Note: This article is for the newly redesigned module. This updated module is in the process of being rolled out and may only be available to some users.

Overview

The Incident Reports module is intended for buildings that would like staff to fill out very specific and specialized fields if/when incidents occur. If you would like to enable or disable the Incident Reports module for your property, please contact BuildingLink Support.

• Setting Your Incident Report Types and Approval Permissions
• Setting Your Incident Reports Notifications
• Submitting Incident Reports
• Viewing/Editing Incident Reports and Understanding Incident Report Statuses
• Approving/Finalizing Incident Reports
• Adding Photos/Documents to Incident Reports
• Creating Incident Report PDFs
• Archiving Incident Reports

Setting Your Incident Report Types and Approval Permissions

Before you start using the Incident Reports module, you can customize your Incident Types. To do so, click on the Front desk tab, select Incident reports, click the gear icon, and select the Incident types tab, or you can go to the Settings tab, select Incident reports, and click the Incident types tab.

Here, you will see a list of active Incident report types. These types are the categories under which building staff will be submitting. If you wish to remove any of these incident report types, click Edit and select Inactive under “Status of this incident type,” then click the blue Save changes button.

To change whether a specific Incident Type requires approval, click Edit next to the type you wish to change, select the desired approval requirement, and click the blue Save changes button.

By default, Front Desk and Maintenance-level users can submit incident reports, but these reports must be approved and finalized by Security Officers or Management-level staff. This setup is intended to mimic the act of a manager “signing off” on an incident report before it is truly finalized.

To change the default approval permissions for all categories, you can add a Special Permission that gives approval rights to additional staff members. To add a Special Permission, click the Special permissions tab and click Add user. Next, you'll be prompted to select either an employee or a user type and the permissions you want to give them. Then click Save. 

Setting Your Incident Reports Notifications

Next, make sure that your notifications are set up correctly. By default, the system will send a notification to a specified address(es) whenever a new incident report is submitted for approval and/or whenever a new incident report is approved/finalized.

To view your notification settings, click the Front desk tab and select Incident reports. Then, click the gear icon to the right of the title to view Incident reports settings, and select the General settings tab. Use a space to separate multiple email addresses, and click the small x following each email address if you wish to remove it. Click the blue Save changes button when finished.

To change notification settings for specific incident report types, click on Incident types tab. Next, click Edit next to the Incident Type whose notification settings you would like to change. Here, you’ll be able to override the default notification email address(es) and input your desired address(es).

Submitting Incident Reports

To submit a new incident report, click on the Front desk tab and select Incident reports. Click on the green Create button in the top right. You’ll be prompted to select an Incident Type and indicate whether the incident was minor or severe. You’ll then be prompted to enter the date and time the incident occurred. You can also add a location (or several) if you would like. Remember to click Save location after adding each. Next, you’ll need to enter a brief description of the incident itself in the white text box. Once you’ve filled out all the required information, click the Create button.

You then have the option of adding any additional notes or any people associated with the incident, along with more details about what occurred. You can also upload related documents and/or photos if you wish. Once you are satisfied with your incident report, click the green Submit for approval button. (Depending on the Incident Report permissions set for your building or your authority level, you may also see an Approve and finalize button. This allows you to finalize your incident report right away, bypassing any approval process.)

Viewing/Editing Incident Reports and Understanding Incident Report Statuses

To view existing incident reports for your property, click on the Front desk tab and select Incident reports. You will see a list of entered incident reports for your property from most recent to least.

You can use the search boxes at the top of the screen to filter your reports by keyword/Id number, date range, and location. Then, use the dropdown menus to filter by checking the boxes of the statuses and types of incidents you want to include in your search.

Next to each incident report, you will see a "Status" column. The status indicates where the incident report is in the approval process and also affects who can view/edit the report. There are five different Status possibilities: Draft, Pending Approval, Finalized, Archived, and Deleted.

Note: If your property has added a Special Permission allowing Front Desk or Maintenance-level users to "submit and view all Incident Reports," they cannot edit drafts authored by other staff members, but they can add notes. 

To edit a draft, click on the draft you wish to edit, change any of the information on the Edit Incident Report screen, and then click Save.

To edit an incident report with a “Pending Approval” status, click on the incident report you wish to edit. Next, click the red Return to draft text. You can then change any of the information on the Edit Incident Report screen. When you are finished editing, be sure to save your changes and click Submit for approval to return the incident report to its “Pending Approval” status. If you wish to finalize the incident report after editing it, you can also use the Approve and finalize button if your building’s permissions allow you to do so.

Once a report has been finalized, it can no longer be edited. You can, however, continue to add notes. To do so, click on the report you wish to edit. Next, click the blue Add note text in the "Additional note" section of an incident report. When you are finished adding your note, be sure to click the blue Save button.

Note: Unless limited by a Special Permission, All BuildingLink users, regardless of authority levels, will always be able to use the Show today’s incidents link at the top of the Shift Log as a shortcut to the Incident Reports module.

Approving/Finalizing Incident Reports

By default, only Managers and Security Officers can approve/finalize incident reports. To quickly view whether any incident reports are pending approval, use the link found in the "Action items" section of your dashboard. (You can also set up an email notification that will be triggered whenever a new incident report is submitted for approval.) 

You’ll be taken to a list of all incident reports pending approval. To approve/finalize an incident report, click on the one you wish to approve, then click the blue Approve and finalize button. Once finalized, the incident report will no longer be editable; additional notes can be added if needed.

Adding Photos/Documents to Incident Reports

To add a photo or document to an existing incident report, click the Front desk tab and select Incident reports. Click on the incident report for which you’d like to upload a photo or document. Under the  “Attachments and Photos” section, you will see an Upload and an Upload image button. (Please note that photos and documents can only be added to reports that have not yet been finalized.)

Creating Incident Report PDFs

To generate a PDF copy of a specific incident report, click on the Front Desk tab and select Incident reports. Click on the incident report for which you’d like to generate a PDF copy. Click on the Generate PDF button.

The PDF copy of your report will be automatically saved in the “Attachments and photos” section of the incident report. To download and print, click the download icon on the document, and from there, you can save it to your computer and/or print it.

Archiving Incident Reports

You have the option of archiving incident reports that you do not wish to see on your main search screen. This is a good way of differentiating older reports that are no longer pressing/active. To archive a finalized incident report, click on the Front Desk tab and select Incident reports. Next, select Finalized from the "Status" dropdown, click Search, and then click the Archive link next to the finalized incident report you wish to archive. You will always be able to pull up archived reports later on by using the "Status" dropdown and making sure the Archived box is selected.