# Working with Issue Escalation (QMS)

Many regulatory authorities require that organizations have a process by which serious issues that arise out of complaints, deviations, inspections, or compliance issues are formally escalated to management.

Using the _Issue Escalation_ object, organizations have a method of recording issues that surface through _Quality Events_ and relating those issues back to the originating event. You can then escalate such issues to management for awareness and triage towards closure. All notifications sent to management via _Issue Escalation_ records have traceability in Vault audit trails, providing a receipt of who was contacted as an _Issue Escalation Notification_ record.

## Creating an Issue Escalation

To create an issue escalation:

  1. Navigate to an **Issue Escalation** custom tab or to **Business Admin** > **Issue Escalation**.
  2. Click **Create**.
  3. Fill in the required details.
  4. Select a **Source**. This field value indicates the originating issue category.
  5. Optional: Fill in the remaining details as required by your organization's process.
  6. Click **Save**.

### External Source Escalations

Your organization may have issues appropriate for the _Issue Escalation_ process and tracking but those events are not captured in QMS.  For these issues, you can populate the Related External Event field to capture the ID that represents the event in your external system.

## Reviewing Issue Escalations

_Issue Escalation_ configurations typically include a review workflow to ensure that all data on the _Issue Escalation_ record is complete and accurate. Once an _Issue Escalation_ record contains all the necessary information, it is ready to be escalated and for Vault to send a notification to managing users.

## Issue Escalation Notifications

When an _Issue Escalation_ record reaches its completed state, for example, _Closed_, Vault can send a notification to the appropriate _Users_ using the _Send Issue Escalation_ action. Vault creates an _Issue Escalation Notification_ record to track this notification and its relevant metadata, such as _Sent Date_, the related _Issue Escalation_, and _Recipients_.

If Vault sends the notification as the result of a workflow step, the _Issue Escalation Notification_ record lists _System_ as the _Sender._ If, instead, you send the notification with a user action, your user account will be listed in the _Sender_ field. Once sent, this notification is recorded in the _Issue Escalation_ record audit trail, including the record _Name_ and _Purpose_.

## Follow-Up Quality Event

After an _Issue Escalation_ is closed, you can create an associated follow-up _Quality Event_, linking the _Issue Escalation_ and the subsequent action taken for a complete traceability record.

## Related Permissions

The following permissions control your ability to use _Issue Escalations_:

<table class="wbord">
  <tr>
    <td>
      <p>
        <strong>Type</strong>
      </p>
    </td>
    <td>
      <p>
        <strong>Permission Label</strong>
      </p>
    </td>
    <td>
      <p>
        <strong>Controls</strong>
      </p>
    </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>
      <p>
        Security Profile
      </p>
    </td>
    <td>
      <p>
        Object: Issue Escalation
      </p>
    </td>
    <td>
      <p>
        Ability to view, create, edit, and delete <em>Issue Escalations</em>.
      </p>
    </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>
      <p>
        Security Profile
      </p>
    </td>
    <td>
      <p>
        Object: Issue Escalation Notification
      </p>
    </td>
    <td>
      <p>
        Ability to view <em>Issue Escalation Notifications.</em>
      </p>
    </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>
      <p>
        Security Profile
      </p>
    </td>
    <td>
      <p>
        Object: Issue Escalation Impacted Country
      </p>
    </td>
    <td>
      <p>
        Ability to view, create, edit, and delete <em>Issue Escalation Impacted Countries</em>.
      </p>
    </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>
      <p>
        Security Profile
      </p>
    </td>
    <td>
      <p>
        Object: Issue Escalation Impacted Organization
      </p>
    </td>
    <td>
      <p>
        Ability to view, create, edit, and delete <em>Issue Escalation Impacted Organizations</em>.
      </p>
    </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>
      <p>
        Security Profile
      </p>
    </td>
    <td>
      <p>
        Object: Issue Escalation Impacted Product
      </p>
    </td>
    <td>
      <p>
        Ability to view, create, edit, and delete <em>Issue Escalation Impacted Products</em>.
      </p>
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>