Record and manage complaints
Complaint management features within the QMS web app allow employees to report complaints and give managers the ability to review, track and close complaints using a complaint register.
Important
Although any user can report complaints, only users that are allocated Incident and Improvement Manager OR Administrator/Model Administrator permissions can edit/delete complaints and view the complaints register. Permissions can be changed by going to People > Users.
For more information, please see Manage Users.
The steps built into complaint reporting and management are as follows:
- Employees will lodge a complaint using a standard complaint report form.
- Once submitted, the form will be saved in the complaint register and managers will receive a notification email.
- Managers can then open the complaint within the complaint register and review or update the details provided by the employee.
- Managers then update the appropriate fields in the Actions section of the form to track the progress of the complaint and close the complaint.
- If required, complaint register data is exported to Microsoft Excel for further analysis and reporting.
Each step is described in more detail below.
For the purposes of this article:
- ‘Employees’ are users with ‘Process Viewer’ permission.
- ‘Managers’ are users with ‘Incident and Improvement Manager’ permission.
Lodge complaint (employee)
To report a complaint, employees must complete the steps below:
Field | Description |
|---|---|
Complaint summary | A brief summary of the complaint. |
Category | The type of complaint. See a summary of categories below:
|
Applies to Business Unit | The part of the business that is affected by the complaint (e.g. Sydney office). Applies only if you have Business Units implemented, see Business Unit Basics for more information. |
Service recipient | The participant affected by the complaint. If the complaint relates to a participant, tick the box in this field and enter the participant’s name. |
Complaint (in detail) | A full description of the complaint. |
Person making complaint and relationship to the organisation | The person that is making the complaint and their relationship to the organisation. |
Phone number (complainant) | The phone number of the complainant. |
Email address (complainant) | The email address of the complainant. |
Lodge by | The person lodging the complaint |
Method complaint received | How the complaint was received (e.g. in person). |
When Complaint received | The date and time on which the complaint has been received. |
When complaint acknowledged | The date and time on which the complaint was acknowledged. |
Helpful material | Any photos, evidence or supporting materials that will help to provide further detail about the complaint. |
Notification email
When an employee submits a complaint, assigned users (usually the managers) will receive a notification.
For assistance with setting up email notifications, please see Set Up and Configuration.
Review complaint (manager)
Upon receipt of the notification, managers can then open the complaint within the complaint register and review or update the details provided by the employee. The steps to do this are described below:
Update complaint progress (manager)
Once the initial details of the complaint have been reviewed and updated, the manager can complete the Actions and Resolution sections in the complaint report form.
Some of the fields in the Actions and Resolution sections appear as columns of data within the complaint register, which allows the manager to track and close the complaint.
Filter | Description |
|---|---|
Status | The progress status of the complaint. |
Priority | The urgency of the complaint. |
Position responsible | The position/role that is responsible for managing the complaint. |
External parties notified | Information about any external parties that were notified of the complaint (e.g. the participant’s advocate). |
Outcome from external parties | Information about any outcomes/decisions that have been passed on from external parties. |
Investigation process | Details of different steps taken during complaint investigations. |
Investigation outcome | Findings of any investigation undertaken. |
Actions taken | Any actions taken because of the investigations. |
Comments | Any additional comments, details and explanations |
Resolve by | The date by which the complaint must be resolved. |
Related to | Relevant incidents, feedback and other complaints. |
Improvements | Improvements that relate to the complaint or that are designed to address the incident. |
External identifier | Reference number or another external complaint. |
Relevant policy/regulation | Policies or regulations that relate to the complaint. |
Closed on | Date and time on which the complaint was closed |
Closing comments | Any final comments. |
Satisfactory resolution | Whether the complaint was resolved to the satisfaction of all parties. |
Resolution approved by | For users with positions in the system, the position that approved the resolution. |
View and use complaint register
The complaint register is an important tool for managers to track and close complaints. Selected complaints can be exported to Excel for further analysis and reporting as described below.
View complaint register
Filter | Description |
|---|---|
Complaint | Complaint title. |
Category | Complaint category. |
Business Unit | Business Unit affected by the complaint. |
Service recipient | The service recipient affected by the complaint. |
Received on | Date on which the complaint was received. |
Closed on | The date on which the complaint was closed. |
Priority | Complaint priority rating. |
Status | The resolution status of the complaint. |
In addition, you can use the options above the search ribbon to view current and archived complaints.
- Current view shows the complaints that are currently being managed.
- Archive view shows complaints that have a status of Completed or Cancelled.
- All shows both current and archived items.
Download complaint register
All information relating to activities recorded in the complaint register can be downloaded as a spreadsheet for reporting purposes.
Complaints can be downloaded individually or in bulk as either the complete register or in a group e.g. by category or business unit.
Tip
To download multiple (but not all) items, hold down Ctrl, click once on each relevant item and click Download.
For example, if you want to download complaints from a specific category, write the name of the category in the Category search bar, hold down Ctrl and select the relevant complaints.
