12.0 Key Dates methodology release notes
Who is this article for?Users who want to know more about the 12.0 Key dates methodology.
No elevated permissions are required.
Explore the latest enhancements to the Audit Management module, which include several alterations improving performance assessment against scheduled activities. Users can now define "sets" of Key Dates for different audit types, benefiting from enhanced date limit controls, exclusion of public holidays in variance calculations, and the ability to configure custom variances.
1. Overview
Several alterations have been made to this fundamental aspect of the Audit Management module, facilitating the assessment of performance against scheduled or planned activities. Users can now define "sets" of Key Dates for various audit types, benefiting from improved date limit controls and editability, exclusion of public holidays in variance calculations, and the ability to configure custom variances.
Important: Access to the new methodology section is managed through system permissions, which are located in Tools, Configuration, Users then Roles & Permissions.
Note: Upgrading customers will notice that previous permissions for managing Key Date Maintenance and Key Date Rules Maintenance separately have been replaced with a single item, Configure Key Date methodology.
2. User guide
- Navigate to Tools then Methodologies.
- Find the new section called "Key Dates Configuration."
- Upgraded systems will feature one Default set of Key Dates preconfigured to house all existing Key Date information and Calculation Rules.
- To add new sets of dates, select Add date set.
- Different date sets can be limited to specific Audit Types, by selecting Audit type usage:
- Individual dates relevant to the set are added via Add key date row, where the user can determine linkages to Audit Phases (requires separate configuration) and what, if any, standard variance should be displayed:
2.1 Planned and actual date controls
- To access the controls for setting Planned or Actual dates, click on the columns labeled Planned date or Actual date.
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On the following screen, you can implement additional measures to limit usage to specific Audit Statuses, Users, Roles, and Teams. You can also decide if the calendar should be restricted by other date parameters.
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To customise the standard variance for planned versus actual against the same date row, click on the default Variance column provided.
- Custom variances across different date rows can be achieved by selecting Custom variances and Add custom variance:
- In both cases, users can choose to display calendar days and/or working days and decide whether to exclude Public and corporate holidays from the variance.
- In the custom example below, all options are available to configure, while a standard variance restricts the Start date and Finish Date:
- The rules that establish a predefined gap between one Key Date and another work the same way as in previous versions.
- You can access these rules by selecting Calculation Rules and then clicking Add calculation rule.
Note: Users can set dependencies for rules, such as associated Planned or Actual dates, and specify Users, Roles, or Teams authorised to override the rule if needed.