Setting up for Witnessing

First, before the Witnessing process can start, the Witnessing module must be enabled, and users must be given Witness Authority/Supervisor privileges.

Enable the Witnessing Module

By default, Witnessing is disabled for Sites using IMS. Your CSA can activate this.

To enable Witnessing:

• Go the Settings \ Maintenance \ Configuration \ Application Settings and search for "Witnessing on Schedules and ECHs".

• Click the Edit Button.

• Enable Witnessing by changing the B (Boolean) value to "1".

• Click Save.

Now, when a new ECH or INSPECTION Schedule or CAIR Schedule is created, the options to mark the ECH or Schedule for Witnessing will show. Note: On other Schedules the options are not available.

Marking Schedules and ECHs for Witnessing will be explained in more detail in Witnessing Process for Schedules and Witnessing Process for ECHs.

Assign Witnessing Privileges (Jobs)

Not everybody can Witness Schedules and ECHs. This is restricted to a selection of users. The privileges for users are based on their Assigned Job. IMS has three Jobs for Witnessing, which can be assigned directly to a user via Settings.

To assign Witnessing privileges:

• Go the Settings \ Maintenance \ Security \ Users.

• Create a new user, or Edit and existing user.

• Click on More +.

• Select a Job form the dropdown:

  • “Initiator“ - to Initiate the Witnessing process for the Schedules and/or ECHs marked for Supervision and Authority by indicating the purpose of the activity. Note: Initiation is an optional step and must first be enabled for this Job to become available.

  • "Sr Insp/Eng" - to Approve / review the Schedules and/or ECHs marked for Supervision, for example "SKK-Level 3 Inspector". Note: A user with this Supervision Job assigned may also act as an Initiator in case this stage is enabled.

  • "Authority" - to Approve the follow-up of Field Inspections for Schedules and/or ECHs. This is usually an external party providing compliance, risk and technical consultancy services, for example "NL-CBI".

• Fill in the rest and click Save.

Selecting where to show the Legal/Local Inspection date 

The Legal/Local Inspection date field can be shown on either the ECH Authority form or on the Supervision form.  If on the Supervision form, then the Supervisor determines the Legal NID during the review and enters this into the Legal/Local Inspection Date. Subsequently this date is reviewed and approved by the Authority. This is the date by which the next re-examination must be submitted at the latest. IMS can be used to generate a “VVH” report that allows a Statement of Re-Examination to be generated for an ECH. The prerequisites for generating this report are:

• The ECH has a Legal/Local Inspection date filled in; and

• The ECH has an Authority approval.

This is set via the Application setting: "Witnessing Supervision Legal/local Inspection Date" Application Settings. The "Legal/local Inspection Date" field is shown on the ECH Supervision form if B (Boolean) value is “1”; otherwise, it shows on the ECH Authority form.

Enabling or Disabling the Initiator Stage

Optionally, an initial approval stage can be added to the Witnessing process. This introduces a requirement for an Initiator approval before the Supervisor approval takes place. This can be enabled through the application setting “Witnessing Initiator Stage.” When the B (Boolean) value is set to “1”, an Initiator step is added to the Witnessing workflow.

This will make the “Initiator” Job available to assign to users. Note: A Supervisor with a higher authorization level (Sr Insp/Eng) may also act as an Initiator.

To learn more about what this Stage entails see Witnessing Process for Schedules.