete your audit.
• Questions with auditor notes. Questions where the auditor has added a note are denoted with the  icon.
• Questions with attachments. Questions where an attachment has been added (e.g. a document or photo) are denoted with the  icon.

For audits using custom questions, the question tree displays the "Question Title" added to custom questions. 

Child questions

The question tree also shows the relationship between questions and child questions. As in the screenshot above, any child questions are indented to the right.

Some Simplifya audit questions have child questions, or a question that only shows based on another question's answer.

For example, a Colorado audit might ask: "Do you have a valid state license from the State of Colorado to engage in your specific type of commercial cannabis activities?"

• If the question is answered "Yes", a follow-up child question could be asked: "Do you ever conduct any commercial cannabis activity that was not granted under the state licensing authority?"
• If the question is answered "No", a follow-up child question won't be asked. This is because no follow-up is required if you don't have a valid state license.

Question View

Question views: "Full" vs "Condensed"

When conducting an audit, you can toggle back and forth between the "Full Question View" and the "Condensed Question View":

• Full Question View. The full question view shows one question at a time, and includes all details of a question. See Components of the question view for an explanation of question details.
• Condensed Question View. The condensed question view shows all questions in a category. Each question is collapsed (showing only the question answers), but can be expanded to show all the components of the question.

Components of the question view

The question includes the following components:

• Question and references. This includes the question content, as well as the citations it references and the business licenses its relevant to.
• Answer choices. As you go through the audit, you'll answer the questions in one of three ways: "Yes", "No", or "Pending" (in some states, a fourth option is available). You can change answers when reviewing the audit answers later.
• Mute icon. Muting a question means that question doesn't need to be answered to complete your audit.
• Flag icon. Flag a question if you think there's an issue with a question. For more on flagging questions, see: Reporting an Issue With An Audit Question.
• Risk: Assign a risk ("High", "Medium", "Low") to questions in order to identify the most important remediation items in your reports. This will be visible to the Licensed Operator in their audit report.
• Previous and next buttons. The previous and next buttons allow you to navigate sequentially through your audit questions. "Previous" and "Next" are only available in the "Full Question View".
• Auditor notes and attachments. During the audit, you can add notes, documents, and pictures to any question. Think of these as references for review later, or a way to provide proof of why a question was answered a certain way.
• Activity Log. The activity log shows the history of actions on a question including selected answers and documents added.

Answering "Yes" doesn't necessarily mean compliant and "No" doesn't automatically mean non-compliant. Our questions are written as needed to best reflect the regulations.

 

Completing the Audit

Once all questions have been answered, click/tap the "Complete Audit" button to move to the next step, which is to review your audit answers.

If you're using a computer to conduct the audit: Clicking the "Complete Audit" button will take you right into the review stage. 

If you're using the iOS app to conduct the audit: Tapping the "Complete Audit" button will prompt you to sync your audit. Syncing the audit is how the audit data (questions, answers, photos, notes) gets transferred from the iPhone/iPad to Simplifya's database. In order to sync your audit, you must be connected to the internet. Once the audit has been synced, log into your Simplifya account on a computer to review your audit answers. 

Next: Reviewing and Finalizing a Third-Party Audit