Online Help for General & Administrative Functions

General User Actions
- My Tasks
Searching and Reports
- About Grand Avenue Software
  - Copyrights
  - Client Information
Shared Process Actions
Shared Configuration Actions
Administrative Actions
Error Pages

General User Actions

The following general functions are available for all users and roles, regardless of which Grand Avenue Software modules are installed in the system.

My Tasks

The My Tasks page displays all Task Alerts and open Task Assignments in Grand Avenue Software that require your attention.

This page is separated into tables that show different types of alerts or assignments (see below for descriptions of each table). If there are no alerts or assignments of a particular type, that table is not displayed.

For detailed information about a specific task assignment or task alert in a table, consult the related online documentation, available from the "Help" link on the page for that assignment or alert. If you have no task alerts or task assignments a message will be displayed to indicate you have no open alerts or assignments.

When a task assignment or the work associated with a task alert is completed, it is automatically removed from your list.

Note that your assignments and alerts are displayed in order of their Task Due Date, from soonest to latest. Assignments or alerts that have passed their due date will have a red background, indicating that they are overdue. When any assignment or alert is overdue, the system will send you a daily reminder in email. The system also displays an overdue indicator in the upper-right border of each page, to remind you of how many overdue tasks you currently have.

Task Alerts

The Task Alerts table displays the list of your alerts for each Grand Avenue Software module. The Task Alerts table contains the name of the alert, a description of the alert, and the date that the alert will become overdue if no action is taken. Note that only some modules make use of Task Alerts.

Click on the "View" button and you will be taken to a page to perform the task related to that alert.

Unclaimed Task Assignments

The Unclaimed Task Assignments table displays the list of all open task assignments that are waiting to be claimed by you or another user assigned to a specific role (e.g. Module Coordinator).

To claim an unclaimed task, click its associated "Claim" button and you will be taken to the Claim Task Assignment page. When you claim a task it is moved from the Unclaimed Task Assignments table down into your Task Assignments table.

To assign an unclaimed task to another user, click the corresponding "Assign" button and you will be taken to the Assign Unclaimed Task page. To assign multiple unclaimed tasks in a single operation, click the "Assign Multiple Tasks" button at the bottom of the table (see Select Unclaimed Tasks to Assign).

Authorized users can change the Task Due Date for an unclaimed task by clicking its associated "Change Due Date" button. This will take you to the Change Task Due Date page, which will allow you to indicate a new due date for the task. To change the due dates for multiple unclaimed tasks in a single operation, click the "Change Multiple Due Dates" button at the bottom of the table (see Select Tasks for Change Due Date).

To see information about the item related to an unclaimed task assignment, click on its associated "Info" link and you will be taken to a detailed information screen.

Task Assignments / Deferred Task Assignments

The Task Assignments table displays your open task assignments. If you choose to defer one or more of your assignments, they will be moved from this table into a Deferred Task Assignments table.

To work on a task, click its associated "Perform" button and you will be taken to a tailored page for that task.

To defer a task, click its associated "Defer" button. To edit or remove the deferral for a deferred task, click the corresponding "Edit Deferral" button. Both of these buttons will take you to the Defer Task Assignment page, which will allow you to indicate the conditions that determine when the deferral for the task will be automatically removed by the system.

Authorized users can change the Task Due Date for a task by clicking its associated "Change Due Date" button. This will take you to the Change Task Due Date page, which will allow you to indicate a new due date for the task. To change the due dates for multiple tasks in a single operation, click the "Change Multiple Due Dates" button at the bottom of the table (see Select Tasks for Change Due Date).

Authorized users can assign one of their tasks to be performed by someone else by clicking its associated "Reassign" button. This will take you to the Reassign Task page, which will allow you to select a different user to perform the task. To reassign multiple tasks in a single operation, click the "Reassign Multiple Tasks" button at the bottom of the table (see Select Tasks to Reassign).

To see information about the item related to a task assignment, click on its associated "Info" link and you will be taken to a detailed information screen. When you have finished reviewing the item, you can either click the "Perform Task" button to proceed to the corresponding page for that task, or click the "Close" button to return to the task list.

Claim Task Assignment

The Claim Task Assignment page displays information about the item and the assignment to be performed. Use this information according to your company policy to determine whether you should claim the assignment or it should be performed by someone else.

If you determine that you are responsible for the task assignment, click the "Claim Task" button. The unclaimed assignment will be assigned directly to you, and you will be taken to the page for performing the task.

To assign an unclaimed task to another user, click the corresponding "Assign" button and you will be taken to the Assign Unclaimed Task page.

Clicking the Cancel button will return you to the My Tasks page without claiming the task assignment.

Assign Unclaimed Task

This page displays information about the item and the task to be performed. Use this information according to your company policy to determine which user should be assigned to perform the task.

Select the user for the task using the "Task Assignee" field, then enter your signoff key and click the "Assign Task To User" button. The task will be assigned to the selected user, and you will be taken back to the previous page.

If the selected user is someone other than yourself, the system will send an email notification to the assignee, to alert them about the new task.

Clicking the Cancel button will return you to the previous page without assigning the task assignment.

Defer Task Assignment

This page allows you to defer a task. Deferring a task moves it from your main Task Assignments list to the Deferred Task Assignments list (see the My Tasks page). You are still responsible for completing deferred assignments by the specified Task Due Date.

Task assignments can be deferred until a future date, until a set of related task assignments has been completed, or both. If both types of conditions are specified, the deferral will be removed as soon as the first condition is satisfied.

Use the "Deferred Until Date" field to specify a date on which the deferral will be automatically removed.
Select one or more task assignments in the Related Tasks table to indicate the set of task assignments whose completion will trigger the removal of this deferral.

The system automatically monitors these conditions and removes deferrals when they are satisfied. When a deferral is automatically removed an email notification is sent and the task is moved from the Deferred Task Assignments list back to the main Task Assignments list.

Click the "Save" button to record the conditions for the deferral of this task and return to the My Tasks page.

Clicking the "Remove Deferral" button will remove any existing deferrals on this task assignment and move it from the Deferred Task Assignments list back to the main Task Assignments list.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the My Tasks page without saving your changes.

Searching and Reports

Search pages allow authorized users to search for items managed by Grand Avenue Software.

Search Criteria

Each search page displays a set of criteria that can be used to narrow your search to a particular group of items. Search criteria are specified using the following types of fields:

Single-Value Selection Lists - Fields with a drop-down list of values allow you to select a single value that items must match to be included in the search results.
Multiple Value Selection Lists - Fields with a drop-down list of check-box values allow you to select multiple values, one of which must be matched by an item for it to be included in the search results.
Fields Without Drop-down Selection Lists - Fields without a drop-down list of values allow you to enter text that must be found in the value of items to be included in the search results.
- For example, entering "on" would match items with a value of "on", "one", or "phone".
Date Range From/To Fields - Fields associated with a specific date allow you indicate a specified date range that items must match to be included in the search results.
- Example: To find all items created since January 1st, 2006, a user would enter "1/1/2006" into the "Created Date From" field. To narrow that search down to only items created in January 2006, the user would also enter "1/31/2006" into the "Created Date To" field
Max # of Items to Find - This field allows you to specify a maximum number of items that will be displayed in the search results, even if more items match the other search criteria. Clearing this field will return all items that match the other search criteria. NOTE: In large databases, searches with no maximum specified may take a very long time to complete.

After selecting values for one or more of the search criteria, click the "Search" button to see a list of items that match all specified criteria. You can continue narrowing down the results of your search by modifying your initial criteria and then clicking the "Search" button again.

Search Results

When a search is performed, the system will display the number of items found that match the search criteria. An additional note will be displayed if more items are found than the number specified in the "Max # of Items to Find" field.

Summary information is provided for each of the displayed items. Click on the "Info" link for an item to see more detailed information.

Click the "Export Results to Excel" link to download the search results as a delimited text file for viewing in tools such as Microsoft Excel (see the Export Search Results to Excel page).

Click the "Generate Chart for Results" link to generate ad hoc charts for the items listed in the search results (see the Select Chart for Search Results page).

Additional Information about Full-Text Searches

Some types of searches include a "File Content" field, which allows users to search for keywords contained in corresponding file content that has been uploaded into the system (e.g. Search for Documents in the Document Control module).

Keywords used for full-text searches have the following characteristics:

Keywords are always case-insensitive
Keywords can match the beginning of a word, but not the middle or end
Multiple keywords separated by whitespace or hyphens will be treated as a single phrase, and all words a phrase must be matched in sequence.
Leading zeroes in numbers are ignored, both for the search criteria and the content being searched.

The following table provides examples of how these rules for keywords are applied by the full-text search:

	Search Phrase	Matches	Does Not Match
Search keywords are case in-sensitive	square	Square SQUARE
Search keywords can be prefixes (not suffixes)	part	Particular	apart
	34	3456	1234
Leading zeroes are ignored as part of number	789	00789
	00789	789
Search phrases	quality manual	quality manual	manual quality quality process manual
Search phrases with prefixes	qual manu	quality manual	quality management quality process manual
	34 67	345 678	234 567
Hyphenated words are treated as phrases	555 2800	555-2800 5557-28001	5552800
	555-2800	555-2800 5557-28001	5552800

Select Chart for Search Results

This page allows you to create charts for search results. The "Search Criteria for Chart" table displays the fields and values selected on a Search page, determining which items will be included in the chart.

The "Max # of Items to Chart" field limits the number of items from the search results that will be included in the chart. For example, if the Search Criteria would match 1000 items but the field it set to only 100, the generated chart will only include the first 100 items.

Chart Method Properties

Use the "Primary chart method" field to indicate the type of chart that you want to generate:

Group by value - Items included in the chart will be grouped by the "Primary values to group by" field.
- The chart will be generated by tallying the number of items into groups for the ten most common values for the selected field. NOTE: Any leading and/or trailing spaces will be moved from the values before they are charted. This means that values like " Red " and "Red" will be consolidated in the same group.
- An "Other Values" group will contain the number of items having values other than the ten most common values.
- A "No Value" group will contain the number of items without a value for the selected field.
Group by date range - Items included in the chart will be grouped into date intervals for the "Primary date to group by" field.
- The "Primary date range interval" will control the type of date intervals used. Supported intervals are Month, Quarter and Year.
- Up to twelve consecutive intervals will be displayed, starting with the latest Date found in the selected date field.
- All items with dates before those twelve periods will be collected into a single group (e.g. "Before Sep-12").
- Items without a date for the selected date field will not be tallied in the chart.
Group by time span - Items included in the chart will be grouped into time spans calculated as the number of days between a "Primary time span start date" field and a "Primary time span end date" field. For example, a chart for Task Assignments could be generated for the number of days between the "Created Date" and the "Completed Date".
- The chart will be generated by tallying the number of items with time spans in the following intervals:
  - 0-30 days, 31-60 days, 61-90 days, 91-120 days, More than 120 days.
- A "Less than 0 days" interval is added to the chart if there are items with a start date that occurs after the end date.
- A "No Value" interval is added to the chart if there are items without a value for either the start date or the end date.

For some modules, charts for process items can also be organized by fields from related items (e.g. NCM Reports by their corresponding NCM Report Entries). However, when charting by a field from a related item:

Fields from related items can only be used for charts that are "Group by value" or "Group by date range".
Main search items that have no related items will not be counted in the chart.
Main search items that have multiple related items containing the same value for the selected field will only be counted once for that value.
Main search items that have multiple related items containing different values for the selected field will be counted once for each unique value.
- For example, if a user selects to chart NCM Reports by the Disposition Code of its NCM Report Entries, an NCM Report with one "Scrap" and two "Return to Vendor" dispositions will be counted once in each of those groups.

Use the "Secondary chart method" field to optionally split the tallies for each of the primary groups into subgroups:

None - Do not generate any subgroups
Group by value - Items included in the chart will be organized into up to four subgroups by the "Secondary values to group by" field.
- The subgroups will be generated by tallying the number of items into groups for the most common values for the selected field. NOTE: Any leading and/or trailing spaces will be moved from the values before they are charted. This means that values like " Red " and "Red" will be consolidated in the same subgroup.
- Items without a value for the selected field will be included in a "No Value" subgroup.
- If there are more subgroups than can be displayed, the chart will consolidate less common subgroups into a single "Other Values" subgroup.

Chart Display Properties

The following fields can be used to modify the display characteristics of the chart:

Chart Type - The following types of charts are supported:
- Bar Chart - A vertical-orientation bar chart with the series of each data group displayed as side-by-side columns.
- Stacked Bar Chart - A vertical-orientation bar chart with the series of each data group stacked together in a single column.
- Line Chart - A vertical-orientation line chart with each series represented by a different colored line through each data group.
- Pie Chart - A pie chart with a single series represented by different colored slices for each data group.
Chart Color Theme - A set of color palettes that can be used to color each series of a data group.
Chart Title - An optional custom name displayed at the top of the chart.
X-Axis Label - An optional custom name displayed horizontally along the bottom of the chart to represent the data groups and series. (Not available for Pie Charts)
Y-Axis Label - An optional custom name displayed vertically along the left side of the chart to represent the data counts. (Not available for Pie Charts)

Click the "Generate Chart" button to generate a chart using the selected fields.

Once a chart has been generated you can click the "Save Chart" button to save the criteria necessary to regenerate this chart later as one of your saved charts (see Add Saved Chart).

Click the "Close" button to close this page.

Add/Edit Saved Chart

This page allows you to provide a name for a saved chart.

The "Search Criteria for Chart" table displays the fields and values selected on a Search page, determining which items will be included in the chart. NOTE: If a value has been specified for "Max # of Items to Chart", the chart will only contain information about that number of items, even if more items matched the specified search criteria.

The "Chart Criteria for Chart" table displays the fields and values selected on a Select Chart for Search Results page, determining which items will be tallied for the chart.

Provide a unique, descriptive name for this chart. This name will be displayed on the Saved Charts page.

Click the "Save" button to save the chart and return to the previous page.

Click the "Cancel" button to discard any changes and return to the previous page.

Export Search Results to Excel

This page allows you to download search results as a delimited text file for viewing in tools such as Microsoft Excel.

The "Search Criteria for Export" table displays the fields and values selected on a Search page, determining which items will be included in the export. NOTE: You can change "Max # of Items to Export", in a field below this table. The export will only contain information about that number of items specified, even if more items matched the specified search criteria. Clearing the value from the "Max # of Items to Export" field will return all items matching the other search criteria.

Use the "Report Type" field to indicate the type of information included in the export for each of the items in the search results. Some types of items allow you to include information about a specific type of secondary item in the export. Each line in the export file will contain information about a specific secondary item, and also include the information about the corresponding primary item. This means that information about the primary item will be repeated for each corresponding secondary item.

For example, when searching for CAPA Requests you can choose to export information about "CAPA Requests including CAPA Actions". The export will include a line for each CAPA Action, with the corresponding CAPA Request information repeated on each line. If a CAPA Request does not have any CAPA Actions, it will appear only once.

Use the "Include Open Assignment Summary?" field to indicate whether the export should include a summary of open task assignments for each of the exported items. For each assignment the summary will include the task name, assignee, due date and an indicator of whether that assignment is overdue. This field is only enabled if you are exporting search results for items that can have task assignments.

Setting this field to "Yes" will add an "Open Assignments" column that will show all open task assignments related to each primary item returned by the search. For example, the "Open Assignments" column in a CAPA Request report will show open task assignments for each CAPA Request and its associated CAPA Actions.
If the "Report Type" is set to include information about secondary items, setting this field to "Yes" will also add an "Open Assignments For Secondary Items" column that will show the open task assignments for each secondary item included in the search results. For example, while the "Open Assignments" column includes open task assignments for the CAPA Request and all of its related CAPA Actions, the "Open Assignments For CAPA Actions" column will only include open task assignments for the specific CAPA Action.

Use the "File Format" field to indicate the format for the delimited text file.

CSV - A simple delimited text file format used by Microsoft Excel (saved as "CSV (Comma delimited)").
Unicode Text - A tab-delimited Unicode text file format used by Microsoft Excel that supports non-Latin characters (saved as "Unicode Text").

Use the "List Separator" field to specify the delimiter to be used when exporting the CSV file format. By default the delimiter is set to the list separator for your locale, so you should only need to change this setting when exporting a CSV file for a different locale.

Use the "Date Format" field to select the format to be used when exporting date values. By default, the format is set to match the configuration setting for entering and displaying dates in Grand Avenue (see Configure System Date and Time Settings). This feature allows you to specify a different format if exporting to an application like Excel that expects a different format for your region (e.g. en-GB [dd/mm/yyyy] instead of en-US [mm/dd/yyyy]). Using the recommended culture-independent format defined by ISO-8601 (yyyy-mm-dd) will ensure that dates will always be interpreted correctly.

Click the "Export Results to Excel" button to download the specified search results to a delimited text file.

Click the "Close" button to close this page.

Search for Parts

The Search for Parts page allows authorized users to search for parts that have been created in the system. See the Searching and Reports section for additional information about searching in Grand Avenue.

NOTE: This feature is only displayed if the Complaint or NCM modules have been activated.

Search Criteria

The page displays a set of criteria that can be used to narrow your search to a particular group of parts.

Use the following date-based search fields to narrow your search to parts that have fields within a specified date range:

Created Date From/To finds parts based upon when they were created in Grand Avenue.

Search Results

When a search is performed, summary information is displayed about each part found. You can click on the "Info" link for a part to see more detailed information.

Search for Suppliers

The Search for Suppliers page allows authorized users to search for suppliers that have been created in the system. See the Searching and Reports section for additional information about searching in Grand Avenue.

NOTE: This feature is only displayed if the Supplier Management, Audit Management, CAPA or NCM modules have been activated.

Search Criteria

The page displays a set of criteria that can be used to narrow your search to a particular group of suppliers.

Use the following date-based search fields to narrow your search to suppliers that have fields within a specified date range:

Created Date From/To finds suppliers based upon when they were created in Grand Avenue.

Search Results

When a search is performed, summary information is displayed about each supplier found. You can click on the "Info" link for a supplier to see more detailed information.

Search for Task Assignments

The Search for Task Assignments page allows authorized users to search for task assignments that have been created in the system. See the Searching and Reports section for additional information about searching in Grand Avenue.

NOTE: System Administrators can configure the system so that only System Administrators, Module Administrators and Module Coordinators are authorized to search for task assignments (see Configure System Options).

Search Criteria

The page displays a set of criteria that can be used to narrow your search to a specific group of task assignments.

Use the "Process Name" field to narrow your search to task assignments for a specific business process (e.g. CAPA Request, Training, etc.). If you select a value for the Process Name field, you will also be able to use the "Task Name" field to further narrow your search to specific types of tasks for that process.

Example: To find all CAPA Request Investigation task assignments, a user would select "CAPA Request" for the Process Name, and "Investigate" for the Task Name.
NOTE: If a user is restricted by an access list for a module, business processes associated with that module will not be included in the list of Process Names (see Configure Access Lists).

Use the "Task Overdue" field to narrow your search to task assignments that are currently overdue or were overdue when they were completed.

Use the following date-based search fields to narrow your search to task assignments that have fields within a specified date range:

Created Date From/To finds task assignments based upon when they were created in Grand Avenue.
Task Due Date From/To finds task assignments based upon when their due dates.
Completed Date From/To finds task assignments based upon when they were completed.

Search Results

When a search is performed, summary information is displayed about each task assignment found. You can click on the "Info" link for a task assignment to see more detailed information.

NOTE: If a user is restricted by an access list for a module, task assignments for that module will not be included in the results (see Configure Access Lists).

Saved Charts

This page lists the charts that you have saved. Each chart has its own saved search criteria and charting criteria.

To regenerate a saved chart, click its corresponding "View" link. The saved search criteria will be re-applied to find the current matching set of items to be displayed in the chart using the chart criteria.

To change the name of a saved chart, click its corresponding "Edit" link (see Edit Saved Chart).

To delete a saved chart, click its corresponding "Delete" link.

Audit Trail

The Grand Avenue Software application keeps a complete record of all changes to business information. These records are stored in an "audit trail", which allows users to review the history of changes to any item in the system.

View Audit Trail

This page displays a list of all changes made to an item and any related items.

To review the item as it looked after a particular change was made, click the corresponding "View Record" link.

To review the audit trail for a related item, click the corresponding "View Audit Trail" link.

Click the "Close" button to return to the previous page.

View File History

This page displays the version history for the file associated with a process item (for example, the history of changes to a markup file for a document on a change request).

A history table displays a list of all versions of the file that have been uploaded, with the last line containing the current version of the file. Each line contains a hyperlink to view that specific version of the file, along with information about who originally uploaded that version and when they did it.

Click the "Close" button to close this page.

User Profile

Change Password

This page allows you to change your password for signing into Grand Avenue and signing off on tasks. You may be directed to this page after signing in with an expired password, and you will be required to change your password before accessing the system.

NOTE: If your account has been linked to an Active Directory account, you must change your password through your Windows account.

To change your Grand Avenue password, enter your current password in the "Old Password" field, and then enter the desired new password in the "New Password" and "Confirm New Password" fields. Your new password must satisfy the password policies configured by your company. These policies are displayed as task instructions above the "New Password" field.

Click the "Change Password" button to save your new password.

NOTE: You will receive an email notification indicating that your password has been changed. This email is primarily sent as a warning in case your account is compromised and someone else changes the password.

Change Security Questions

This page allows you to choose the three security questions that you will be required to answer when attempting to reset a forgotten password.

NOTE: This feature does not apply to accounts that have been linked to an Active Directory account.

To enable the Password Reset feature for your account, set the "Enable Password Reset?" field to "Yes", and then use the drop-down lists to select your personal questions from the list of standard questions, and enter your answer for each question.

NOTE: When you request a password reset, the system will require you to provide the exact same answers for all of your selected questions (i.e. spelling, punctuation and case must be identical).

To disable the Password Reset feature for your account, set the "Enable Password Reset?" field to "No". This will also disable the Task Alert reminder to set your security questions.

Click the "Save" button to record your changes.

Click the "Cancel" button to discard your changes and return to the My Tasks page.

Change Signoff Key

This page allows you to choose which secret key you will be asked to enter when performing "signoff" actions in the system (e.g. approving/rejecting the review of a process item, signing off on the completion of a task, etc.).

Use the "Signoff Key Type" field to choose the type of secret key you will enter when asked for your "signoff key":

Sign In Password - You will re-enter your sign in password when asked for your signoff key.
Numeric PIN - You will enter a special numeric PIN when asked for your signoff key.

If you select "Numeric PIN", you will need to choose a value for the PIN. The value must be a number with at least four (4) digits.

Enter your new PIN in the "New Numeric PIN for Signoff Key" field, and then re-enter it in the "Confirm Numeric PIN for Signoff Key" field (to ensure you've correctly typed it).

Click the "Save" button to record your changes.

Click the "Cancel" button to discard your changes and return to the My Tasks page.

Change Two-Factor Authentication

Two-factor authentication adds an extra layer of security to your account beyond your username and password. When two-factor authentication is enabled for your account, signing into the system will require you to use a device in your possession (like a mobile phone) to generate a unique temporary code that you will enter after your normal username and password.

This page allows you to enable or disable two-factor authentication for your account.

Click the "Enable Two-Factor Authentication" button to start the process of setting it up for your account (see Enable Two-Factor Authentication for My Account).

If two-factor authentication is already enabled for your account, you can disable it by clicking the "Disable Two-Factor Authentication" button (see Disable Two-Factor Authentication for My Account).

When two-factor authentication is enabled for your account, you can have the system "remember" browsers that should not require re-verification of your two-factor authentication credentials for 30 days. The "Remembered Browsers" table displays a list of the browsers currently configured for this option.

Click the "Clear Remembered Browsers" button to remove all browsers from this list. You will be forced to re-verify your two-factor authentication credentials the next time you sign in from any of those browsers.

Click the "Close" button to return to the My Tasks page.

Enable Two-Factor Authentication for My Account

To enable two-factor authentication for your account, you will first need to have access to a device (like a mobile phone) with an authenticator app (like Google Authenticator or Microsoft Authenticator).

Use the authenticator app on your device to scan the displayed QR code.

NOTE: If your authenticator app does not support scanning QR codes, you can instead manually enter the text displayed below the QR code.

Enter the verification code generated by the authenticator application and click the "Verify" button. The system will confirm the verification code and then activate two-factor authentication for your account. Future sign ins to your account will require a verification code in addition to your normal username and password.

Click the "Cancel" button to return to the My Tasks page without enabling two-factor authentication.

Disable Two-Factor Authentication for My Account

Disabling two-factor authentication will remove the additional verification step for signing into your account and will only require a username and password for future sign ins.

Enter your password and click the "Confirm" button to disable two-factor authentication for your account.

Click the "Cancel" button to return to the My Tasks page without disabling two-factor authentication.

Reauthenticate

This page is displayed when you must verify your identity before proceeding to the next page.

Enter your password and click the "Reauthenticate" button to continue.

Click the "Cancel" button to return to the My Tasks page.

About Grand Avenue Software

The About Grand Avenue Software page displays Version Information as well as additional information that may be useful to know when contacting Grand Avenue Software Support.

Copyrights

This page displays all the copyright information for Grand Avenue Software. This includes Grand Avenue Software's own copyright as well as those of the free and open-source third-party software products that are implemented by Grand Avenue's product. Grand Avenue does not currently include closed-source third-party products in our software.

"Free" in this context means that the software can be copied, used, distributed, and changed at will. So, here, "free" is referring to the liberties afforded by the license to the users as opposed to its monetary price.

"Open-source," similarly to free software, is accessible by anyone to use and change. In this case, though, users contribute to the source code of the software collaboratively. Open-source has grown into a set of principles embracing practices such as open-exchange, collaboration, rapid prototyping, and community-oriented development.

Client Information

This page displays information about the user's current web browser/platform configuration, and a list of all supported browsers and platforms.

Shared Process Actions

This section describes features that are shared across multiple Grand Avenue Software Modules.

The following features are covered in this section:

Collaboration Tasks
Process Impacts
Activity Logs
Associated Parts
Record Additional Information for Closed Items
Integration with CAPA Process

Collaboration Tasks

Grand Avenue Software modules allow users to request help from users by assigning them "collaboration tasks". A user assigned a collaboration task is given instructions on what work to perform, and a date by which the work should be completed. Each process in Grand Avenue Software has specific points where users can assign these collaboration tasks to other users.

Assign Collaboration Task

Enter detailed instructions for the work to be performed, and then select an assignee and a due date for the task.

Click the "Assign Task and Close" button to assign the task and return to the previous page.

Click the "Assign Task" button to assign the task and remain on this page to assign another task.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page without assigning a task.

Process Impacts

Process Impacts are a list of potential concerns that must be considered when evaluating the impact of a process item such as a Change Request or an NCM Report. The administrator for each module that uses process impacts can define the list for process items for that module. Each time a process item is created, the list of configured process impacts will be displayed for consideration.

For impacts that are configured to require an implementation task when applicable, the Coordinator for the module will be required to assign Impact Implementation tasks after the process item has been approved.

For details about how process impacts are used in a module, click the corresponding link below:

Edit Process Impact

The Edit Process Impact page allows you to indicate whether a particular impact is applicable to a process item and record a description of the potential impact or a justification of why the impact is not applicable. You may also upload files containing additional information about the impact.

Instructions relevant to the type of process impact are provided on the page in the "Instructions" field.

The "Is Description Required Even If Impact Not Applicable?" field indicates if a justification must be provided in the "Impact Description or Justification" field when the impact is determined to be not applicable.
The "Is an Implementation Task Required If Impact Applicable?" field indicates whether marking the impact as applicable will require the Coordinator to assign an implementation task after the process item has been approved.

Use the "Is Impact Applicable" field to indicate whether this process impact is applicable to the process item.

If the impact is applicable, you must use the "Impact Description or Justification" field to describe the impact and the results of related activities for this type of impact.
If the impact is not applicable, you may use the "Impact Description or Justification" field to provide a justification of why the impact is not applicable. NOTE: Some impacts may be configured to always require this justification.
- NOTE: The "Is Impact Applicable?" field for a Process Impact cannot be changed from "Yes" to "No" if the impact has prior Impact Implementation tasks.

Click the "Add Process Impact File" button to upload a file containing information regarding this process impact; this will take you to the Add Process Impact File page.

Click the "Edit" button for an existing file to change the description or replace the file using the Edit Process Impact File page.

Click the "Delete" button to remove an existing file.

When you have completed documenting the impact, click the "Save" button to save your changes and return to the previous page.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page without saving your changes.

Add/Edit Process Impact File

To upload a file containing information about the process impact, enter a brief description of the file and then click the "Browse" or "Choose File" button to find and select the file from your local machine. Once you have selected the file, click the "Save" button to upload the file and return to the previous page.

If you have chosen to make changes to a previously uploaded file, the page will display a link to the current version. You can replace the current version by selecting another file and clicking the "Save" button to save your changes.

Click the "Cancel" button to discard any changes and return to the previous page.

Select Process Impacts to Assign

The "Process Impacts" table displays a list of process impacts associated with this process item. A checkbox appears beside impacts that are applicable, require an impact implementation task, and do not have a task in progress.

Use the checkboxes to select which Impact Implementation tasks will be assigned.

Click the "Assign Impact Implementation Tasks" button to proceed to the Assign Selected Impact Implementation Tasks page.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page without assigning any Impact Implementation tasks.

Assign Selected Impact Implementation Tasks

For each of the selected Process Impacts, you must select an assignee and a due date for the completion of the Impact Implementation task. You should also review the default instructions for each task and add any details that should be communicated to the assignee.

Click the "Assign Impact Implementation Tasks" button to assign the tasks and return to the original page.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page without assigning any tasks.

Task - Impact Implementation

Impact Implementation tasks are assigned when an applicable process impact has been configured to require a follow-up task after the process item has been approved. A user is assigned for each implementation task, with specific instructions on what follow-up work must be completed.

When you receive an Impact Implementation task, the Process Impact Implementation page will provide details about the task you must perform and allow you to upload files containing evidence of work that has been completed.

Process Impact Implementation

The Process Impact Implementation page displays information about the process impact requiring follow-up work, and detailed instructions about what must be done to complete the task. Use the "Task Results" field to record the results of any activities that related to this impact. You can also record the results of your work by uploading "process impact files". You will also be able to enter additional comments when signing off the task as completed.

To upload a file containing information regarding your work on this process impact, click the "Add File" button (see Add Process Impact File).

To change the file or the description for previously uploaded file, click the corresponding "Edit" button (see Edit Process Impact File).

Click the "Delete" button for a previously uploaded file to remove it from the system.

After you have completed all required work for this task, click the "Save and Proceed to Signoff" button to sign off on the task (see Sign Off Process Impact Implementation).

Click the "Save for Later" button to return to the My Tasks page without signing off on the implementation task.

Sign Off Process Impact Implementation

Enter any comments, then enter your signoff key and click the "Sign Off" button. If the Process Impact has been configured to require a follow-up review by a Coordinator, the system will create and assign a Review Impact Implementation task, to be completed by one of the Coordinators for the module.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page without signing off on the implementation task.

Task - Review Impact Implementation

Review Impact Implementation tasks are assigned when an applicable process impact has been configured to require a follow-up review task after a user completes the Process Impact Implementation task. Each review task is assigned to a Coordinator for the corresponding module, with reminder of the instructions that were provided to the assignee for the original implementation task..

When you receive a Review Impact Implementation task, the Review Process Impact Implementation page will provide details about the task you must perform and allow you to make changes to or upload new files containing evidence of work that has been completed.

Review Process Impact Implementation

The Review Process Impact Implementation page displays information about the process impact requiring follow-up work, and detailed instructions about what needed to be done to complete the task. Review and update the "Task Results" field as necessary to record the results of any activities that related to this impact. You can also review and update the results of work by uploading attachments in the Process Impact Files table.

To upload a file containing information regarding your work on this process impact, click the "Add File" button (see Add Process Impact File).

To change the file or the description for previously uploaded file, click the corresponding "Edit" button (see Edit Process Impact File).

Click the "Delete" button for a previously uploaded file to remove it from the system.

If the Process Impact requires additional work that should have been performed in the Impact Implementation task, you can click the "Return to Impact Implementation" button to send the Process Impact back to that step in the process (see Return to Impact Implementation).

After you have completed all required work for this task, click the "Save and Proceed to Signoff" button to sign off on the task (see Sign Off Review Process Impact Implementation).

Click the "Save for Later" button to return to the My Tasks page without signing off on the implementation task.

Return to Impact Implementation

This page allows you to send a Process Impact back to the Impact Implementation task for additional work.

Enter detailed instructions about the additional information required for this process impact, and select the assignee and due date for the task.

Enter any additional comments and your signoff key, and then click the "Return to Impact Implementation" button to sign off your task and initiate a new Impact Implementation task with the specified instructions, assignee, and due date.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will discard anything you have entered and return you to the Review Process Impact Implementation page.

Sign Off Review Process Impact Implementation

Enter any comments, then enter your signoff key and click the "Sign Off" button.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page without signing off on the implementation task.

Activity Logs

Activity logs are used as a standard place to record a documented trail of activities performed during the execution of an assigned task.

The following modules allow users to record activities performed during certain phases of the lifecycle of a process item.

CAPA - Users can record entries in the activity log for a CAPA Request during the investigation phase and make any necessary changes prior to closure.
Complaint - Users can record entries in the activity log for a Complaint during the investigation phase and make any necessary changes prior to closure.

Add/Edit Activity Log Entry

This page allows you to record the results of an activity into the activity log for a process item (e.g., CAPA Request, Complaint, etc.).

For each log entry you should provide a detailed description of the activity performed and the results that were obtained.

You can optionally upload file attachments by clicking the "Add Activity Log Entry Attachment" button (see Add Activity Log Entry Attachment).

To make changes to an existing attachment, click the corresponding "Edit" button in the "Activity Log Entry Attachments" table. Click the "Delete" button for an attachment to remove it from the Activity Log Entry.

Click the "Save" button to save any changes to the Description field and return to the previous page.

Click the "Cancel" button to discard any changes to the Description field and return to the previous page.

Add/Edit Activity Log Entry Attachment

To upload a file containing information about the Activity Log Entry, enter a brief description of the file and then click the "Browse" or "Choose File" button to find and select the file from your local machine. Once you have selected the file, click the "Save" button to upload the file and return to the previous page.

Click the "Cancel" button to discard any changes and return to the previous page.

Associated Parts

The following modules allow users working on a process item to identify parts that are associated with the item:

Complaint Handling - Users authorized to work on a SCAR can identify associated parts.
Supplier Management - Users authorized to work on a SCAR can identify associated parts during the initiation and investigation phases.

Add/Edit Associated Part

Select the part number associated with the process item. The list of parts that can be selected is defined using the Manage Parts page. If you need to select a part that is not listed, contact a Module Administrator or a user with the Part Importer role.

Provide additional detail as possible about the quantity, UDI numbers, serial numbers, and lot numbers.

NOTE: The "Part Quantity", "Part UDI Number(s)", "Part Serial Number(s)", and "Part Lot Number(s)" fields are only displayed if they have been configured for use in your system (see Configure Associated Parts).

Click the "Save" button to record the associated part information and return to the previous page.

Click the "Cancel" button to discard any changes and return to the previous page.

Record Additional Information for Closed Items

Items managed by processes in Grand Avenue Software cannot normally be changed once they have been "closed". Some modules have a configuration option that allows Coordinators to record additional information for items that have been closed.

Consult the Configuration help for a module for more information about how this option can be configured and how Coordinators can record additional information.

Record Additional Information for Closed Item

Enter a description of the information to add to the closed item. You can also select a file to upload by clicking the "Browse" or "Choose File" button to find and select the file from your local machine.

Use the Comments field to enter the justification for recording this information.

Enter your signoff key and click the "Save" button to record this information on the closed process item. The Comments will be recorded in a Record Additional Information for Closed Item task assignment that will be displayed in the Task History table for the process item.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page without recording any information.

Task - Record Additional Information for Closed Item

This task is automatically recorded in the Task History for a process item whenever additional information is recorded after the item was closed (see Record Additional Information for Closed Item).

Integration with CAPA Process

When you indicate that a CAPA request should be initiated for a process item (e.g., Audit Finding, Issue, Complaint, or NCM Report), you will be taken to a page to assist in submitting the request.

If the Grand Avenue Software CAPA module is installed, you will be taken to the Edit CAPA Request page. The request will already be populated with information from the process item, and the process item will be recorded as a "Related Source" for the CAPA Request. You should review all information (particularly the Description and the Affected Articles) prior to submitting the request. The default Source Type is set based on the type of initiating process item and is configurable in the corresponding module's configuration page:

Audit - Configure Audit Process Options
Issue / Complaint - Configure Complaint Process Options
NCM Report - Configure NCM Process Options

If the Grand Avenue Software CAPA module is not installed, you will be taken to the Sign Off Initiate External CAPA page, where you can record information about the CAPA request once you have submitted it into your organization's CAPA process.

Task - Initiate External CAPA

The Initiate External CAPA task is assigned when an Issue, Complaint, or NCM Report is determined to require a new CAPA request, but the Grand Avenue Software CAPA module is not activated. The task assignee is responsible for initiating a new CAPA request in the organization's CAPA system to address item. Once that request has been initiated, the assignee can sign off on the task as complete.

Sign Off Initiate External CAPA

The Sign Off Initiate External CAPA page displays a summary view of items requiring a CAPA to assist you in providing any necessary detail on your organization's CAPA request form. Once you have submitted the CAPA request to your organization's process you can sign off on the task.

Record any information about the newly initiated CAPA request into the "Comments" field before entering your signoff key and signing off the task as complete by clicking the "Sign Off" button.

If you are not ready to close this task, click the "Cancel" button to discard your changes.

Shared Configuration Actions

This section describes how Module Administrators can configure Grand Avenue Software. Items in this section may be configured by more than one Module Administrator and used by multiple Grand Avenue Software modules. Module Administrators for the affected modules should reach consensus on configuration options that are shared between modules.

The following features are covered in this section:

Manage Role Assignments (Audit Management, CAPA, Complaint Handling, Design Control, Document Control, Equipment Management, Nonconforming Materials, Supplier Management, Training Management)
Configure Access Lists (Audit Management, CAPA, Complaint Handling, Design Control, Document Control, Equipment Management, Nonconforming Materials, Supplier Management, Training Management)
Configure Review Boards (Design Control, Nonconforming Materials, Supplier Management)
Configure Fields for Module (Audit Management, CAPA, Complaint Handling, Design Control, Document Control, Equipment Management, Nonconforming Materials, Supplier Management, Training Management)
Administrative Update for Field Values (Audit Management, CAPA, Complaint Handling, Design Control, Document Control, Equipment Management, Nonconforming Materials, Supplier Management, Training Management)
Configure Process Impacts for Module (CAPA, Complaint Handling, Document Control, Nonconforming Materials, Supplier Management)
Configure Product Disposition Locations (Document Control, Nonconforming Materials)
Configure Product Disposition Codes (Document Control, Nonconforming Materials)
Configure Associated Parts (Complaint Handling, Supplier Management)
Manage Parts (Complaint Handling, Nonconforming Materials, Supplier Management)
Manage Suppliers (Audit Management, CAPA, Nonconforming Materials, Supplier Management)

Manage Role Assignments

Some Grand Avenue Software modules have roles defined that authorize users to perform specific functions. Module Administrators for each module can use the Manage Role Assignments page to assign roles for that module to one or more users.

The Manage Role Assignments page displays all the roles defined for a module, with a description of what the role entails and the list of users currently assigned to one or more of those roles. For more information about the specific roles for a module, consult the Manage Role Assignments section of the online help for that module.

Click the "Assign Roles for User" button to assign roles to a user not already listed (see Assign Roles for User).

Click the "Edit" button for a user to modify the roles assigned to that user.

Click the "Delete" button for a user to remove all roles assigned to that user.

Assign Roles for User

For each role, review the role's description and then select "Yes" or "No" to indicate whether the role should be assigned to the selected user.

NOTE: You cannot assign new roles to a deactivated user.

Once you have selected all roles that should be assigned to the user, click the "Save Assignments" button.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will discard any changes made and take you back the Manage Role Assignments page.

Configure Access Lists

Some Grand Avenue Software modules have access lists that control access to specific sets of operations for the module.

The Configure Access List page allows Module Administrators to manage a list of users and indicate whether the users in the list are authorized or not authorized to perform the operations associated with that list.

Configure Access List

An access list controls which users are authorized to perform a specific set of operations for a module. The instructions on the page will explain what set of operations are controlled by the access list.

Use the "Access List Type" field to indicate whether the access list contains users that are allowed or denied authorization to perform the set of operations.

If you choose Deny, all users in the system except those in the list will be authorized.
If you choose Allow, only users in the list will be authorized.

If a user is restricted from accessing information by an access list, that user may still be granted temporary authorization:

An open task assignment temporarily authorizes a restricted user to access information about the item associated with that assignment. For example, an external supplier might normally be restricted from viewing information but would be temporarily granted authorization by a review task.
A module-specific role may temporarily authorize a restricted user to access information. For example, in the Design Control module a restricted user assigned as the Project Manager for a project is authorized to view information about that project.

Click the "Add User to List" button to save the list type and add a user to the list (see Add User to Access List).

Click the "Remove" button for a user to remove them from the list.

Click the "Save" button to save the list type and return to the previous page.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page without saving changes.

Add User to Access List

Select a user to add to the access list and click the "Add" button.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page without adding a user to the access list.

Review Boards

Some Grand Avenue Software modules have process steps where a configurable review board is assigned to review and/or approve a proposed item. Module Administrators use the Configure Review Boards page to identify the list of review boards that are required for the process. Each review board has a list of responsibilities that may be required during a review. The user initiating a review will select the appropriate review board from the list, and then select assignees for each of the review board responsibilities applicable for that review.

Configure Review Boards

This page lists the review boards defined for the module.

Click the "Add Review Board" button to add a review board (see Add Review Board).

Click the "Edit" button for a review board to change the name or responsibilities associated with the review board (see Edit Review Board).

Click the "Delete" button for a review board to remove that review board.

Click the "Close" button to return to the previous page.

Add/Edit Review Board

The "Review Board Members" table displays the standard list of responsibilities defined for a review board.

Give a name for the review board that will help users to select the appropriate review board.

Specify the minimum number of assignments, minimum number of unique people and the number of additional reviewer fields to display for this review board.

Click the "Add Member" button to add a new reviewer responsibility to the review board (see Add Review Board Member).

Click the "Edit" button for a review board member to change the responsibility or assign a different default department or assignee (see Edit Review Board Member).

Click the "Delete" button for a review board member to remove that responsibility from the review board.

Click the "Close" button to return to the previous page.

Add/Edit Review Board Member

Enter a short, descriptive name in the "Reviewer Responsibility" field to describe the role that this reviewer will perform when assigned to a review. These names will be displayed as the labels for the list of potential assignees when a user initiates a review.

If the user for a reviewer responsibility should generally be selected from a specific department, enter that department in the "Default Department" field. When the user initiating a review selects a user from the selection list, the list will initially be narrowed to users from this default department (including the department's manager).

If a specific user should generally be assigned to a reviewer responsibility, enter that user in the "Default Assignee" field. This user will be populated as the default for this field when a review is being initiated.

If no "Default Assignee" is specified, the manager of the "Default Department" will be used instead. If neither the "Default Assignee" nor the "Default Department" is specified the field will initially be blank.

In all cases, the assignee can be changed by the user initiating the review.

Click the "Save" button to save your changes and return to the previous page.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page without saving your changes.

Configure Fields for Module

Some Grand Avenue Software modules have fields that can be configured to tailor the module according to your organization's process.

There are four types of configurable fields that a module may include:

Standard fields - The list of valid values for the field can be configured. Consult the online help for this module for information about each field.
Optional coding fields - The name of the field and its list of valid values can be configured. These fields are used to define standards for classifying and searching for data.
Optional custom date fields - The name of the field can be configured. These fields are used to define dates for classifying and searching for data.
Optional extra data fields - The name of the field can be configured. These fields are used to incorporate site-specific information.

The configurable fields for each item will be listed in a table, displaying a summary of the current configuration settings for each field. Click the corresponding "Edit" button for a field to change its configuration settings (see the Edit Configurable Field page).

Once there are at least two coding, custom date or extra data fields active, then an "Edit Display Order" button will appear in each table to allow using drag and drop to specify the field order (see the Reorder Custom Fields page).

To view/export a report about the current settings for the configurable fields for this module, click the "View Configuration Report for Configurable Fields" link (see Configurable Fields Report).

Edit Configurable Field

The Edit Configurable Field page allows you to change the configuration settings for a configurable field. The settings that can be configured vary depending on the type of the field. The following table indicates which settings are configurable for each type of field:

Type of Field	Name	Explanation	Display Order	Is Required?	Display in Summary Tables?	User Assistance	Rows	Valid Values
Standard Fields	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes
Coding Fields	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Custom Date Fields	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Extra Data Fields	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No

The sections below cover each of the properties in this table.

The Configuration Description field shows additional information you will need to know when configuring a particular field.

Click the "Save" button to save your configuration settings and return to the Configure Fields for Module page.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will discard any changes you have made.

Name

Coding fields, custom date fields and extra data fields allow you to configure the Name for the field. The Name is the label to be displayed when viewing, editing, or searching using this field.

Entering a value in the Name field activates a configurable field.

Clearing the Name field deactivates a configurable field.

NOTE: If a configurable field has been populated with values, those values are not cleared from the database when the field is deactivated. As a result, reactivating a previously used field may cause the prior values to be displayed. Module Administrators can use the Administrative Update for Field Values page to update the values in a configurable field for multiple items.

Explanation

Configurable fields have an Explanation, which allows you to provide a description of how this field should be used. It is available to users as a tooltip for the field and displayed on the Default Assistance page for this field.

Clearing the Explanation field will reset it to the System Default.

Display Order

Coding fields, custom date fields and extra data fields allow you to specify the order the field will be displayed. Fields with a lower Display Order value are displayed first. For example, 10 would be displayed before 20. If multiple fields have the same Display Order value, order will be determined alphanumerically using the Field ID. This order will be used whenever custom fields are displayed.

Is Required?

Coding fields, custom date fields and extra data fields allow you to specify whether the field will require a value. If set to "No", the field will be available to fill in, but a value will never be required. If set to "Yes", the field will be required whenever it is available for editing.

Some processes support an additional "Conditionally Required" setting for fields. This will allow the field to be optional early in the process but required later in the process. The task instructions on this page will describe when the field will be required.

For example, the Issue process in the Complaint Handling module can allow fields to be optional during "Submit New Issue" task but required prior to completing the "Review New Issue" task.

Display in Summary Tables?

Each configurable field has a setting that indicates whether it should be displayed in summary tables for process items using this field such as search results.

When set to "Yes" a column for this field will be displayed whenever a table of associated process items is shown.
When set to "No" no column appears for this field.

User Assistance

Configurable fields have assistance links to provide users with additional information on how to determine the appropriate value to enter. The Assistance Label shows the text that will be displayed for the assistance link. If the Default Assistance for a field is not sufficient, you can configure custom assistance using either text or an external web page.

To use simple text as the assistance for a field, set the "Assistance Type" field to "Custom Assistance Text" and use the "Custom Text" field to enter the information that will be displayed to the user.

To use an external web page as the assistance for a field, set the "Assistance Type" field to "Custom Assistance URL" and use the "Custom URL" field to enter the fully qualified URL for the page (including the http:// or https:// prefix). After entering a Custom URL, you should test the assistance link by clicking on it in the "Current Assistance" column on the Configure Fields for Module page.

NOTE: Custom pages should not reside under the Grand Avenue Software application directory on the web server.

To change from a custom assistance page back to the default assistance, set the "Assistance Type" field to "Default Assistance".

Rows

Extra Data fields allow you to configure the number of rows that should be displayed when a user is editing the value of the field. By default, this is set to "1", which displays as a single-line text field.

Valid Values

Standard fields and coding fields allow you to configure the list of Valid Values which are displayed to users when editing or searching using the field.

Click the "Edit Valid Values" button to configure the list of valid values for this field (see the Edit Valid Values page).

If the "Source for Values" setting for the valid values is configured as "A column in a database view", the valid values are cached in memory for performance reasons. This cache is automatically refreshed anytime the system needs to validate a value and is also refreshed on a scheduled basis. However, you can also click the "Refresh Values from Database View" to manually trigger a refresh at any time.

Edit Valid Values

Standard fields and coding fields allow you to configure the list of Valid Values which are displayed to users when editing or searching using the field.

Changing the valid values list does not change the values of any existing items in the system. They will continue to have the same values. If a user arrives at a screen where they are allowed to modify the value in question, they will be forced to choose one of the current valid values in the list.

Automatically including N/A in the list of values

The "Automatically add N/A to values?" field allows you to indicate whether or not the system should insert "N/A" as a valid value whenever this field is displayed. You should use this setting to include N/A as a valid value when a field is not always applicable.

Selecting the source for the list of valid values

The "Source for Values" field allows you to indicate whether the list of values will be manually entered and stored within the Grand Avenue Software database, or if they will instead be retrieved on-demand from an external source, using a SQL Server database view constructed for that purpose.

Entering values as a Comma-Separated List

Select the "Comma separated list of values" option for the "Source for Values" field, then type the list of values into the "Field Valid Values" field. By default, the values are displayed for selection using a drop-down list. If you configure more values for a field than the maximum number of allowed values for a drop-down list values (see Configure System Options), users will either manually type in the value, or select from the list of possible values using a popup window (available from a 'Select…' button).

Syntax for entering valid values:

Valid values are entered as a comma-separated list of values.

Desired Result Data Entry

One
Two
Three One, Two, Three
If a value contains a comma, you must enclose it in quotes.

Desired Result Data Entry

Next Order, On Order or Receiving
Stock
WIP
Finished Goods "Next Order, On Order or Receiving", Stock, WIP, Finished Goods
If a value contains a quote, you must enclose the value in quotes and repeat each inner quote.

Desired Result Data Entry

William Tell
Albert "Al" Einstein
Steven Wright William Tell, "Albert Al Einstein", Steven Wright
Each value in the list must be less than 100 characters long.
Empty and duplicate values will automatically be removed from the list of values.
You do not need to include N/A in the list of values. Instead use the "Automatically add N/A to values?" field (see above).
Clearing the Valid Values field will reset the valid values to the system default (if any).

Desired Result	Data Entry
One Two Three	One, Two, Three

Desired Result	Data Entry
Next Order, On Order or Receiving Stock WIP Finished Goods	"Next Order, On Order or Receiving", Stock, WIP, Finished Goods

Desired Result	Data Entry
William Tell Albert "Al" Einstein Steven Wright	William Tell, "Albert Al Einstein", Steven Wright

Configuring values to be retrieved on-demand from an External Database View

In some cases, it is necessary to configure the values for a field to be retrieved on-demand from an external source. For example, if your organization has an existing ERP database containing a list of customers, you could configure a Grand Avenue Software field to retrieve and display that list of customers as its valid values whenever a user needs to fill in the field.

NOTE: Before you can configure a Grand Avenue Software field in this manner, your SQL Server database administrator must create "database views" that will serve as the link between Grand Avenue Software and the external database. If for any reason these views become unavailable, users will not be able to select a value for the corresponding fields. See Creating SQL Server Views as Valid Value Sources for Configurable Fields for instructions on how the database administrator should set up these views.

Select the "A column in a database view" option for the "Source for Values" field. Then click the "Select…" button for the "Database View Column ID" field to select which SQL Server database view column contains the values for this field. A popup dialog will be displayed, containing a list of all available SQL Server database view columns.

Click the "Select" button for a column to choose it as the source for valid values for this field. Because the values from these columns will be used to fill in short, textual fields, you will only be able to select columns that have a Database Type of "nvarchar" (textual data), and have a Max Length between 0 and 100 characters. Note that the system will automatically remove empty and duplicate values from the list when displaying them to a user.

When you have finished configuring the list of valid values for this field, click the "Save" button to save your configuration settings and return to the previous page.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will discard any changes you have made and return to the previous page.

Creating SQL Server Views as Valid Value Sources for Configurable Fields

This section is intended to assist SQL Server database administrators in creating database views that can be used as the source of valid values for configurable fields in Grand Avenue Software (see the section on Editing Valid Values for configurable fields). If your organization does not have an experienced SQL Server database administrator, contact Grand Avenue Software Support for assistance (support@grandavenue.com).

When a Module Administrator in Grand Avenue Software configures the valid values for a field, they can choose to have the values retrieved on-demand from a SQL Server database view. They are presented with a list of all columns contained in views defined locally to the Grand Avenue Software database. These views should be created by a SQL Server database administrator according to the following constraints:

Views must be created in the Grand Avenue Software database, and the Grand Avenue Software database login must have security permissions to read the source table(s) for the views. To ensure that you have configured the correct permissions, it is recommended that you create the view using the Grand Avenue Software database login and verify that the view can be queried from that login using a SELECT statement.
Views should be defined with columns of type nvarchar with a maximum length less than or equal to 100 characters. See the note below about using the CAST function to convert source columns of different types to a suitable format.
It is recommended that views be constructed with a single column, so that you can use the DISTINCT and ORDER BY clauses to present a unique list of values to the user in a logical order. See the notes below about using these clauses.

The following SQL format is recommended for creating a database view suitable for use as a source of valid values for Grand Avenue Software:

CREATE VIEW ViewName
AS
SELECT DISTINCT TOP 100 PERCENT CAST (ColumnName AS nvarchar(100)) AS ColumnName
FROM ServerName.DatabaseName.SchemaName.TableName
ORDER BY ColumnName

The command above will create a database view named containing a single column. The values for that column will be retrieved from an external table, and will be sorted and filtered down to a distinct list of values in ascending order. Each clause in the SQL command above has a specific purpose:

DISTINCT - Indicates that duplicate values should be removed from the list.
TOP 100 PERCENT - Indicates that all values (100%) from the source table should be considered. Duplicates are still removed by the DISTINCT clause.
CAST (ColumnName AS nvarchar(100)) AS ColumnName - Indicates that the source column should be converted to type "nvarchar" (textual data), with a maximum length of 100 characters. This accomplishes two purposes:
- It establishes the "data type" of the column as "nvarchar", and converts the source data as necessary to that format. While simple data conversion may normally be handled by SQL Server (for example, converting a numeric value (int) to a textual value (nvarchar)), Grand Avenue Software requires that the data type of the column be "nvarchar".
- It also establishes a maximum length of 100 characters, truncating values as necessary. Configurable fields in Grand Avenue Software are currently limited to 100 characters in length, and this clause ensures that the user does not select a value longer than 100 characters.
FROM ServerName.DatabaseName.SchemaName.TableName - This syntax for the table name allows the SQL Server administrator to specify either a table in a different, local database (DatabaseName.SchemaName.TableName), or a table in a SQL Server instance on a different server (ServerName.DatabaseName.SchemaName.TableName).
ORDER BY ColumnName - Indicates that the final list of values should be sorted in ascending order.

Example - Create a view containing a list of standard customer IDs obtained from a customer list (CustomerList) in a database (CrmDatabase) on the same server:

CREATE VIEW CustomerIDView
AS
SELECT DISTINCT TOP 100 PERCENT CustomerID
FROM CrmDatabase.CrmLogin.CustomerList
ORDER BY CustomerID

After you have created a view, you should verify that the Grand Avenue Software database user can successfully query the view.

SELECT CustomerID FROM CustomerIDView

Once you have created and verified the view, Module Administrators can sign into the system and verify that the view columns are available for use in configuring fields (see the Edit Valid Values page).

Valid values pulled from the database view will be cached in memory for performance reasons. This cache is automatically refreshed anytime the system needs to validate a value (in order to ensure the list is up to date), and is also refreshed on a scheduled basis (in order to prevent a user from having to wait for the cache to be repopulated). However, you can also click the "Refresh Values from Database View" on the Edit Configurable Field page to manually trigger a refresh at any time.

For additional assistance with this feature, contact Grand Avenue Software Support (support@grandavenue.com).

Reorder Custom Fields

This page will display a row for each active custom field for the corresponding process item. You can reorder the rows using drag and drop. The top fields will be displayed first. The "Display Order" will be updated for all custom fields for the corresponding item.

Active fields will have a "Display Order" in increments of 10 (i.e. 10, 20, 30, etc.).
Inactive fields will have their "Display Order" reset to 0.

Click the "Save" button to save your changes and return to the previous page.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page without saving your changes.

Configurable Fields Report

This page displays a list of all configurable fields defined for the module.

Each row in the table represents a single configurable field and its corresponding configuration settings.

The report can also be downloaded as a delimited text file, suitable for viewing in Excel.

Use the "File Format" field to indicate the format for the delimited text file.

CSV - A simple delimited text file format used by Microsoft Excel (saved as "CSV (Comma delimited)").
Unicode Text - A tab-delimited Unicode text file format used by Microsoft Excel that supports non-Latin characters (saved as "Unicode Text").

Use the "List Separator" field to specify the delimiter to be used when exporting the CSV file format. By default, the delimiter is set to the list separator for your locale, so you should only need to change this setting when exporting a CSV file for a different locale.

Click the "Export Report to Excel" button to download the report.

Click the "Close" button to close the window.

Administrative Update for Field Values

Some Grand Avenue Software modules allow Module Administrators to make administrative corrections to specific fields on process items. This includes any coding fields, custom date fields or extra data fields that have been configured to tailor the module according to your organization's process (see Configure Fields for Module).

This administrative update ability is intended to be used:

For setting the initial value of a custom field for existing items when a new custom field is introduced
For updating the values of an existing coding field when the valid values for the field are changed
For updating the values of an existing custom field for items that can no longer be changed in process (e.g. obsolete documents, closed CAPA Requests, etc.)
For making out-of-process administrative corrections to specific fields that allow this type of change

The Administrative Update for Field Values page allows Module Administrators to use a batch process to administratively update the values of a single field for multiple items.

Administrative Update for Field Values

To perform an administrative update of the values for a field for multiple items, you must first create a single delimited text file that contains all of the identifying information for those items and the corresponding values that will be updated. See the instructions below on how to format the input file.

Use the "File Format" field to indicate the format used to create the delimited text file.

CSV - A simple delimited text file format used by Microsoft Excel (saved as "CSV (Comma delimited)").
Unicode Text - A tab-delimited Unicode text file format used by Microsoft Excel that supports non-Latin characters (saved as "Unicode Text").

If your delimited text file uses the CSV format, specify the List Separator that is used as the delimiter. By default, the delimiter is already set to the list separator used by Excel when saving a CSV file for your locale, so you only need to change this setting when working with a CSV file created by Excel in another locale.

After specifying the File Format for your delimited text file, you can click the "Download" link to download a Template Delimited Text File in that format with all of the necessary columns.

Set the "Field to Update" field to the name of the field that will be updated using the values in the Field Value column of the delimited text file. The new values in the supplied in delimited text file must be valid for the field that will be updated. For example, for coding fields these values must be defined as valid values for the field (see Configure Fields for Module), whereas for extra data fields any non-empty value is acceptable.

Once you have prepared the delimited text file for import, click the "Browse" or "Choose File" button to find and select the file from your local machine.

Use the "Comments" field to provide a brief description of the reason for updating the field values. These comments will be visible in a corresponding Administrative Update task assignment in the Task History for each of the changed items. Additionally, the system automatically records a description of the updated value in the Task Results field of the task assignment.

For example, in a system where CodingField1 had been configured as Color, changing the Color field for an item from Red to Blue would be displayed as "Updated Color(CodingField1) from 'Red' to 'Blue'".

Enter your signoff key and click the "Update Field Values" button. The system will report the number of items that were updated.

If any errors are found in the input file, no items will be updated and a summary of all the errors will be displayed. Once you have corrected the errors in the input file, you can start the process again by re-selecting the file and clicking the "Update Field Values" button.

Click the "Cancel" button to return to the previous page.

File Format for Update Field Values

The input file to the import process must be formatted as follows:

The file must be a delimited text file, preferably created by Excel using one of the following formats:
- CSV - A simple delimited text file format used by Microsoft Excel (saved as "CSV (Comma delimited)").
- Unicode Text - A tab-delimited Unicode text file format used by Microsoft Excel that supports non-Latin characters (saved as "Unicode Text").
Delimited text files using the CSV format must also specify the "list separator" character for a locale as the delimiter between values. For example, the list separator for English is a comma, while the list separator for Danish is a semi-colon.
Each line represents a separate item, with the following values delimited by the list separator:
- The identifying fields for the item - one or more columns used to identify the item that will be updated. The list of columns is displayed on the page.
- The Field Value - the new field value for this item
Spaces should not be included before or after the list separators. (For example, use "A,B,C" instead of "A, B, C").
Blank lines are not allowed.
The first line of the file may contain column headers. The import process will automatically ignore this line if it begins with the name of the first identifying field for the type of items being updated.

Task - Administrative Update

This task is automatically recorded in the Task History for a process item whenever a field value is administratively updated (see Administrative Update for Field Values).

Configure Process Impacts for Module

The Configure Process Impacts for Module page is used by Module Administrators to define the types of Process Impacts that should be considered as part of the business processes for that module.

For details about how process impacts are used in a module, click the corresponding link below:

The Configure Process Impacts for Module page shows the Process Impacts currently defined for the module. Each Process Impact has a descriptive name that will be displayed to users during the corresponding process for that module.

Click the "Add Process Impact" button to add a new Process Impact to the system (see Add Process Impact Definition).

Click the "Edit" button to edit a Process Impact (see Edit Process Impact Definition).

Click the "Delete" button to delete a Process Impact from the system. This does not affect existing process items, only newly created ones.

If all Process Impact definitions have been deleted from a system, you can restore the default impacts by clicking the "Add Default Process Impacts" button.

NOTE: If a module does not have process impacts, this button will not be displayed.

To rename a Process Impact, you must delete the existing Process Impact and then add a new one with the correct name to the system.

To view/export a report about the current settings for the Process Impacts for this module, click the "View Configuration Report for Process Impacts" link (see Process Impact Definitions Report).

Clicking the "Close" button will return you to the main Configuration page for the module.

Add/Edit Process Impact Definition

When adding a new Process Impact Definition, the "Impact Name" field allows you to provide a unique, descriptive name that users will see when submitting new process items configured with the process impact.

The remaining fields are used to provide additional information to users about the field, and define its behavior for the specified process item:

Instructions - Provides instructions that will be displayed to the user when evaluating whether a process impact is applicable for a process item.
Process Item Types - A module may allow you to configure an impact to only apply to certain types of process items.
- For example, Document Control Module Administrators may configure an impact to only apply to Change Requests and not Deviation Requests. The Process Item Types field is used for this. If a module does not have this capability, this field will not be displayed.
- See Process Impacts Overview for the Document Control Module for specific information about how this applies to the Document Control processes.
- See Process Impacts Overview for the Supplier Management Module for specific information about how this applies to the Supplier Management processes.
Applicable Items - A module may allow you to configure an impact to be applicable in certain circumstances. For example, the Document Control Module allows you to specify process impacts that will be added only after a document of a specific type is added to a request.
- NOTE: Process impacts that are only applicable in certain circumstances may be added after the associated process item is initiated. To ensure that these additional process impacts are reviewed for applicability, either or both of the following configuration settings are recommended:
  - Default value for "Is Impact Applicable?" - Set the default value to "Empty"
  - Is Description required even if impact not applicable - Set the value to "Yes" to have it applicable by default
- See Process Impacts Overview for the Document Control Module for specific information about how this applies to the Document Control processes.
Default value for "Is Impact Applicable?" - Indicates whether the impact will initially be considered applicable or not applicable for the process item. If you specify "Empty", no default will be provided, and the user will be forced to evaluate the impact to determine its applicability to the process item.
Is Description required even if impact not applicable? - When a user indicates that a process impact is applicable for a process item, they are required to provide a corresponding description. Set this field to "Yes" if users should be required to provide a justification when an impact is not applicable.
Is an Impact Implementation task required if impact applicable? - Indicates whether marking this impact as applicable will require a follow-up implementation task to be assigned by the Coordinator after the process item has been approved. These Impact Implementation tasks can only be assigned if this impact is applicable. If the impact is configured to require an implementation task, the following fields will also be activated:
- Default instructions for the Impact Implementation task - Use this field to indicate the default instructions for the implementation task. The instructions should describe the follow-up actions that will commonly need to be taken by the assignee.
- Default assignee for the Impact Implementation task - You can also select a user that will be the default assignee for the implementation task. The Module Coordinator for the process item will later be allowed to adjust the instructions and assignee when assigning these tasks.
- Is a Review Impact Implementation task required after the Impact Implementation task? - Indicate whether a Coordinator should be assigned a Review Impact Implementation task, to review the results recorded during the Impact Implementation task.

Once you have completed describing the new Process Impact, click the "Save" button to save it and return to the previous page.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page without saving your changes.

Import Process Impact Definitions

To import information about multiple process impact definitions at once, you must first create a single delimited text file that contains the information for those definitions. See the instructions below on how to format the input file.

Use the "File Format" field to indicate the format used to create the delimited text file.

CSV - A simple delimited text file format used by Microsoft Excel (saved as "CSV (Comma delimited)").
Unicode Text - A tab-delimited Unicode text file format used by Microsoft Excel that supports non-Latin characters (saved as "Unicode Text").

After specifying the File Format for your delimited text file, you can click the "Download" link to download a Template Delimited Text File in that format with all of the necessary columns.

Once you have prepared your delimited text file for import, click the "Browse" or "Choose File" button to find and select the file from your local machine, and then click the "Import Process Impact Definitions" button. The system will report the number of definitions imported.

If any errors are found in the input file, no definitions will be imported and a summary of all the errors will be displayed. Once you have corrected the errors in the input file, you can start the import again by re-selecting the file and clicking the "Import Process Impact Definitions" button.

Click the "Cancel" button to return to the previous page.

File Format for Import Process Impact Definitions

The input file to the import process must be formatted as follows:

The file must be a delimited text file, preferably created by Excel using one of the following formats:
- CSV - A simple delimited text file format used by Microsoft Excel (saved as "CSV (Comma delimited)").
- Unicode Text - A tab-delimited Unicode text file format used by Microsoft Excel that supports non-Latin characters (saved as "Unicode Text").
Delimited text files using the CSV format must also specify the "list separator" character for a locale as the delimiter between values. For example, the list separator for English is a comma, while the list separator for Danish is a semi-colon.
Each line represents a separate process impact definition, with the following values delimited by the list separator. The help section for the Add/Edit Process Impact Definition page explains the purpose for each of these fields.
- Impact Name
- Instructions
- Process Item Types (Only applies to Document Control and Supplier Management modules)
  - For Document Control, the valid values are "Only Document Change Requests", "Only Deviation Requests", and "All Process Items"
  - For Supplier Management, the valid values are "Only Supplier Evaluations", "Only SCARs", and "All Process Items"
- Only Applicable to Specific Items? (Only applies to Document Control module)
  - For Document Control, indicate (Yes/No) whether the process impact applies only to specific document types
- Applicable Items (Only applies to Document Control module)
  - If you answered "Yes" to the previous question, list the document types to which the process impact applies (for example, "Plan,Protocol,Procedure").
- Default for "Applicable?" - Indicate the default answer that should be displayed to users. Valid values are "Yes", "No", and "Empty".
- Description Always Required - Indicate (Yes/No) whether users must enter a justification even if the process impact is not applicable
- Implementation Task Required - Indicate (Yes/No) whether marking the impact as applicable will require the Coordinator to assign an implementation task
- Implementation Task Instructions
- Implementation Task Assignee (Optional)
Spaces should not be included before or after the list separators. (For example, use "A,B,C" instead of "A, B, C").
Blank lines are not allowed.
The first line of the file may contain column headers. The import process will ignore this line if it begins with "Impact Name".

Process Impact Definitions Report

This page displays a list of all Process Impacts defined for the module.

Each row in the table represents a single Process Impact and its corresponding configuration settings.

The report can also be downloaded as a delimited text file, suitable for viewing in Excel.

Use the "File Format" field to indicate the format for the delimited text file.

CSV - A simple delimited text file format used by Microsoft Excel (saved as "CSV (Comma delimited)").
Unicode Text - A tab-delimited Unicode text file format used by Microsoft Excel that supports non-Latin characters (saved as "Unicode Text").

Click the "Export Report to Excel" button to download the report.

Click the "Close" button to close the window.

Configure Product Disposition Locations

Product Disposition Locations are used by the Nonconforming Materials and Document Control processes.

The Configure Product Disposition Locations page is used by the NCM and Document Control Module Administrators to define the set of locations for which products may need to be dispositioned as a result of a Change Request or a set of locations in which Nonconforming Materials may be identified.

The currently defined set of locations is displayed on the screen, each with a descriptive name that will be displayed to users during the Change Request and Nonconforming Materials processes.

If the Nonconforming Materials module is activated, a Process / Operation List column is displayed in the table, along with a corresponding Edit button. The Process / Operation List is an optional list of processes or operations to help pinpoint where in a particular location (e.g., Calibration and Sterilization might be operations in the WIP location).

Click the "Add Product Disposition Location" button to add a new location to the system (see the Add Product Disposition Location page).

Click the "Edit" button to edit the Process / Operation List for a particular location (see the Edit Product Disposition Location page).

Click the "Delete" button to delete a particular location from the system.

If all Product Disposition Locations have been deleted from the system, you can use the "Add Default Product Disposition Locations" button to re-initialize the out-of-the-box codes defined by Grand Avenue Software.

To rename a location, delete the incorrectly named location and then add a new one with the correct location.

Clicking the "Close" button will return you to the module configuration page.

Add Product Disposition Location

Enter the name of the new Product Location you wish to add to the system, and then click the "Add Product Disposition Location" button.

If the Nonconforming Material Module is activated, you will also see the Process / Operation List field. This is a coma separated list of Processes and/or Operations within this location that you wish to track separately. A value of N/A indicates there are no processes or operations for this Disposition Location. See Edit Valid Values for details for editing a comma-separated list.

NOTE: The Process / Operation field is only used by Nonconforming Materials and is ignored by the Document Control process.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page without adding the new location.

Edit Product Disposition Location

The Process / Operation List is a comma-separated list of Processes and/or Operations within this location that you wish to track separately. A value of N/A indicates there are no processes or operations for this Disposition Location. See Edit Valid Values for details for editing a comma-separated list.

NOTE: The Process / Operation field is only used by Nonconforming Materials and is ignored by the Document Control process.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page without adding the new location.

Configure Product Disposition Codes

The Configure Product Disposition Codes page is used by the NCM and Document Control Module Administrators to define the codes that will be used to indicate the disposition of a product at each Product Location. This list of codes is shared by the Nonconforming Materials and Document Control processes.

The Configure Product Disposition Codes page shows the codes currently defined in the system. The page separates the disposition codes into two separate tabs:

Active Product Disposition Codes - A list of all disposition codes that are currently active and can be selected during the NCM and Document Control processes.
Inactive Product Disposition Codes - A list of all disposition codes that have been deactivated. These disposition codes can no longer be selected during the NCM and Document Control processes. However, users can still select these codes when searching for NCM Reports or Document Change Requests.

Each code in the table has a descriptive name that will be displayed to users, and a flag that indicates whether justification or additional instructions must be provided on how to handle the disposition during rollout.

If the Nonconforming Materials module is activated:

Each code will indicate whether resulting quantities for dispositions using that code will be filled in automatically by the system or manually determined by the user. See the Add Product Disposition Code page for more details.
Each code will indicate whether it is eligible to be used on NCM Reports that go through the Immediate Disposition Process. Selecting "Yes" on for any Code enables the Immediate Disposition feature in the system. See the Add Product Disposition Code page for more details.

Click the "Add Product Disposition Code" button to add a new code to the system (see the Add Product Disposition Code page).

Click the "Edit" button to edit a particular Product Disposition Code (see the Edit Product Disposition Code page).

Click the "Delete" button to delete a particular Product Disposition Code from the system.

If all Product Disposition Codes have been deleted from the system, you can use the "Add Default Product Disposition Codes" button to re-initialize the out-of-the-box codes defined by Grand Avenue Software.

To deactivate a disposition code on the "Active Product Disposition Codes" tab, click its corresponding "Deactivate" button.

To reactivate a disposition code on the "Inactive Product Disposition Codes" tab, click its corresponding "Activate" button.

Clicking the "Close" button will return you to the module configuration page.

Add Product Disposition Code

Enter the name of the new Product Disposition Code you wish to add to the system and indicate whether this disposition code requires justification and/or additional disposition instructions when this code is selected.

NOTE: You cannot use the value N/A as a product disposition code name. This is reserved by the system and will automatically be added to the end of the product disposition code valid value list for Document Change Requests. The Nonconforming Materials module does not make use of the N/A disposition code.

If the Nonconforming Materials Module is activated:

You will need to specify whether the Accepted and Rejected quantities resulting from this disposition code will be determined by the user or set automatically by the system. The system can be configured to record materials as "All Accepted" (for example, in the case a common "Use As Is" disposition) or "All Rejected" (for example, in the case of a common "Scrap" disposition). If the code is configured to be "Determined by User", the assigned user will be responsible for recording the correct quantities of material that were accepted and rejected as a result of the disposition. For example, in the case of a common "Rework and Sort" disposition, a user performing the rework procedure and inspecting the results for a batch of 25 parts might end up with 15 accepted parts and 10 rejected parts.
You will also need to specify if this code can be used in the Immediate Disposition process. If "Yes" is chosen, users will be able to select this code when immediately dispositioning nonconforming materials.
- NOTE: Whenever you add or remove a disposition code from the list of codes allowed for Immediate Disposition, you should review the content of the User Assistance link for "When can materials be Immediately Dispositioned?", and make any updates necessary to reflect your organization's policy (see Configure User Assistance).

Click the "Add Product Disposition Code" button to add this custom disposition code to the system and return to the previous page.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page without adding the new disposition code.

Edit Product Disposition Code

Indicate whether this disposition code requires justification and/or additional disposition instructions when this code is selected. If the Nonconforming Materials Module is activated, you can also indicate how the Accepted and Rejected quantities for a disposition code will be determined, as well as whether this code can be used in the Immediate Disposition process (see the Add Product Disposition Code page).

NOTE: To rename a Product Disposition Code, deactivate or delete the incorrectly named code and then add a new one with the correct name.

Click the "Save" button to record your changes and return to the previous page.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page without saving your changes.

Configure Associated Parts

The Complaint Handling and Supplier Management modules allow users to identify parts that are associated with process items in those modules (e.g., associated parts for Issues or SCARs). The configuration settings on this page control what additional part-related information can be recorded for each associated part. If any of these options are changed to "No", the corresponding field will not be displayed, and any information previously entered will no longer be available via searching and charting (though it will always be available in the audit trail).

Record Part Quantity for Associated Parts?

Indicate whether the system allows quantities to be recorded for associated parts.

Record Part UDI Numbers for Associated Parts?

Indicate whether the system allows Unique Device Identifier (UDI) numbers to be recorded for associated parts.

Record Part Serial Numbers for Associated Parts?

Indicate whether the system allows serial numbers to be recorded for associated parts.

Record Part Lot Numbers for Associated Parts?

Indicate whether the system allows lot numbers to be recorded for associated parts.

Click the "Save" button to record your changes and return to the module configuration page.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the module configuration page without saving your changes.

Manage Parts

The Complaint Handling, Nonconforming Materials and Supplier Management modules allow users to refer to parts that have been pre-defined in the system. The Manage Parts page is used by the associated Module Administrators to manage the list of parts that can be referenced in those processes. Users assigned the Part Importer role are also authorized to use the Manage Parts page. See Manage Role Assignments for information on how the System Administrator can assign this role. NOTE: Associated Module Administrators may also assign this role using the Manage Role Assignments page for their module.

When a new part is introduced into the organization, it must be added to this list before users will be able to select it for process items such as Issues or NCM Reports. If a part is deactivated it can no longer be selected.

Administrators for modules that rely on the standard list of parts are responsible for defining the list of possible Units of Measure for the system. As Parts are added to the system, they are assigned a standard Unit of Measure. When users record a quantity for that Part on an NCM Report Entry, the amount is in terms of that Unit of Measure (e.g., "3 EA" or "27.5 IN").

See the Edit Configurable Field page for more information on how to modify the list of valid values for this field.

The Manage Parts page has links to the following actions:

Add Part - Add a new part to the system
Import Parts - Batch import multiple parts into the system
Edit Part - Edit an existing part in the system
Delete Parts - Delete one or more parts from the system
Deactivate Parts - Deactivate one or more parts
Activate Parts - Reactivate one or more previously deactivated parts
Administrative Update for Part Field Values - Used by Module Administrators to make administrative corrections to the values of the following fields for existing Parts:
- Part Name
- Part Number
- Unit of Measure (only supported for parts not referenced by NCM Report Entries)
- Any custom fields configured for Parts (see Configure Fields for Module)

Add Part

Enter the official part number, name, and standard unit of measure for the part you wish to add to the system. Then click the "Add Part" button to save the part and return to the previous page.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page without adding the new part.

Select Part to Edit

This page allows you to search for and select a part to be edited.

Fill in any applicable search criteria and click the "Search" button to find the part in question. Then, click the corresponding "Select" button for the part to proceed to the Edit Part page.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page.

Edit Part

Make any necessary changes to the part, then click the "Save" button to record the change and return to the previous page.

NOTE: The Unit of Measure for a part cannot be modified if it is referenced by any NCM Report Entries.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page without saving your changes.

Delete Parts

This page allows you to search for and select one or more parts to be deleted.

Fill in any applicable search criteria and click the "Search" button to find the parts to be deleted.

Use the checkboxes to select the parts to be deleted and click the "Delete Selected Parts" button. The parts will be permanently deleted from the system.

NOTE: A part cannot be deleted once it has been referenced by an NCM Report.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page.

Deactivate Parts

This page allows you to deactivate one or more parts. Deactivated parts cannot be used when selecting a part for process items such as Issues or NCM Reports.

Fill in any applicable search criteria and click the "Search" button to find the parts to be deactivated.

Use the checkboxes to select the parts to be deactivated and click the "Deactivate Selected Parts" button. The "Is Part Active?" status for each of the parts will be changed to "No".

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page.

Activate Parts

This page allows you to activate one or more previously deactivated parts.

Fill in any applicable search criteria and click the "Search" button to find the parts to be activated.

Use the checkboxes to select the parts to be activated and click the "Activate Selected Parts" button. The "Is Part Active?" status for each of the parts will be changed to "Yes".

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page.

Import Parts

To import information about multiple parts at once, you must first create a single delimited text file that contains all the information for those parts. See the instructions below on how to format the input file.

Use the "File Format" field to indicate the format used to create the delimited text file.

CSV - A simple delimited text file format used by Microsoft Excel (saved as "CSV (Comma delimited)").
Unicode Text - A tab-delimited Unicode text file format used by Microsoft Excel that supports non-Latin characters (saved as "Unicode Text").

After specifying the File Format for your delimited text file, you can click the "Download" link to download a Template Delimited Text File in that format with all the necessary columns.

Once you have prepared your delimited text file for import, click the "Browse" or "Choose File" button to find and select the file from your local machine, and then click the "Import Parts" button. The system will report the number of parts imported.

If any errors are found in the input file, no parts will be imported and a summary of all the errors will be displayed. Once you have corrected the errors in the input file, you can start the import again by re-selecting the file and clicking the "Import Parts" button.

Click the "Cancel" button to return to the previous page.

File Format for Import Parts

The input file to the import process must be formatted as follows:

The file must be a delimited text file, preferably created by Excel using one of the following formats:
- CSV - A simple delimited text file format used by Microsoft Excel (saved as "CSV (Comma delimited)").
- Unicode Text - A tab-delimited Unicode text file format used by Microsoft Excel that supports non-Latin characters (saved as "Unicode Text").
Delimited text files using the CSV format must also specify the "list separator" character for a locale as the delimiter between values. For example, the list separator for English is a comma, while the list separator for Danish is a semi-colon.
Each line represents a separate part, with the following values delimited by the list separator:
- The part number
- The part name
- The standard unit of measure for the part (e.g., EA)
- Spaces should not be included before or after the list separators. (For example, use "A,B,C" instead of "A, B, C").
- Blank lines are not allowed.
- The first line of the file may contain column headers. The import process will ignore this line if it begins with "Part Number".

Manage Suppliers

The Audit Management, CAPA, Nonconforming Materials and Supplier Management modules allow users to refer to suppliers that have been predefined in the system. The Manage Suppliers page allows authorized users to perform administrative actions necessary to manage suppliers in the Grand Avenue system.

The page has links to the following actions:

Add Supplier - Add a new supplier to the system.
Import Suppliers - Batch import multiple suppliers into the system.
Edit Supplier - Edit an existing supplier in the system.
Delete Suppliers - Delete one or more suppliers from the system.
Deactivate Suppliers - Deactivate one or more suppliers.
Activate Suppliers - Reactivate one or more previously deactivated suppliers
Administrative Update for Supplier Field Values - Used by Module Administrators for the Audit Management, CAPA, NCM and Supplier Management modules to make administrative corrections to the values of the following fields for existing Suppliers:
- Address
- Contact Name
- Email
- Phone
- Supplier Description
- Website
- Any custom fields configured for Suppliers (see Configure Fields for Module)

Additional Capabilities from Supplier Management Module

The Supplier Management module adds two fields to suppliers:

Approval Status - Indicates the current approval status of the supplier, and is used to determine if it appears on the organization's Approved Supplier List. See the Change Controlled Supplier Fields section of the Supplier Management online help for more information.
Controlled by Supplier Management? - Indicates whether a supplier is under the control of the Supplier Management module and can no longer be changed by other Module Administrators. The field is automatically set to "Yes" whenever any of the following are true:
- The supplier has an Approval Status
- The supplier has a Supplier Evaluation that has not been withdrawn.

Add/Edit Supplier

Use the Supplier Name/ID field to enter a unique identifier for the supplier. You can optionally use the Description and contact information fields to record more information about the supplier.

When the Supplier Management module is activated, an additional "Change Controlled Supplier Fields" button is displayed for Supplier Management Module Coordinators, allowing them to administratively change the Approval Status for suppliers (see Change Controlled Supplier Fields in the Supplier Management help). The button is disabled if the supplier has an open Supplier Evaluation.

To upload a file containing information about the supplier, click the "Add Supplier Attachment" button. This will save the supplier and take you to the Add Supplier Attachment page.

To edit or delete a previously uploaded attachment, click the corresponding button in the "Supplier Attachments" table.

Click the "Save" button to save the supplier and return to the previous page.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page without saving any changes.

Add/Edit Supplier Attachment

To upload a file containing information about a supplier, enter a brief description of the file and then click the "Browse" or "Choose File" button to find and select the file from your local machine. Once you have identified the file, click the "Save" button to upload the file and return to the Edit Supplier page.

If you have chosen to make a change to a previously uploaded file, the page will display a link to the current version. You can replace the current version by selecting another file.

Click the "Cancel" button to discard any changes and return to the Edit Supplier page.

Import Suppliers

To import information about multiple suppliers at once, you must first create a single delimited text file that contains all the information for those suppliers. See the instructions below on how to format the input file.

Use the "File Format" field to indicate the format used to create the delimited text file.

CSV - A simple delimited text file format used by Microsoft Excel (saved as "CSV (Comma delimited)").
Unicode Text - A tab-delimited Unicode text file format used by Microsoft Excel that supports non-Latin characters (saved as "Unicode Text").

After specifying the File Format for your delimited text file, you can click the "Download" link to download a Template Delimited Text File in that format with all of the necessary columns.

Once you have prepared your delimited text file for import, click the "Browse" or "Choose File" button to find and select the file from your local machine, and then click the "Import Suppliers" button. The system will report the number of suppliers imported.

If any errors are found in the input file, no suppliers will be imported and a summary of all the errors will be displayed. Once you have corrected the errors in the input file, you can start the import again by re-selecting the file and clicking the "Import Suppliers" button.

Click the "Cancel" button to return to the previous page.

File Format for Import Suppliers

The input file to the import process must be formatted as follows:

The file must be a delimited text file, preferably created by Excel using one of the following formats:
- CSV - A simple delimited text file format used by Microsoft Excel (saved as "CSV (Comma delimited)").
- Unicode Text - A tab-delimited Unicode text file format used by Microsoft Excel that supports non-Latin characters (saved as "Unicode Text").
Delimited text files using the CSV format must also specify the "list separator" character for a locale as the delimiter between values. For example, the list separator for English is a comma, while the list separator for Danish is a semi-colon.
Each line represents a separate supplier, with the following values delimited by the list separator:
- Supplier Name/ID - the unique id for the supplier
- Supplier Description - an optional description of the supplier
- Spaces should not be included before or after the list separators. (For example, use "A,B,C" instead of "A, B, C").
- Blank lines are not allowed.
- The first line of the file may contain column headers. The import process will ignore this line if it begins with "Supplier Name/ID".

Select Supplier to Edit

This page allows you to search for and select a supplier to be edited.

Fill in any applicable search criteria and click the "Search" button to find the supplier in question. Then, click the corresponding "Select" button for the supplier to proceed to the Edit Supplier page.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page.

Delete Suppliers

This page allows you to search for and select one or more suppliers to be deleted.

NOTE: If a supplier is controlled by the Supplier Management module, it cannot be deleted.

Fill in any applicable search criteria and click the "Search" button to find the suppliers to be deleted.

Use the checkboxes to select the suppliers to be deleted and click the "Delete Selected Suppliers" button. The suppliers will be permanently deleted from the system.

NOTE: A supplier cannot be deleted once it has been referenced by another process item such as an NCM Report.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page.

Deactivate Suppliers

This page allows you to deactivate one or more suppliers. Deactivated suppliers cannot be used when selecting a supplier for process items such as Issues or NCM Reports.

Fill in any applicable search criteria and click the "Search" button to find the suppliers to be deactivated.

Use the checkboxes to select the suppliers to be deactivated and click the "Deactivate Selected Suppliers" button. The "Is Supplier Active?" status for each of the suppliers will be changed to "No".

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page.

Activate Suppliers

This page allows you to activate one or more previously deactivated suppliers.

Fill in any applicable search criteria and click the "Search" button to find the suppliers to be activated.

Use the checkboxes to select the suppliers to be activated and click the "Activate Selected Suppliers" button. The "Is Supplier Active?" status for each of the suppliers will be changed to "Yes".

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page.

Review Configuration

System Administrators and Module Administrators may be assigned tasks to review new or modified configuration options for a module.

Task - Review Configuration

This task is created to notify the user responsible for the configuration of a module that a configuration option has either been newly introduced or changed as a result of an upgrade. The user should review the configuration setting and set it according to the process defined for their organization.

Review Configuration

Review the "Additional Instructions" for this upgrade to determine the configuration change that must be verified. A "View Configuration Page" link will take you to the actual module configuration page where you can review and modify the value for the configuration setting.

After you have reviewed the setting and made any necessary changes, click the "Proceed to Signoff" button to sign off on the task (see Sign Off Review Configuration).

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to your My Tasks page without signing off on the task.

Sign Off Review Configuration

Enter any comments about your review of the configuration setting, then enter your signoff key and click the "Sign Off" button to close the task.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page without signing off on the task.

Administrative Actions

This section describes how a System Administrator configures the Grand Avenue Software system. In order to perform these operations, you must sign in as a user that has been assigned the System Administrator role. When a system is first initialized, a default account with a User ID of "Administrator" is created with System Administrator privileges to allow you to begin configuring the system.

Manage Departments

Departments are a key organizational concept in Grand Avenue Software. System Administrators are responsible for configuring the set of out-of-the-box departments to correspond with how their company is organized. The list of departments configured by a System Administrator will appear in a drop-down list whenever a user needs to specify a department for a data entry field (e.g., the department primarily responsible for a change request).

System Administrators are also responsible for identifying the "Manager" for each department. A manager must be assigned for each department. When the system is first initialized, the default "Administrator" account is assigned as the manager for all existing departments.

The page has links to the following actions:

Define Departments - Used to add new departments to the system, or make changes to existing departments, including deactivating obsolete departments and reassigning managers for departments.
Administrative Update for Department Field Values - Used by System Administrators to make administrative corrections to the values of the following fields for existing Departments:
- Department Name
- Description

Define Departments

This page allows you to edit the list of departments and their assigned managers.

The page separates the departments into two separate tabs:

Active Departments - A list of all departments that are currently active.
Inactive Departments - A list of all departments that have been deactivated. These departments can no longer be used (e.g., users cannot be assigned to inactive departments).

To add a new department, click the "Add Department" button. You will be taken to the Add Department page, where you will be able to give the new department a name and assign a manager.

To change the manager for a department on the "Active Departments" tab, click its corresponding "Edit" button, which will take you to the Edit Department page.

To delete a department, click its corresponding "Delete" button.

You cannot delete a department that contains users or is referenced by any of the Grand Avenue application modules. For example, a department cannot be deleted if it is the Owning Department for a Document managed by the Document Control module. To rename a department, click its corresponding "Rename" button, which will take you to the Rename Department page. To deactivate a department on the "Active Departments" tab, click its corresponding "Deactivate" button, which will take you to the Deactivate Department page. To reactivate a department on the "Inactive Departments" tab, click its corresponding "Activate" button, which will take you to the Activate Department page.

Add Department

The Add Department page lets you specify the name of the new department, the name of the user that will be assigned as the manager and provide an optional description for the department. Department names must be unique.

NOTE: If the Department Manager has not yet been added as a user in the system, you can leave the default "Administrator" account as the interim value for the Manager. Once an account has been added to the system for the actual Department Manager you can use the "Edit" button on the Define Departments page to identify the correct Manager.

Once you have completed entering the information for the new department, click the "Save" button to add the new department into the system and return to the Define Departments page. Clicking the "Cancel" button will discard the entry for the new department.

Edit Department

The Edit Department page allows you to reassign the manager for a department to a different user and modify the department description.

Once you have selected the new user to act as manager for the department, click the "Save" button to record the assignment and return to the previous page. Clicking the "Cancel" button will discard the assignment change.

Rename Department

This page allows you to change the name of an existing department. All references to this department are automatically updated to the new name.

Enter the new name for the department. Use the "Comments" field to provide a brief description of the reason for updating the department name. These comments will be visible in a corresponding Administrative Update task assignment in the Task History for the department. Additionally, the system automatically records a description of the change in the Task Results field of the task assignment (e.g. "Updated Department Name(Name) from 'Quality' to 'Quality/Regulatory").

Enter your signoff key and click the "Rename Department" button. The name of the department will be updated, the entry will be saved in the Task History, and you will be returned to the previous page.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page without renaming the department.

Deactivate Department

This page allows you to deactivate a department that should no longer be used. When a department has been deactivated it will no longer appear in selection lists for departments. For example, users cannot be assigned to a deactivated department.

Use the "Proxy Department" field to identify a department that will serve as a fallback for specific role responsibilities that apply to users still assigned to the deactivated department.

The manager of the Proxy Department will be authorized to manage task assignments (reassign tasks, change task due dates) for users still assigned to the deactivated department.
The manager of the Proxy Department will be authorized to manage training (training requirements, training completion, etc.) for users still assigned to the deactivated department.

Click the "Deactivate Department" button to deactivate the department and return to the previous page.

If a department is referenced by other items, the system may report that it cannot be deactivated. For example, if active users belong to a department, the system will indicate that the department cannot be deactivated. You would then have to change the department of all active users before deactivating the department.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return to the previous page without deactivating the department.

Activate Department

This page allows you to reactivate a department for use in the system.

Update the description and department manager, if necessary.

Click the "Activate Department" button to activate the department and return to the previous page.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return to the previous page without activating the department.

Manage Users

One of the first things you will need to do is define the users that use the system. Each person that uses Grand Avenue must have their own account with a unique User ID. To reduce confusion these User IDs are commonly the same as the person's Windows account.

Users can be authorized to define user accounts by assigning them the System Administrator role or the Account Management role, using the Manage Role Assignments link on the Configure System page.

System Administrators and users with the Account Management role can use this page to perform the following actions:

Add User - Used to add a new user account to the system.
Edit User - Used to make changes to existing user accounts, including deactivating and reactivating user accounts, and changing user passwords or authentication methods.
Import Users - Used to import multiple user accounts at once.
Import Users with Access Rights - Used import multiple user accounts at once and configure their access rights at the same time.
Manage User Module Access Rights - View a summary report and make changes to module access rights for users.
Administrative Update for User Field Values - Used by Module Administrators to make administrative corrections to the values of the following fields for existing Users:
- Department
- Email Address
- First Name
- Last Name
- User ID
- Any custom fields configured for Users (see Configure Fields for Module)
View User Responsibility Reports - View a summary report of responsibilities for multiple users.
View User Security Report - View a summary report of security information for users.

Add/Edit User

Enter a unique User ID that will be assigned to this user account. The User ID and password are the credentials that the user will enter for authentication on the Sign In page. Because of this, the user should be notified of any changes to these credentials. Any changes to the User ID account will be recorded in a "User ID Change History" table and displayed on the "Info" page for the user account.

Enter the first name and last name for the user. This information is included whenever users are selected or displayed. For example, John Smith's account "jsmith" will be displayed as "Smith, John (jsmith)".

Enter the department that the user belongs to. This department is used by the system to determine the user's department manager for actions like reassigning tasks and managing training.

Enter the email address for an account where the user can receive email notifications sent by the system.

NOTE: For users that do not have email accounts, have a network administrator set up a "dead" mailbox where emails can be sent, to avoid extraneous errors in the event log for email bounces from non-existent addresses.

Indicate which modules or module permissions the user should be authorized to access by setting the fields to "Yes" or "No" for each access right. When adding a user, the values for these fields reflect the default settings for each module's access list.

When adding a new user, you must also indicate how the user will be authenticated. There are two options for this:

Use Active Directory for Authentication - If the system has been configured to allow Active Directory to be used for authentication (see Configure Active Directory Authentication), you can associate a Grand Avenue account with an Active Directory account. When this is done, the user will enter their Active Directory password whenever signing into the system or signing off on tasks.
- Set the "Use Active Directory for Authentication" field to "Yes"
- Enter the fully qualified domain username for the Active Directory account that will be linked to this Grand Avenue account (john.smith@domainname.com).
- NOTE: A given Active Directory account can only be associated with a single Grand Avenue account.
- NOTE: The Active Directory integration has been deprecated and will be removed in a future release.
Use Grand Avenue for Authentication - If a user does not have a corresponding Active Directory account, Grand Avenue will maintain a password for this account, which the user will enter when signing into the system or signing off on tasks.
- Set the "Use Active Directory for Authentication" field to "No".
- Enter the initial password for this account in the "User Password" and "Confirm User Password" fields. Your new password must satisfy the password policies configured by your company (see Configure Password Policy).
- The user will be forced to choose a new password the first time they sign in (see Change Password).

When adding a new user, use the "Send Email With Sign In Information to User?" field to indicate whether or not the system should send an email containing sign in information to the user.

Click the "Save" button to save changes and return to the previous page.

Click the "Cancel" button to discard your changes and return to the previous page.

Select User to Edit

This page allows you to search for and select a user account that requires changes.

Fill in any applicable search criteria and click the "Search" button to find matching users.

To modify information about an existing user account, click its corresponding "Edit" button (see Edit User).

To modify the authentication method for an existing user account, click its corresponding "Change Password Authentication" button (see Change Password Authentication).

If two-factor authentication has been enabled for the system (see Configure Two-Factor Authentication), a "Disable Two-Factor Authentication" button will be displayed for any user that has enabled it for their account. This action will allow you to disable the feature for a user that may have lost access to their authenticator app and can no longer sign into their account (see Disable Two-Factor Authentication for User).

This page also allows you to deactivate or re-activate user accounts. Users cannot deactivate their own accounts, and the built-in "Administrator" account can never be deactivated.

To deactivate a user account, click its corresponding "Deactivate" button (see Deactivate User).
To re-activate a user account, click its corresponding "Activate" button (see Activate User).

To view detailed information about a user account, click its corresponding "Info" link. This page will contain a history of changes to the User ID, as well as a link to view the audit trail for other changes that have been made to the account.

Change Password Authentication

This page allows you to change the password authentication credential for an existing user account.

For user accounts that rely on Grand Avenue for password authentication, you can change the user's current Grand Avenue password. This will reset any account lockouts that may have occurred due to sign in failures, and the user will be forced to choose a new password the next time they sign in.

Setting the Password Authentication Method for a User The available Authentication Methods depend on which features have been enabled in the system. User account password authentication options may include:

Active Directory Password - If the system has been configured to allow Active Directory to be used for authentication (see Configure Active Directory Authentication), you can associate a Grand Avenue account with an Active Directory account. When this is done, the user will enter their Active Directory password whenever signing into the system or signing off on tasks.
- Set the "User Authentication Method" field to "Active Directory Password"
- Set the "Email for Associated Account" field to the value of the "UserPrincipalName" field of the user's Active Directory account (e.g., username@domainName.com).
- NOTE: An Active Directory account can be associated with only a single Grand Avenue account.
- NOTE: The Active Directory integration has been deprecated and will be removed in a future release.
Single Sign On using
- If the system has been configured to allow Single Sign On to be used for authentication (see Configure Single Sign On), you can associate a Grand Avenue account with an account managed by the Identity Provider. When this is done, the user will enter their Identity Provider password whenever signing into the system.
- Set the "User Authentication Method" field to "Single Sign On using "
- Set the "Email for Associated Account" field to the email address of the user's account with the Identity Provider (e.g., username@domainName.com).
- NOTE: A Single Sign On account email address can be associated with only a single Grand Avenue account.
Grand Avenue Internal Password - If a user does not have a corresponding Active Directory or Single Sign On account, Grand Avenue will maintain a local password for this account, which the user will enter when signing into the system or signing off on tasks.
- Set the "User Authentication Method" field to "Grand Avenue Internal Password"
- Enter the initial password for this account in the "User Password" and "Confirm User Password" fields. Your new password must satisfy the password policies configured by your company (see Configure Password Policy).
- The user will be forced to choose a new password the next time they sign in (see Change Password).

Use the "Send Email With Sign In Information to User?" field to indicate whether or not the system should send an email containing updated sign in information to the user.

NOTE: If you are changing a user's Grand Avenue password without sending them an email, the system will automatically send an email notification indicating that their password has been changed, alerting them that they should contact a system administrator for assistance with signing into the system.

To save your changes, enter your signoff key and click the "Save" button.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will discard your changes and return to the previous page.

Disable Two-Factor Authentication for User

Disabling two-factor authentication for the selected user will remove the additional verification step for signing into their account and will only require a username and password for future sign ins.

Enter your password and click the "Confirm" button to disable two-factor authentication for the user's account. The system will automatically send an email notification to the user to alert them that two-factor authentication has been disabled.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return to the previous page without disabling two-factor authentication.

Deactivate User

A user account that is deactivated will no longer be able to sign in and cannot be selected for new task assignments.

Any responsibilities currently assigned to a user account being deactivated should be removed or re-assigned to other users. If the user account has any remaining responsibilities, they will be displayed at the bottom of the page in a User Responsibility Report.

Click the "Deactivate" button to deactivate the user account.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page without deactivating the user account.

Activate User

This page allows you to reactivate a user account that was previously deactivated. If the user account has any responsibilities from before they were deactivated, they will be displayed at the bottom of the page in a User Responsibility Report.

NOTE: If the user's department has been deactivated, you must change the department to an active department before reactivating the user (see Edit User).

Click the "Activate" button to reactivate the user account.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page without reactivating the user account.

Import Users/Import Users with Access Rights

To import information about multiple users at once, you must first create a single delimited text file that contains all the information for those users. See the instructions below on how to format the input file.

Use the "File Format" field to indicate the format used to create the delimited text file.

CSV - A simple delimited text file format used by Microsoft Excel (saved as "CSV (Comma delimited)").
Unicode Text - A tab-delimited Unicode text file format used by Microsoft Excel that supports non-Latin characters (saved as "Unicode Text").

After specifying the File Format for your delimited text file, you can click the "Download" link to download a Template Delimited Text File in that format with all of the necessary columns.

Once you have prepared your delimited text file for import, click the "Browse" or "Choose File" button to find and select the file from your local machine, and then click the "Import Users" button. The system will report the number of users imported.

Use the "Send Email With Sign In Information to Each User?" field to indicate whether or not the system should send an email containing updated sign in information to each of the imported users.

If any errors are found in the input file, no users will be imported and a summary of all the errors will be displayed. Once you have corrected the errors in the input file, you can start the import again by re-selecting the file and clicking the "Import Users" button.

Click the "Cancel" button to return to the previous page without importing users from the selected file.

NOTE: Remember that user accounts can never be deleted from the system.

File Format for Import Users

The input file to the import process must be formatted as follows:

The file must be a delimited text file, preferably created by Excel using one of the following formats:
- CSV - A simple delimited text file format used by Microsoft Excel (saved as "CSV (Comma delimited)").
- Unicode Text - A tab-delimited Unicode text file format used by Microsoft Excel that supports non-Latin characters (saved as "Unicode Text").
Delimited text files using the CSV format must also specify the "list separator" character for a locale as the delimiter between values. For example, the list separator for English is a comma, while the list separator for Danish is a semi-colon.
Each line represents a separate user, with the following values delimited by the list separator:
- The unique User ID for the new user account
- The user's first name
- The user's last name
- The department that the user will be assigned to. This department must already be defined in the system.
- The email address for the user
- Indicate which Authentication Method to be used when the user signs into Grand Avenue. The available Authentication Methods depend on which features have been enabled in the system. User account password authentication options may include:
  - Internal Password - Use a password stored in Grand Avenue
  - Active Directory - Associate this user with an Active Directory account (see Configure Active Directory Authentication)
  - SSO - Associate this user with a Single Sign On account (see Configure Single Sign On)
- The email for the associated account (for Active Directory or Single Sign On). Otherwise, this field should contain the initial Grand Avenue password that will be assigned to the user. The user will be required to change this password the first time they sign into the system.
- If using the "Import Users with Access Rights" feature, indicate which modules or module permissions the user should be authorized to access by setting the fields to "Yes" or "No" for each access right.
Spaces should not be included before or after the list separators. (For example, use "A,B,C" instead of "A, B, C").
Blank lines are not allowed.
The first line of the file may contain column headers. The import process will ignore this line if it begins with "User ID".

Search for Users

The Search for Users page allows authorized users to search for user accounts. See the Searching and Reports section for additional information about searching in Grand Avenue.

Search Criteria

The page displays a set of criteria that can be used to narrow your search to a particular set of users.

Use the following date-based search fields to narrow your search to users that have fields within a specified date range:

Created Date From/To finds users based upon when they were created in Grand Avenue.

Search Results

When a search is performed, summary information is displayed about each user found. You can click on the "Info" link for a user to see more detailed information.

Administrative Update of Authentication Information for Users

To update authentication information about multiple users at once, you must first create a single delimited text file that contains all the information for those users. See the instructions below on how to format the input file.

Use the "File Format" field to indicate the format used to create the delimited text file.

CSV - A simple delimited text file format used by Microsoft Excel (saved as "CSV (Comma delimited)").
Unicode Text - A tab-delimited Unicode text file format used by Microsoft Excel that supports non-Latin characters (saved as "Unicode Text").

After specifying the File Format for your delimited text file, you can click the "Download" link to download a Template Delimited Text File in that format with all the necessary columns.

Once you have prepared your delimited text file for update, click the "Browse" or "Choose File" button to find and select the file from your local machine, and then click the "Import Users" button. The system will report the number of users imported.

Use the "Send Email With Sign In Information to Each User?" field to indicate whether the system should send an email containing updated sign in information to each of the imported users.

If set to "Yes" users will receive an email with their updated sign in information.
If set to "No" users will receive a notification email if their password changes, but the temporary password is not included in the email.

If any errors are found in the input file, no users will be updated and a summary of all the errors will be displayed. Once you have corrected the errors in the input file, you can start the update again by re-selecting the file and clicking the "Update Authentication Information for Users" button.

Click the "Cancel" button to return to the previous page without updating users from the selected file.

File Format for Update Authentication Information for Users

The input file to the update process must be formatted as follows:

The file must be a delimited text file, preferably created by Excel using one of the following formats:
- CSV - A simple delimited text file format used by Microsoft Excel (saved as "CSV (Comma delimited)").
- Unicode Text - A tab-delimited Unicode text file format used by Microsoft Excel that supports non-Latin characters (saved as "Unicode Text").
Delimited text files using the CSV format must also specify the "list separator" character for a locale as the delimiter between values. For example, the list separator for English is a comma, while the list separator for Danish is a semi-colon.
Each line represents a separate user, with the following values delimited by the list separator:
- The unique User ID for the user account to update
- Indicate which Authentication Method to be used when the user signs into Grand Avenue. The available Authentication Methods depend on which features have been enabled in the system. User account password authentication options may include:
  - Internal Password - Use a password stored in Grand Avenue
  - Active Directory - Associate this user with an Active Directory account (see Configure Active Directory Authentication)
  - SSO - Associate this user with a Single Sign On account (see Configure Single Sign On)
- The email for the associated account (for Active Directory or Single Sign On). Otherwise, this field should contain the initial Grand Avenue password that will be assigned to the user.
- The user will be required to change this password the first time they sign into the system.
Spaces should not be included before or after the list separators. (For example, use "A,B,C" instead of "A, B, C").
Blank lines are not allowed.
The first line of the file may contain column headers. The update process will ignore this line if it begins with "User ID".

View User Responsibility Reports

This page allows you to search for a specific set of users and view a summary of their assigned responsibilities in the system.

Fill in any applicable search criteria and click the "Search" button. The search results table will contain a summary of each user's responsibilities in the active modules for the system. You can click the "View Report" link for a user to get a more detailed view of that user's specific responsibilities (see User Responsibility Report).

NOTE: Responsibilities are only displayed for modules that are active and that you are authorized to view.

Clicking the "Close" button will return you to the previous page.

User Responsibility Report

This page displays a report of all responsibilities that are currently assigned to a specific user. This page is intended to be used to assist in reassigning all user responsibilities prior to deactivating a user's account. If the user account has already been deactivated, it may need to be temporarily reactivated in order to remove some responsibilities.

NOTE: Responsibilities are only displayed for modules that are active and that you are authorized to view.

Manage User Module Access Rights

This page allows you to view a summary of module access rights for users in the system and modify the access rights for individual users.

The page displays a set of criteria that can be used to narrow your search to a specific group of users (for example, a report on all the users for a specific department). You can also filter the search results based on specific module access rights for each user (for example, a report of all users with access to the Document Control module).

Fill in any applicable search criteria and click the "Search" button.

The search results table will contain a summary of each user's module access rights in the active modules for the system.

NOTE: Responsibilities are only displayed for modules that are active.

Click the "Export Results to Excel" link to download the search results as a delimited text file for viewing in tools such as Microsoft Excel (see the Export Search Results to Excel page).

To manage the module access rights for a user, click the corresponding "Edit" button to proceed to the Edit User Module Access Rights page.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page.

Edit User Module Access Rights

This page allows you to modify which modules or module permissions the user should be authorized to access.

Indicate which modules or module permissions the user should be authorized to access by setting the fields to "Yes" or "No" for each access right.

Click the "Save" button to save changes and return to the previous page.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page.

User Security Report

This page allows you to search for a specific set of users and view a summary of their security information within the system.

The page displays a set of criteria that can be used to narrow your search to a specific group of users (for example, a report on all the users for a specific department). You can also filter the search results based on specific security criteria (for example, only returning users that have Two-Factor Authentication enabled for their account).

Fill in any applicable search criteria and click the "Search" button.

The search results table will contain a summary of each user's security information.

Last Successful Sign In - Indicates the most recent date and time that the user successfully signed in.
Authentication Type - Indicates how the user is authenticated by the system (e.g. Internal Password, Active Directory, SSO, etc.).
Signoff Key Type - Indicates the type of key that the user will enter when performing a signoff operation (e.g. Sign In Password, Numeric PIN, etc.).
Two-Factor Authentication Enabled? - Indicates whether the user currently has Two-Factor Authentication enabled for their account.
Browsers Remembered for Two-Factor - Indicates how many web browsers the user has temporarily set to not require re-verification of Two-Factor Authentication.
Password Reset Enabled? - Indicates whether the user has configured security questions that will allow them to reset their own password.

Click the "Export Results to Excel" link to download the search results as a delimited text file for viewing in tools such as Microsoft Excel (see the Export Search Results to Excel page).

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page.

Configure System

After Installation Qualification (IQ), this is the page you will use to configure the system. This page can be used as part of your Operational Qualification (OQ) procedures, by printing the checklist/signature version of the page. Perform and initial each step, then sign the page when it is complete.

This page is also used to modify configuration settings as necessary.

The following parts of the system are configured from this page:

Configure Server Identification
Configure Notification Settings
Configure System Configuration and Status Reporting
Configure System Date and Time Settings
Configure Task Summary Notifications
Configure Active Directory Authentication
Configure Password Policy
Configure Password Reset
Configure Signoff Key Options
Configure Two-Factor Authentication
Configure Full-Text Search
View File Content Status Report
Configure Database Indexing
Configure Read-Only Account
Configure Connector Accounts
Configure Server Export Options
Configure System Options
Configure User Interface Settings
Configure General Fields (see Configure Fields for Module)
Manage Departments
Manage Users
Search for Security Events
Activate / Deactivate Modules
Configure User Assistance
Manage Role Assignments

After the system configuration has been completed, each module specific configuration should be performed by the assigned Module Administrators.

Configure Server Identification

This page allows you to configure identifying information about the installation.

Company Name - This field is used to identify the company that is using this Grand Avenue Software installation. This information is included in system email reports sent back to Grand Avenue Software support, to help identify the customer reporting the problem.
Installation Name - This field allows you to identify the installation with a descriptive name that will be displayed to users in notifications they receive. The Installation Name is also displayed at the top of each page.

Production Installation

This section allows you to indicate whether this installation is a licensed instance intended for production use. Select "No" for the "Is Production Installation?" field if this is a test or evaluation system. An alert banner will be displayed to indicate to users that this is not a production system.

If you select "No", use the "Non-Production Description" field to provide a short explanation of the purpose for this site, to be displayed in the alert banner.

System Access (only for use by the "Administrator" account)

This section allows the "Administrator" account to temporarily disable all sign in access to the system. Selecting "No" for the "Is System Access Enabled?" field will block the sign in process for all accounts other than the "Administrator" account. An alert banner will be displayed to indicate access has been disabled.

If you select "No", use the "System Access Disabled Message" field to provide a short explanation that will be displayed in the alert banner.

Click the "Save" button to save your changes and return to the previous page.

Click the "Cancel" button to return to the previous page without saving your changes.

Configure Notification Settings

This page allows you to configure how email notifications will be sent to users.

Enable Notifications - When set to "No", email notifications will never be sent by Grand Avenue Software. This is intended for use with evaluation systems, or while initially configuring the system.
SMTP Server - Set this to the hostname of the SMTP server. (It is the same hostname that you would use to configure Outlook to send email using SMTP.)
SMTP Server Port - Set this to the network port used by the SMTP server. The default ports for SMTP are 25 (non-SSL) and 587 (SSL).
Use SSL? - Set this to "Yes" to configure the system to encrypt communications to the SMTP server using SSL. You will need to set the SMTP Server Port to the corresponding SSL port on the SMTP server.
- NOTE: Grand Avenue only supports the Explicit SSL (TLS) approach for SSL-based SMTP connections.
SMTP Authentication Required? - Set this to "Yes" if the SMTP server requires authentication to send emails. You will be required to identify an SMTP account that is authorized to send emails.
- SMTP User Name - The username of the SMTP account.
- SMTP Password - The password of the SMTP account.
Maximum Number of Recipients per Email - Specify the maximum number of recipients for each email notification (default = 40).
- Verify your configured SMTP server will accept this number of recipients. Some SMTP servers will reject any email that exceeds a specific limit (e.g., 50 recipients).
- An email notification with more recipients than the configured maximum will be split into multiple emails, each with a subset of the total recipients less than or equal to the maximum.
Sender Address - This will be used as the sender (From Address) for all notifications sent from Grand Avenue Software. If users reply to Notification emails, this is the address to which those replies will be sent.
Base URL - This should be the base URL for the application. (e.g. http://:) If using the default port number (80 for http or 443 for https) then you may leave off the port number. The URL should already be filled in the first time you come to this page.

If "Enable Notifications" is set to "Yes", click the "Save and Send Test Notification" button. This will save your configuration values and attempt to send a test notification to the email address for your account. If your account does not have an email address, you will be instructed to set an email address for your account before a Test Notification can be sent.

If the system is unable to send a test notification, an error message will be displayed. Reviewing the error message may indicate which of the SMTP configuration values was incorrectly set. Update your SMTP configuration values accordingly and try again.
If no errors have occurred, then a test notification has been successfully sent to the email address of your account. Check that the email is received, and that clicking on the URL in the email brings you to back to the Grand Avenue Software My Tasks page.

If "Enable Notifications" is set to "No", click the "Save" button to save your configuration values and return to the previous page.

Configure System Configuration and Status Reporting

The Grand Avenue Software support organization relies on accurate information about customer deployments to help in planning and troubleshooting. This "System Configuration and Status Report" is used to update an internal database managed by Grand Avenue Software support.

This report is treated as confidential and is not published or shared with any outside organization.
The content of the report is displayed at the bottom of this page for you to review. If you have questions or concerns about any of this information, please contact Grand Avenue Software Support (support@grandavenue.com).

Enable System Configuration Reporting?

Indicate whether the system will automatically send this report by email to Grand Avenue Software Support (default = "Yes").

If this option is set to "Yes", this report will be sent monthly.
If this option is set to "No", this report will not be sent.

After making changes to these settings, click the "Save" button to apply the changes.

Click the "Cancel" button to discard any changes and return to the previous page.

Configure System Date and Time Settings

This page is used by a System Administrator to configure how dates and times are displayed and evaluated in the system.

System Time Zone

This setting specifies the time zone that will be used by the system when displaying times and evaluating dates. This setting applies to all users, independent of the geographical location of the user or the server.

Whenever the system displays a time to a user, it will automatically convert the time from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) to the configured time zone. The system will also use this time zone to determine when a day starts and ends. This includes all system behaviors based on dates. Some examples include:

The date recorded when an action is performed (e.g., the date a task is completed).
Documents become effective at the start of the day on their "Effective Date".
Tasks become overdue at the start of the day following the "Task Due Date".

Format for Dates

This setting specifies the format that should be used when dates are entered and displayed. This setting applies to dates used in all modules.

"Server Culture" uses the culture setting on the application server (e.g., English-US mm/dd/yyyy = 10/24/2011).
"yyyy-mm-dd" uses the culture-independent format defined by ISO-8601 (e.g. yyyy-mm-dd = 2011-10-24).
"dd-mmm-yyyy" uses an abbreviated month format (e.g. dd-mmm-yyyy = 24-Oct-2011).

NOTE: Dates are always stored in the database using a culture-independent format. This setting only changes the way dates are displayed to and entered by users.

Click the "Save" button to apply your changes and return to the previous page.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page without saving your changes.

Configure Task Summary Notifications

Task Summary notification emails are sent to each user as a reminder of their upcoming and/or overdue task alerts and assignments. This page allows you to configure the content, schedule, and frequency of these notifications.

Send Task Summary Notifications

Indicate whether Task Summary notifications should ever be sent. If this is set to "Yes", the content, schedule and frequency of the notifications will be determined by the other options on this page. Setting this field to "No" prevents all Task Summary notifications from being sent.

Days Before Overdue to Include Tasks in Summary Email

Set the default number of calendar days before a task is overdue that it should be included in the daily Task Summary email sent to users. For example, setting this value to 1 will include task assignments that are due the day the task summary e-mail is sent out. A value of 0 indicates that only overdue tasks will be included in the task summary email. You may enter any value from 0 to 365.

If a user has no overdue or upcoming tasks within the range specified, that user will not receive a Task Summary email for that day.

Scheduled Time for Task Summary Notifications

Set the time of day after which the system will send out task summary notifications. Values for this field are specific hours of the day based on the current configured System Time Zone (see Configure System Options).

Task Summary notifications are only sent once each day and will be sent as soon as possible after the configured time.

Days of the Week to Send Task Summary Notifications

Indicate which days of the week Task Summary notifications should be sent to users. Setting a specific day of the week to "No" will prevent Task Summary Notifications from being sent that day.

Click the "Save" button to apply your changes and return to the previous page.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page without saving your changes.

Configure Active Directory Authentication

ALERT: The Active Directory integration has been deprecated and will be removed in a future release. Please use the SSO integration in the Authentication Module instead. Contact Grand Avenue Software about licensing the Authentication Module.

NOTE: The Active Directory integration is not supported if your web server is running Windows Server 2025 or later.

Enabling Active Directory authentication allows individual Grand Avenue user accounts to be linked to corresponding Active Directory accounts. Users signing into Grand Avenue under a linked account will use their Grand Avenue User ID with their Active Directory password, removing the need to remember separate passwords for the two systems.

To enable Active Directory authentication, set the "Enable Active Directory Authentication?" field to "Yes".

Use the "Primary Active Directory Server" field to indicate the network name (or IP address) for the Active Directory server that will be used by Grand Avenue to authenticate users linked to Active Directory accounts. You can optionally use the "Secondary Active Directory Server" field to indicate a second Active Directory server that will automatically be used for authentication checks when the Primary server is temporarily unavailable.

Enter the domain username (e.g., username@domainname.com) and password for an administrative account in Active Directory that will be used by Grand Avenue to sign in and authenticate users.

The administrative account used for this connection should not be used for signing into Windows.
The administrative account should be configured to have no automatic password expiration, to avoid cases where users cannot sign into Grand Avenue because the system is unable to use this administrative account to authenticate their credentials.

After making changes to these settings, click the "Save" button to apply the changes.

Click the "Cancel" button to discard any changes and return to the previous page.

Configure Password Policy

This page allows system administrators to configure password policy settings that apply to Grand Avenue user accounts that are not linked to Active Directory accounts for authentication.

To support compliance with 21 CFR Part 11, the following requirements are enforced by the system:

User sessions are forced to sign in again after being idle for a configurable number of minutes. (This setting can only be changed in the web server configuration file for the application).
All passwords must be sufficiently complex.
Passwords must be changed regularly. When a user's password expires, they will be forced to change their password the next time they sign into the system.
Recent passwords cannot be re-used when changing a password.
Repeated sign in attempts with an incorrect User ID or password will result in the User ID being temporarily locked out. The failed attempts and lockout event will also be recorded as Security Events (see Search for Security Events).

The following settings can be modified on this page:

Setting	Default Value	Minimum Value	Maximum Value
Number of consecutive sign in failures before an account is locked	5 failures	3 failures	100 failures
Duration of account lockout after consecutive sign in failures	15 minutes	1 minute	5,256,000 minutes (10 years)
Number of days before users must change their password	180 days	30 days	2000 days
Number of recent passwords that cannot be reused	5 passwords	1 password	100 passwords
Minimum length of password	6 characters	4 characters	10 characters
Password must include at least one letter	Yes	N/A	N/A
Password must include both uppercase and lowercase letters	No	N/A	N/A
Password must include at least one number	Yes	N/A	N/A
Password must include at least one non-alphanumeric character (e.g., !@#$%^&*)	No	N/A	N/A
Password cannot include the user's User ID	Yes	N/A	N/A

If the Signoff Key feature is enabled, failed attempts at entering a signoff key will also count toward account lockouts.

NOTE: The default values are appropriate for an Intranet environment. Stricter policy settings are recommended when Grand Avenue is accessible via the Internet.

After making changes to these settings, click the "Save" button to apply the changes.

Click the "Cancel" button to discard any changes and return to the previous page.

Configure Password Reset

The Password Reset feature allows users to reset their own password by correctly answering a set of security questions. This page allows system administrators to configure the settings for this feature.

The following steps must be completed before users can use the Password Reset feature:

System Administrators must define the list of possible security questions from which users can choose.
Each user must record answers for three of the configured security questions before request a password reset (see Change Security Questions).

Once the feature has been enabled and configured, a user with security questions defined can reset their password with the following steps:

Users can request a password reset by clicking the "Forgot your password?" link on the "Sign In" page.
An email containing a link to the "Reset Password" page will be sent to the address for the specified user account. This link will only be valid for 24 hours.
The "Reset Password" page will require the user to correctly answer all of their security questions in order to set a new password for their account.
Five failed attempts to correctly answer the security questions will result in the Password Reset feature being locked for that account.

System Administrators can review usage of this feature by searching for the corresponding security events (see Search for Security Events).

A table displays the list of security questions defined for this feature.

Click the "Add Security Question" button to add a new question (see Add Security Question).
Click the "Add Default Security Questions" button to add a predefined list of example security questions.
Click the "Edit" button for a question to change its text (see Edit Security Question).
Click the "Delete" button for a question to remove it from the system.

Once the system has three or more questions defined, you can enable the feature by setting the "Enable password reset using security questions?" field to "Yes".

The "Display Task Alert to users without security questions?" field allows you to indicate whether or not the system should automatically remind users to choose security questions and answers for their account (see Change Security Questions).

After making changes to these settings, click the "Save" button to apply the changes.

Click the "Cancel" button to discard your changes and return to the previous page.

Add/Edit Security Question

Enter the text of a question that users can select as one of their identity verification questions.

NOTE: A good security question has answers with the following characteristics:

Secure: the answer cannot be researched by someone other than the user
Stable: the answer does not change over time, so it will always be the same
Memorable: the answer is easy to remember, so users don't write it down
Simple: the answer is precise, easy, and consistent, so users can enter the exact answer each time
Numerous Answers: has many possible answers, so different users will have different answers

Click the "Save" button to save the question and return to the previous page.

Click the "Cancel" button to discard any changes and return to the previous page.

Configure Signoff Key Options

Whenever users perform a signature operation in the system (e.g., signing off on a task, creating a user account, etc.), they are required to verify their identity by entering a "Signoff Key".

By default, each user's Signoff Key is the same as the password they use for signing into the system.

The system can also be configured to allow users to choose a numeric PIN that they'll enter as their Signoff Key.

To enable this feature, set the "Allow Numeric PIN for Signoff Key?" field to "Yes".

After making changes to these settings, click the "Save" button to apply the changes.

Click the "Cancel" button to discard any changes and return to the previous page.

Configure Two-Factor Authentication

Two-factor authentication adds an extra layer of security to user accounts beyond the normal username and password. When two-factor authentication is enabled for a user's account, signing into the system will require them to use a device in their possession (like a mobile phone) to generate a unique temporary code that they will enter after their username and password.

The "Two-Factor Authentication Enabled" field indicates whether the feature has been enabled for the system and users can set up two-factor authentication for their accounts.

If you enable the two-factor authentication feature for the system, each user will have a new navigation menu action to enable the feature for their own account (see Change Two-Factor Authentication).

The "Two-Factor Authentication Required for Users" field indicates whether users will be required to enable two-factor authentication before they will be allowed to sign into the system.

Click the "Change Settings" button to update the values for either of these fields (see Change Two-Factor Authentication Settings).

When the system is configured to require users to enable two-factor authentication, you can specify a list of users that are authorized to opt out of the policy.

The "Users Not Required to Enable Two-Factor Authentication" table displays the users currently in the list.
NOTE: The "ReadOnly" account does not support two-factor authentication (see Configure Read-Only Account).

Click the "Add Users" button to add one or more users to the list (see Add Users Not Required to Enable Two-Factor Authentication).

Click the "Remove Users" button to remove one or more users from the list (see Remove Users Not Required to Enable Two-Factor Authentication).

Click the "Close" button to return to the previous page.

Change Two-Factor Authentication Settings

Use the "Two-Factor Authentication Enabled" field to indicate whether users can configure their account to require two-factor authentication for sign in.

Use the "Two-Factor Authentication Required for Users" field to indicate whether users will be required to enable two-factor authentication before they will be allowed to sign into the system.

NOTE: Exceptions to this rule can be defined by adding users to the "Users Not Required to Enable Two-Factor Authentication" list on the Configure Two-Factor Authentication page.

Enter your password and click the "Save" button to commit the changes and return to the previous page.

Click the "Cancel" button to discard any changes and return to the previous page.

Add Users Not Required to Enable Two-Factor Authentication

This page allows you to search for and select users that are not required to enable two-factor authentication for their accounts.

Fill in any applicable search criteria and click the "Search" button to find matching users.

Use the checkboxes to select one or more users, and then click the "Add Selected Users" button to add them to the list and return to the previous page.

Users that are already in the list will not have a corresponding checkbox.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page without adding any additional users to the list.

Remove Users Not Required to Enable Two-Factor Authentication

This page allows you to remove one or more users from the list of users that are not required to enable two-factor authentication for their accounts.

Use the checkboxes to select one or more users, and then click the "Remove Selected Users" button to remove them from the list and return to the previous page.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page without removing any users from the list.

Configure Full-Text Search

The full-text search feature allows Grand Avenue Software to index the keywords contained in files so that they can be included in searches. The Configure Full-Text Search page allows a System Administrator to enable or disable this feature at the system level, which in turn allows Module Administrators for each module that supports this ability to then determine whether to enable the feature for applicable files managed by their modules. If a Module Administrator enables this feature for their module, users will be able to search for applicable items using keywords found in related files. For example, when this feature is enabled for the Document Control module, users can enter keywords that would narrow their search to released or imported documents that contain those keywords.

Before you can enable full-text searching in Grand Avenue Software, a system or database administrator must enable the full-text indexing component in SQL Server and verify that indexing filters have been installed for all file types that need to support File Content search (e.g. .doc, .docx, .pdf). Refer to the Grand Avenue Software Installation Instructions for details on configuring and validating this feature in SQL Server.

NOTE: A warning will be displayed if SQL Server has not been configured to support full-text indexing, and the buttons for configuring full-text searching in Grand Avenue Software will be disabled.

When you enable the full-text search feature:

A "catalog" will be automatically created for storing full-text indexes.
Module Administrators must determine whether full-text searching should be enabled for applicable files managed by their modules:
The Document Control Module Administrator can enable the full-text searching for released or imported document files.
When the full-text search feature is enabled for a module, the system will begin indexing any existing content. This may take a while depending upon the size of your database, so users may not immediately find documents that have not yet been indexed. The "Full-Text Status" field indicates the current status of the population process for the full-text indexing. A status of "Idle" indicates that the process has completed for all existing files.

When you disable the full-text search feature:

The catalog containing the full-text indexes will be deleted.
Full-text searching will be disabled for all modules. The settings for each module will be retained, so if you re-enable full-text searching at a later date, the indexes for the applicable files will be automatically regenerated.

Once full-text searching has been enabled, you should verify that the SQL Server full-text engine has been correctly configured to index the types of documents that will be stored in Grand Avenue.

Click the "View Registered File Types" button to view a report of file types that have indexing filters registered in SQL Server. See the Installation Instructions for Grand Avenue for guidance on how to register additional filters with SQL Server.

Whenever you install additional indexing filters, the indexes will need to be regenerated. You can regenerate the indexes by disabling and then re-enabling the full-text search feature. This will delete and then recreate the indexes using the new filters.

After all necessary filters have been installed, you can verify that they are working correctly by uploading representative test files, waiting for the indexing to complete, and then searching by keywords in those files to verify they were indexed and found.

Click the "Add Test File" button to upload a representative file for a type of document (e.g. Word, Excel, PDF) (see Add Test File for Full-Text Validation).
Click the "Import Test Files" button to upload multiple test files at once (see Import Test Files for Full-Text Validation).
Click the "Search for Test Files" button to search for uploaded test files using keywords contained in those documents (see Search for Test Files for Full-Text Validation). Before attempting to search for a file you just uploaded, you should wait until the "Full-Text Status" is "Idle", indicating that it has completed all required indexing. You can click the "refresh" button in your browser to update the "Full-Text Status" while you're waiting.
Click the corresponding "Edit" button for a test file to change the description or the file content (see Edit Test File for Full-Text Validation).
Click the corresponding "Delete" button for a test file to remove it from the system.

Add/Edit Test File for Full-Text Validation

Enter a brief description of the test file and then click the "Browse" or "Choose File" button to find and select the file from your local machine. Once you have selected the file, click the "Save" button to upload the file and return to the previous page.

If you have chosen to make changes to a previously uploaded file, the page will display a link to the current version. You can replace the current version by selecting another file.

Click the "Cancel" button to discard any changes and return to the previous page.

Import Test Files for Full-Text Validation

To import multiple test files for full-text validation at once, you must first create a single delimited text file that contains all of the information for those test files. See the instructions below on how to format the input file.

Use the "File Format" field to indicate the format used to create the delimited text file.

CSV - A simple delimited text file format used by Microsoft Excel (saved as "CSV (Comma delimited)").
Unicode Text - A tab-delimited Unicode text file format used by Microsoft Excel that supports non-Latin characters (saved as "Unicode Text").

After specifying the File Format for your delimited text file, you can click the "Download" link to download a Template Delimited Text File in that format with all of the necessary columns.

Once you have prepared your delimited text file for import, click the "Browse" or "Choose File" button to find and select the file from your local machine, and then click the "Import Test Files for Full-Text Validation" button. The system will report the number of files imported.

If any errors are found in the input file, no files will be imported and a summary of all the errors will be displayed. Once you have corrected the errors in the input file, you can start the import again by re-selecting the file and clicking the "Import Test Files for Full-Text Validation" button.

Click the "Cancel" button to return to the previous page without importing test files.

File Format for Import Test Files for Full-Text Validation

The input file to the import process must be formatted as follows:

The file must be a delimited text file, preferably created by Excel using one of the following formats:
- CSV - A simple delimited text file format used by Microsoft Excel (saved as "CSV (Comma delimited)").
- Unicode Text - A tab-delimited Unicode text file format used by Microsoft Excel that supports non-Latin characters (saved as "Unicode Text").
Delimited text files using the CSV format must also specify the "list separator" character for a locale as the delimiter between values. For example, the list separator for English is a comma, while the list separator for Danish is a semi-colon.
Each line represents a separate user, with the following values delimited by the list separator:
- The description of the test file.
- The Path to file on web server - Specify the path to the test file to be imported into the Grand Avenue Software. The file must be locally on the web server (not a network drive).
  - NOTE: Uploading file content requires that the Grand Avenue Software application be authorized to access files stored on the web server (see Server File Access). The import process will not allow files to be specified if server file access is not allowed.
Spaces should not be included before or after the list separators. (For example, use "A,B" instead of "A, B").
Blank lines are not allowed.
The first line of the file may contain column headers. The import process will ignore this line if it begins with "Description".

Search for Test Files for Full-Text Validation

This page allows System Administrators to verify that the full-text engine has been correctly configured to index the types of documents that will be stored in Grand Avenue.

Enter keywords into the "File Content" field and click the "Search" button to find test files that contain those keywords. See Additional Information about Full-Text Searches for more information on how keywords are applied in full-text searches.

NOTE: You may need to wait for a few seconds for indexing to complete after uploading a test file.

If you are unable to locate a specific test file, SQL Server may not have been configured to index that type of file. Consult the SQL Server documentation for instructions on how to add the appropriate full-text filter for that file type.

Click the "Cancel" button to return to the previous page once you have completed your searches.

View File Types Registered for Full-Text Indexing

This page displays the list of file types that have indexing filters registered with SQL Server to support full-text searching. File types not listed here will not be indexed and will not be found by File Content searches.

NOTE: The Filter Install Path column of the report is only populated if the SQL Server account used by Grand Avenue has been assigned the "serveradmin" role. If you need this information, contact your SQL Server administrator to temporarily assign the role to the account.

Consult the Grand Avenue installation instructions for details on installing indexing filters for additional file types or assigning server roles in SQL Server.

Click the "Close" button to return to the previous page.

View File Content Status Report

This page provides information about all of the files that have been uploaded to the system.

The total number of megabytes uploaded is displayed at the top of the page. This will start at 0 and will increase as files are migrated from legacy storage and new files are uploaded to the system.
By default the File Content Status Report table will only show items that have file content in your system.
Click the "Show Items Without File Content" button to include all items that could have file content in the report. This includes items for modules that are not activated in your system.
Click the "Hide Items Without File Content" button to return to the default view of the report."

The File Content Status Report Table displays the following information for each item:

Column	Description
Item	The type of the item (e.g. Document, Training Material, Training Record Evidence, etc.)
# of Files Referenced	The number of items of that type that reference a file in either shared storage or legacy storage.
# of Unique Files in Shared Storage	The number of unique files that are referenced in shared storage.
# of Files Legacy Storage	The number of files for items of this type that still need to be migrated from legacy storage to shared storage.
Total MB of Legacy Storage	The sum of the storage size of all of the legacy files in megabytes

To enable/disable the legacy file migration or to configure the migration rate, click the "Configure Legacy File Migration" button. This will take you to the Configure Legacy File Migration page.

Configure Legacy File Migration

The legacy file migration process is used to migrate files from the legacy local storage to the new shared storage. This process is performed in batches to reduce the impact on system performance.

The "Legacy File Migration Enabled?" field indicates whether files are being migrated from legacy storage to new shared storage.

When set to "Yes" files are being migrated from legacy storage to shared storage.
When set to "No", migration is not being performed.
NOTE: This field is automatically set to "No" when all migration has been completed.

The "Files to Migrate in Each Batch" field indicates the number of files to migrate before pausing.

The "Minutes to Pause Between Batches" field indicates the number of minutes to wait before starting the next batch of file migrations.

There are several fields that display information about the current status of the migration process:

Field	Description
Total Legacy Files Requiring Migration	Indicates the total number of files that were originally found that needed to be migrated from legacy storage to shared storage. This number will never change.
Legacy Files Migrated	Indicates the number of files that have been migrated from legacy storage to shared storage.
Time Spent Migrating Legacy Files	Indicates the number of minutes that have been spent migrating files from legacy storage to shared storage.
Time Spent Waiting Between Batches	Indicates the number of minutes the system was paused between migration batches.

Click the "Save" button to apply your changes and return to the previous page. Click the "Cancel" button to discard your changes and return to the previous page.

Alert - Database Indexing Disabled

This Task Alert is displayed on the My Tasks page for System Administrators whenever database indexes have been disabled for any reason. Clicking the "View" button for the alert will take the user to the Configure Database Indexing page. This alert will always be included in the daily email notification sent out for overdue and upcoming tasks.

Configure Database Indexing

The Configure Database Indexing page allows a System Administrator to enable or disable automatic database indexing for Grand Avenue Software. When this feature is enabled, Grand Avenue Software will automatically create SQL Server indexes for certain database columns to ensure optimal performance of the system.

NOTE: Database indexes require additional space in your database. If you receive any errors about not having enough space in the database, work with your database administrator to increase the size of the Grand Avenue Software Database.

Click the "Enable Database Indexing" button to have Grand Avenue Software begin automatically creating database indexes. You will receive a message warning you that enabling indexing may take a long time to complete. Click "OK" to continue to enable database indexing (or "Cancel" to return to the page without enabling database indexing). Once the system has created all of the database indexes, the page will be refreshed and indicate that database indexing has been enabled.

You can use the "Disable Database Indexing" button to remove all database indexes created by Grand Avenue Software. NOTE: This will not affect any indexes created by a SQL Server database administrator (see Manually applying additional indexes below).

Whenever database indexing is disabled, a Task Alert (see Database Indexing Disabled) is displayed to all System Administrators, notifying them that they should come to this page and re-enable database indexing.

Click the "Close" button to return to the previous page.

Manually applying additional indexes

SQL Server database administrators can manually apply additional database indexes beyond those created automatically by this feature. However, manually created indexes should use a different naming convention than the Grand Avenue Software indexes to ensure that they will not conflict. The indexes created by Grand Avenue Software will always have names that start with the 'gas_' prefix.

Configure Read-Only Account

This page allows a System Administrator to configure a shared read-only account that can be used to view information in Grand Avenue Software. When this feature is enabled, an account with the User ID of "ReadOnly" will be allowed to sign in using the configured password. This account can be used on shared machines, such as kiosks, where several people will need to view information in Grand Avenue Software.

When enabled, "ReadOnly" account has the following characteristics:

The account can sign in using the normal Sign In page using configured password.
The account cannot be assigned tasks, roles, submit new information, or change information in Grand Avenue Software.
The account can be added to Access Lists (see Configure Access Lists), however the account will never be able to add or modify information in the system regardless of the access list it is added to.
The password for the account does not expire and can only be changed on this configuration page.
The account does not appear on the Manage Users pages and can only be configured using this page.
The account can be automatically signed in by using special URLs
- See View Latest Effective Document Revision for information for signing in using that URL
- See below for information on signing in to the Search / Chart Links page.

To automatically sign in to the Search / Chart Links page a URL with the following format must be used:

<BaseURL>/<ApplicationName>/Core/Configuration/NavigationLinks.aspx?ModuleID=Core&NavigationGroupID=Search&ReadOnlyUserID=ReadOnly&ReadOnlyUserPassword=<ReadOnlyAccountPassword>

The values for BaseURL and ApplicationName can be found by a System Administrator on the Configure Notification Settings page.

Examples:

http://companywebserver/GrandAvenue/DocControl/ViewLatestEffectiveDocumentRevision.aspx?DocumentNumber=D-12345
http://companywebserver/GrandAvenue/Core/Configuration/NavigationLinks.aspx?ModuleID=Core&NavigationGroupID=Search&ReadOnlyUserID=ReadOnly&ReadOnlyUserPassword=ro4pd21

The "Enable Read-Only Account?" field specifies whether this feature is enabled. If this feature is enabled, you must also specify the password for the "ReadOnly" account.

Click the "Save" button to apply your changes and return to the previous page.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page without saving your changes.

Configure Server Export Options

This page is used by System Administrators to configure a directory on the web server that will be used by features that export file content.

For example, the Design Control module allows project managers to export a copy of all files associated with their project.

Use the "Enable Content Export to Server?" to indicate whether authorized users can export file content to the web server.

If you select "Yes", you must use the "Server Export Directory" field to indicate a directory on the web server where data exported from Grand Avenue will be placed.

NOTE: An error will be displayed when you click the "Save" button if the Grand Avenue application does not have the necessary permissions to write to the Server Export Directory.
NOTE: File content exported to this directory may require a significant amount of disk space. If possible, this directory should be located on a drive where large exports will not impact system performance and a policy should be established for removing the exported data when it is no longer needed.

When users export file content to this directory, they will need some method of accessing the exported data (for example, via a predefined network share that points to this directory).

Click the "Save" button to apply your changes and return to the previous page.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page without saving your changes.

Configure User Interface Settings

This page is used by System Administrators to modify configurable system-wide settings for the application user interface.

Default Maximum Number of Search Results to Find

Set the default number for the "Max # of Items to Find" field on Search pages. This default value is intended to prevent users from accidentally performing excessively large searches. When necessary, users can still change this value for individual searches.

Maximum Number of Values for a Drop-Down List

Set the maximum number of valid values for a field that the system will display in a drop-down list. Fields with more valid values than this setting will display the values in a popup selection list.

Threshold Number of Rows for Activating Table Pagination

Specify how many rows a table can contain before the software automatically switches the table to pagination. When a table reaches this threshold, the software will automatically activate pagination for the table and only display a subset of the rows (one "page"). Users can then navigate through the pages of rows one at a time, or manually turn off pagination.

Maximum Number of Values for a Drop-Down List

Specify the default number of rows to display at one time in a table that is paginated. Users can override this value when viewing a paginated table, either to display more rows in a single page, or completely turn off pagination and view all rows at once.

Click the "Save" button to apply your changes and return to the previous page.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page without saving your changes.

Configure System Options

The Configure System Options page is used by a System Administrator to tailor the Grand Avenue Software modules to align with the organization into which it is deployed.

The following process options can be configured:

Specify any additional instructions to be displayed when a user signs into the system. Any provided instructions will be displayed as a task instruction on the sign in page for all users.

Allow All Users to Search for Task Assignments?

Indicate whether all users are authorized to use the Search for Task Assignments feature. If you select "No", only System Administrators, Module Administrators and Module Coordinators are authorized to search for task assignments. The "Search for Task Assignments" link in the navigation menu will be hidden from all other users.

Default Number of Days to Complete Task Assignment

Set the default number of calendar days that users will have to complete new task assignments. This value is used to compute the default "Task Due Date" for a new task assignment. You may enter any value from 1 to 365.

Maximum File Upload Size

Set the maximum size allowed for files uploaded or imported into the system in MB. The value of this setting must be between 1 and the configured maximum request length in the web.config (see Maximum Request Length).

NOTE: This setting is intended as a safety check on users accidentally uploading enormous files, and it is recommended that it only be increased when necessary. While there's no limit on the size that a Grand Avenue application can store, it can become a maintenance issue for the database administrator who's responsible for maintaining backups of the Grand Avenue database. Large files can also be problematic when downloading over the internet.

Click the "Save" button to apply your changes and return to the previous page.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to the previous page without saving your changes.

Search for Security Events

This page allows system administrators to search for security events that are recorded by the system whenever users attempt to authenticate, or passwords are changed. See the Searching and Reports section for additional information about searching in Grand Avenue.

Search Criteria

The page displays a set of criteria that can be used to narrow your search to a specific group of security events.

The "Event Type" field allows you to narrow your search to specific types of security events:

Authentication Success - Password: The user successfully authenticated with a password.
Authentication Success - PIN: The user successfully authenticated with a numeric PIN.
Authentication Success - Two-Factor: The user successfully authenticated with a two-factor verification code.
Authentication Failure - Invalid User ID: Someone attempted to authenticate with a User ID that does not exist.
Authentication Failure - Invalid Password: Someone attempted to authenticate with an incorrect password for a valid User ID.
Authentication Failure - Invalid PIN: Someone attempted to authenticate with an incorrect numeric PIN for a valid User ID.
Authentication Failure - Invalid Two-Factor Code: Someone attempted to authenticate with an invalid two-factor verification code for a valid User ID.
Authentication Failure - Deactivated Account: Someone attempted to authenticate with a deactivated account.
Authentication Failure - Locked Account: Someone attempted to authenticate with an account that had been temporarily locked due to consecutive sign in failures.
User Account Locked Out: The user account was locked due to consecutive sign in failures.
Password Changed by Administrator: The password for the user account was set or changed by an administrator.
Password Changed by User: The password for the user account was changed by the user.
Signoff Key Changed by User: The signoff key for the user account was changed by the user.
Password Reset Security Questions Changed by User: The password reset security questions for the user account were changed by the user.
Password Reset Requested: Someone requested a password reset email for the user account.
Password Reset by User: The user successfully used the password reset feature to set a new password for the user account.
Password Reset Failure - Invalid User ID: Someone attempted to perform a password reset with a User ID that does not exist.
Password Reset Failure - Deactivated Account: Someone attempted to perform a password reset for a deactivated account.
Password Reset Failure - Reserved Account: Someone attempted to perform a password reset for a reserved account.
Password Reset Failure - Invalid Code: Someone attempted to perform a password reset with a temporary authorization code that is no longer valid.
Password Reset Failure - Incorrect Answer: Someone provided an incorrect answer to a password reset question.
Password Reset - Locked Out: The user account was locked due to consecutive incorrect answers to a password reset question.
Two-Factor Authentication Enabled for System: Two-factor authentication was enabled for the system by an administrator.
Two-Factor Authentication Disabled for System: Two-factor authentication was disabled for the system by an administrator.
Two-Factor Authentication Enabled by User: Two-factor authentication for the user account was enabled by the user.
Two-Factor Authentication Disabled by User: Two-factor authentication for the user account was disabled by the user.
Two-Factor Authentication Disabled by Administrator: Two-factor authentication for the user account was disabled by an administrator.

The "During Sign In" field indicates whether the security event was recorded when a user attempts to sign into the system, or when the user performing the operation is already signed into the system.

The "User ID" field indicates the User ID associated with the event. For "Authentication Failure - Invalid User ID" security events, this field will display the invalid User ID that was entered.

The "User Account" field indicates the Grand Avenue user account associated with the User ID that was used to authenticate. This field will be empty for security events recorded against invalid User IDs.

The "Performed by User" field indicates the Grand Avenue user account that initiated the action associated with the security event. This field will be empty in cases where a user attempts to sign in but fails.

The "User Agent" field provides detailed information about the web browser used to initiate the action associated with the security event.

You can use the "Event Date From" and/or "Event Date To" fields to narrow your search to security events created during the specified date range. By default, the search criteria are set to limit the search results to events recorded within the past 30 days.

Search Results

When a search is performed, summary information is displayed about each security event found. You can click on the "Info" link for a security event to see more detailed information.

Configure Modules

The Configure Modules page allows you to specify which Grand Avenue Software modules are activated for use.

When your site subscribes to a new Grand Avenue Software module, you will come to this screen and click "Activate" by the module to enable its functionality for your organization. This will result in changes to the user interface, such as:

Users will see a set of actions for the module in the navigation menu.
Configuration settings for the module will appear in the Configuration pages (e.g., Valid Values).
The module will appear in the On-Line Help.

Whenever you activate a new Grand Avenue Software module, the default System Administrator account ("Administrator") is temporarily assigned as the Module Administrator. Use the Manage System Role Assignments page to assign the Module Administrator role to other users.

If your organization decides to stop subscribing to one or more Grand Avenue Software modules, you will come to this screen and click "Deactivate" by the module(s). The changes to the user interface described above will be removed. No data will be removed from the system, and current task assignments will still be open in the users' task list.

NOTE: If your site is using the Connector modules, you will need to reload the Grand Avenue application after activating or deactivating modules in order to regenerate the system information for OData APIs associated with those modules (see "Reload Application" on the Configure OData API page).

Configure User Assistance

Grand Avenue Software uses green "User Assistance" hyperlinks that give users more detailed information on performing specific tasks. The information displayed by these links can be customized to reflect the specific policies of an organization. For example, custom coding fields in each module have an assistance link that users can click to obtain help on which value to select.

A table shows all of the configurable definitions for User Assistance links:

The "Assistance ID" column shows the unique key used by the system to identify this User Assistance definition. This key is also shown inside brackets when hovering over the corresponding hyperlink for the User Assistance when it is displayed on a page, so that an administrator can find the appropriate definition associated with that hyperlink.
The "Assistance Link" column contains an example of the user assistance link as it will be displayed to users.
The "Assistance Explanation" column contains the popup text that is displayed when a user hovers the cursor over the User Assistance hyperlink.
The "Default Assistance" column contains a link to the default user assistance that is displayed to users if no custom assistance has been configured.
The "Assistance Type" column indicates whether the default assistance is used, or if the site has configured custom text or a custom URL for the assistance.
The "Custom Assistance" column displays any custom text or URL that has been configured for the User Assistance link. If no custom assistance has been configured, this field will be empty.

To change the information for a specific User Assistance link, click its corresponding "Edit" button (see Edit User Assistance).

After changing a user assistance definition, you should always test it by clicking on the corresponding hyperlink in the "Assistance Link" column.

Click the "Close" button to return to the previous page.

Edit User Assistance

Use the "Assistance Type" field to indicate what type of assistance will be provided to the user:

Default Assistance - The default assistance defined by the system will be displayed to the user.
Custom Assistance Text - Use the "Custom Text" field to enter custom text that will be displayed to the user.
Custom Assistance URL - Use the "Custom URL" field to enter the URL for a web page that will be displayed to the user.

NOTE: When using a Custom URL to display a web page for the User Assistance:

You should always use a fully qualified URL, including the "http://" or "https://" prefix (e.g. https://www.grandavenue.com/SomeAssistance.htm).
The custom page should never reside directly under the Grand Avenue Software application directory.

Click the "Save" button to update the information for the User Assistance link user return to the previous page, where you can test the Custom URL by clicking the corresponding hyperlink in the "Assistance Link" column.

Click the "Cancel" button to return to the previous page without saving any changes.

Manage System Role Assignments

The following roles can be assigned by a System Administrator using the Manage Role Assignments page:

System Administrators - When a Grand Avenue database is first initialized, an "Administrator" account is created with all of the necessary authorization to configure the system for use. The rights associated with that authority can be granted to other users through the "System Administrator" role. Users that have been assigned the System Administrator role have all the same permissions as the default Administrator account. NOTE: The System Administrator role cannot be removed from the Administrator account. The Administrator account is intended to always be active and authorized in case the other accounts that have been granted System Administrator privileges can no longer be accessed (e.g., forgotten passwords, terminated employees, etc.)
Module Administrators - Users assigned this role are authorized to configure and manage role assignments for the associated module. When a new module is activated, the default System Administrator account ("Administrator") is temporarily assigned as the only Module Administrator. This role should be reassigned to the desired users once they have been added to the system.
Account Management - Users assigned this role are authorized to use the Manage Users feature to add and edit user accounts.
Part Importer - Users assigned this role are authorized to use the Manage Parts feature to modify the list of parts that can be referenced by Grand Avenue modules (e.g., Issues in the Complaint module, or NCM Reports in the NCM module). NOTE: This role is only displayed when one or more modules that use parts have been activated.
Supplier Importer - Users assigned this role are authorized to use the Manage Suppliers feature to modify the list of suppliers that can be referenced by Grand Avenue modules (e.g. Audits in the Audit Management module, CAPA Requests in the CAPA module, or NCM Reports in the NCM module). NOTE: This role is only displayed when one or more modules that use suppliers have been activated.

See the Manage Role Assignments section in the Shared Configuration Actions section for additional information about assigning roles to users.

Managing Task Assignments

Task assignments are the principal method for assigning work in the system. Occasionally a task may need to be reassigned or a due date changed if the person is overloaded, on vacation, etc. Authorized users can reassign or change the due date for open task assignments:

System Administrators are authorized to reassign or change the due dates for all task assignments in the system.
Module Administrators and Module Coordinators (assigned using the Manage Role Assignments page) are authorized to reassign or change the due dates for all task assignments associated with their respective modules.
Department managers are authorized to reassign task assignments from users in departments they manage to any user in the system but are not allowed to change the due dates for those task assignments.
Specific application modules may also authorize certain users to manage task assignments. For example:
- Project Managers in the Design Control module can reassign and change the due dates for all task assignments associated with their respective projects.
- Audit Managers in the Audit Management module can reassign and change the due dates for all task assignments associated with their respective audits.
Specific application modules may also prevent any user from performing task management operations for certain types of tasks. For example:
- The Training Management module prevents users authorized for task management operations from directly using the Change Task Due Date feature for Complete Training tasks, because the Task Due Date for each task is linked to the Training Required-by Date field of the corresponding Training Record.

Manage Task Assignments

The Manage Task Assignments page displays all of the users that currently have incomplete (claimed or unclaimed) tasks that you are authorized to manage.

A summary of incomplete assignments is displayed for each user. Each row displays the total number of incomplete, overdue, and unclaimed assignments, along with the earliest due date for any of those assignments.

If no users have unclaimed task assignments, the column is not shown.

To view or manage the task assignments for a user, click the corresponding "View Tasks" button to proceed to the Tasks for User page.

Tasks for User

The Tasks for User page displays the task assignments you are authorized to manage for a specific user. For example, Module Coordinators will see task assignments for the modules for which they are assigned as the Coordinator, while Department Managers will see task assignments for the users in their departments.

To assign an unclaimed task to a specific user, click the corresponding "Assign" button in the "Unclaimed Task Assignments" table (see Assign Unclaimed Task). To assign multiple unclaimed tasks in a single operation, click the "Assign Multiple Tasks" button at the bottom of the table (see Select Unclaimed Tasks to Assign).

To reassign a task from one user to another, click the corresponding "Reassign" button in the "Task Assignments" table (see Reassign Task). To reassign multiple tasks in a single operation, click the "Reassign Multiple Tasks" button at the bottom of the table (see Select Tasks to Reassign).

Some users (see Managing Task Assignments) are also authorized to change the due date for specific tasks. Click the corresponding "Change Due Date" button for a task to change its due date (see Change Task Due Date). To change the due dates for multiple tasks in a single operation, click the "Change Multiple Due Dates" button at the bottom of the table (see Select Tasks for Change Due Date).

Clicking the "Close" button will take you back to Manage Task Assignments.

Select Unclaimed Tasks to Assign

The "Task Assignments" table displays a list of unclaimed tasks that you are authorized to assign.

Use the checkboxes to indicate which tasks to assign.

Click the "Assign Selected Tasks" button to proceed to the Assign Unclaimed Tasks page where you will select the Assignee.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will take you back to the initial task management page without assigning tasks.

Assign Unclaimed Tasks

The "Selected Task Assignments" table displays the list of unclaimed tasks that you have selected to assign.

Select the user for the task using the "Task Assignee" field, then enter your signoff key and click the "Assign Unclaimed Tasks" button. The tasks will be assigned to the selected user, and you will be taken back to the task management page.

If the selected user is someone other than yourself, the system will send email notifications to the assignee, to alert them about each of the new tasks.

Clicking the Cancel button will return you to the initial task management page without assigning the tasks.

Reassign Task

The Reassign Task page allows authorized users to reassign an open task assignment from one user to another. The new task will be given the same due date as the original task. See the Managing Task Assignments section for details on authorization for this action.

Select the user to which the task will be assigned, and enter any necessary comments about the reason for making the reassignment.

Enter your signoff key and click the "Reassign" button to save the changes and return to the initial task management page. The new assignee will be notified via email of their new task assignment.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will take you back to the initial task management page without saving your changes.

Select Tasks to Reassign

The "Task Assignments" table displays a list of tasks that you are authorized to reassign.

Use the checkboxes to indicate which tasks to reassign.

Click the "Reassign Selected Tasks" button to proceed to the Reassign Tasks page where you will select the Assignee.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will take you back to the initial task management page without reassigning tasks.

Reassign Tasks

The "Selected Task Assignments" table displays the list of tasks that you have selected to reassign.

Select the new user for the tasks using the "New Assignee" field. Use the "Comments" field to record the reason for reassigning the tasks. Then enter your signoff key and click the "Reassign Tasks" button. The tasks will be reassigned to the selected user, who will be notified via email of the new task assignments.

Clicking the Cancel button will return you to the initial task management page without reassigning the tasks.

Change Task Due Date

The Change Task Due Date page allows authorized users to change the due date for a task assignment that is still open. See the Managing Task Assignments section for details on authorization for this action.

Select the new date by which the task should be completed and enter a justification for why the date is being changed.

Enter your signoff key and click the "Change Task Due Date" button to save the changes and return to the initial task management page.

The details of the change will be recorded in the "Task Due Date Change History" on the task assignment's "Info" page.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will take you back to the initial task management page without saving your changes.

Select Tasks for Change Due Date

The "Task Assignments" table displays a list of tasks for which you are authorized to change the due date.

Use the checkboxes to indicate which tasks to change.

Click the "Change Due Date" button to proceed to the Change Due Date for Tasks page where you will select the new Task Due Date.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will take you back to the initial task management page without changing the due date for any tasks.

Change Due Date for Tasks

The "Selected Task Assignments" table displays the list of tasks that you have selected to change.

Use the "New Task Due Date" field to indicate the new due date for all the selected tasks. Use the "Justification" field to record the reason for the change. Then enter your signoff key and click the "Change Due Date" button. The Task Due Date for each of the selected tasks will be updated to the new date, and you will be returned to the initial task management page.

The details of the change will be recorded in the "Task Due Date Change History" for each of the selected tasks.

Clicking the Cancel button will return you to the initial task management page without changing the due date for any tasks.

System Maintenance

In addition to the normal application administration and configuration of Grand Avenue Software, there are some external tasks that should be performed to ensure system availability and reliability.

Task - Database Upgrade Notification

This task is created to record any changes that are made to a process item during the database upgrade process. If a site should be made aware of the impacts of the changes, the task will be assigned to users with the System Administrator role. Otherwise, it will be automatically closed by the upgrade process. In either case, the task will be visible in the Task History for the process item.

Sign Off Database Upgrade Notification

Review the instructions for this upgrade to understand the results.

Enter any comments and your signoff key, and then click the "Sign Off" button to close the task.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will return you to your My Tasks page without signing off on the task.

Alert - Event Log Failure

This Task Alert is displayed on the My Tasks page for System Administrators whenever Grand Avenue Software is unable to write to the application log. Clicking the "View" button for the alert will take the user to the Manage Grand Avenue Software Event Log page. This alert will always be included in the daily email notification sent out for overdue and upcoming tasks.

Manage Grand Avenue Software Event Log

Grand Avenue Software uses a Windows event log to record information and errors about the system. An event log named "Grand Avenue Software" is created on the web server for this purpose.

When the event log is initially created by the Grand Avenue Software installer, it is initialized with default values that may not be sufficient for a large-scale production system. The system administrator for the web server may need to increase the size of the event log, and/or change the policy for what should happen when the event log becomes full.

If the system is ever unable to write to the event log, a Task Alert (see Event Log Failure) is created to notify System Administrators that they should come to this page and address the problem. The "Event Log Error" field will display the error message reported by the last failure to write to the event log. If you are unable to resolve the problem with the event log, send the contents of the "Event Log Error" field to Grand Avenue Software Support (support@grandavenue.com).

Once the problem has been resolved, the System Administrator can click the "Clear Alert" button to remove the task alert. If another problem occurs with the event log, the Task Alert will be created again.

Click the "Close" button to return to the My Tasks page.

System Backup and Recovery

The following are instructions for backup and recovery of Grand Avenue Software:

The Grand Avenue Software system stores all customer data in a single SQL Server database. This includes both metadata and file content. To back up a Grand Avenue Software system, a database administrator can simply use the SQL Server Management Studio to back up the SQL Server database. No other information is required to recover a complete system at a future date.
Administrators should include a database backup procedure as part of their regular administrative activities, to reduce the amount of potential data loss in the case of an event requiring system recovery.
To recover the system using a previously generated backup, the administrator should perform the following steps:
- Ensure that the target machine meets all the hardware and software requirements stated in the Grand Avenue Software Installation document.
- Restore the backed-up database contents using the SQL Server management tool.
- Reinstall the Grand Avenue Software application suite.
  - If necessary, remove the existing version of the application suite using the Windows Add/Remove Programs tool.
  - Install the appropriate version of the application suite following the procedure in the Grand Avenue Software Installation document.
After completing recovery, a System Administrator should perform the Installation Verification steps outlined in the Grand Avenue Software Installation document.

Modifying the Grand Avenue Software Configuration File (web.config)

As an ASP.NET application, Grand Avenue Software's configuration is defined by a "web.config" file located in the application's root directory on the web server. The following settings can be modified by a web server administrator after Grand Avenue Software has been installed. Changes made to the web.config file will take effect as soon as the file is saved.

NOTE: Any changes made to the web.config file will be overwritten by subsequent installations of the software and will need to be reapplied by a web server administrator.

Server File Access

The "ServerFileAccessAllowed" setting defines whether the Grand Avenue Software application is allowed to access files stored locally on the web server. Features like the batch importing of documents (in the Document Control module) require this access.

By default, this setting is "true", allowing the application to access files. If a site does not want to authorize the application to access files stored locally on the web server, a web server administrator can disable this access by changing the setting to "false".

User Session Timeout

The "authentication" section of the web.config file defines how users are authenticated for access to the Grand Avenue Software application. The "timeout" setting specifies the number of minutes that a user's session can remain idle before it will be automatically signed out and require them to reauthenticate before continuing.

This setting should only be modified as part of the Installation Qualification process documented in the Installation Instructions.

Maximum Request Length

The "MaxRequestLength" setting defines the maximum amount of data (in KB) that can be sent to the server in a single request. The purpose of this setting is to prevent potential Denial of Service attacks that could lock a server by sending an unlimited amount of data.

This limit also applies to the maximum size of a file that can be uploaded into the system (see Maximum File Upload Size).

By default, this setting is set to 409600, or roughly 400 megabytes. A web server administrator can change this setting to restrict or increase the size of files that can be uploaded by users.

Error Pages

The following are general error pages you may occasionally see.

Session Has Timed Out

This page is displayed when a session that contains information necessary to display a page is no longer available. This could happen because the user session has timed out, or the user has signed out. Navigate to the page from the navigation menu or task list to view the page again.

Clicking the "Close" button will take you to the My Tasks page.

Unauthorized Access

This page is displayed when a user navigates to a page that they are not authorized to view. This could happen because a user's authorization for a module has been changed by the Module Administrators, but they still have a saved browser "Favorite" or link in an email that takes them to a page that they are no longer authorized for.

If you believe you should be authorized to view this information, contact the appropriate Module Administrators.

Clicking the "Close" button will take you to the My Tasks page.

Error Occurred

This page is displayed when an unexpected error occurs that cannot be handled by the Grand Avenue Software application.

The page contains detailed information about the error, intended for use by Grand Avenue Software Support in diagnosing the problem.

Click the "Report Error" button to send an email containing this information to Grand Avenue Software Support (see Report Error to Grand Avenue Software Support).

Clicking the "Close" button will take you back to the page prior to the page where the error occurred, or to the My Tasks page if the original page is no longer available.

Report Error to Grand Avenue Software Support

This page displays the information that will be sent to Grand Avenue Software Support to help with diagnosing the problem.

Click the "Send Email With Error Report" button to send an email containing the information to support@grandavenue.com.

Clicking the "Cancel" button will take you back to the page prior to the page where the error occurred, or to the My Tasks page if the original page is no longer available.