Protected Reports

A person raises a concern about conduct inside an organization. The Intake Coordinator records the report against that organization and the related matter. The report can carry a code, received date, severity rank and confidentiality scope. Those details give the team a way to identify the case and decide who should handle it without circulating the protected identity in an ordinary work list.

The coordinator checks that the report belongs to the intended matter before submitting it. The report’s revision matters: an Independent Reviewer must decide on the submitted version, rather than on text or evidence that changed after the review began. Keep the matter number and the report code together when discussing the case with authorized staff.

• Intake. Draft reports can be checked for the correct organization, matter and confidentiality scope before submission.
• Decision. Submitted reports enter the Independent Reviewer’s queue; the reviewer records a decision against a source revision.
• Completion. A completed report retains its decision date and link to the investigation matter.

Decide who receives each report, who may see its confidentiality scope and when a report is ready for an independent decision. Keep the Intake Coordinator and Independent Reviewer separate for cases where independence is required. Agree how staff identify a report when a code has been assigned and how they locate the related matter when the code has not yet been entered.

Also agree what the team means by a severity rank. It is a field for ordering attention, not a substitute for investigating the facts. Set a routine for correcting an intake mistake without silently changing the revision already placed before a reviewer. If an outside reporting channel is used, map its identifier and delivery acknowledgment before the first live submission.

Take a concern about a manager’s conduct. Create a draft report for the organization and the matter, then submit it. The Independent Reviewer should find that report in Submitted Reports with the same revision the coordinator handed over. If another authorized person changes the source afterward, the review must still identify the version on which the decision was based.

Test both a returned decision and an approval. A return should send the team back to the question that needs more work; approval should leave a dated decision that can be read alongside the report and matter. An Ethics Manager can then check whether the matter’s investigation record supports completion. The report’s status is a meaningful decision marker, not a substitute for the matter’s own review and closure.

• Submitted Reports — Reports waiting for an independent decision, with the linked matter and source revision.
• Report Status Board — Reports grouped by their current intake and decision state.
• Reports to Complete — Reviewed reports that still need a final operating outcome.

Follow report intake and review and the matter investigation.