**Source URL:** https://quality.veevavault.help/en/lr/1230981/

# Working with Known Complaint Profiles (QMS)

Veeva QMS automates and streamlines the high-volume, manual complaint process for known, recurring complaints. Leveraging a set of predefined _Known Complaint_ records, Vault automatically links risks, investigations, codes, CAPAs, and root causes to _Complaint_ records, significantly reducing cycle times for recurring complaints.

Known Complaint Profiles are supported for _Medtech Complaints_ and _Pharma Complaints_, or for _Quality Event Complaints_ and _Quality Event Medtech Complaints_. In this article, these are collectively referred to as _Complaints_.

Depending on your Admin's configuration, object, field, and section labels may appear differently than the labels mentioned in this article.

This article uses the following terms:

* **Known Complaint Profile**: A _MedTech Known Complaint_ or _Pharma Known Complaint_ record which serves as the source for pre-approved data for other similar processing _Complaints_. You can create _Known Complaint_ records by promoting a _Complaint_ to a _Known Complaint_. 
* **Source Complaint**: A _Complaint_ that is promoted to a Known Complaint Profile. The source _Complaint_ record remains unchanged after promotion, and Vault creates a new _Pharma_ or _MedTech Known Complaint_ record with data from the source _Complaint_.
* **Processing Complaint**: An incoming _Medtech_ or _Pharma Complaint_ identified as a recurrence of an existing Known Complaint Profile. You can associate processing _Complaints_ with a _Known Complaint_ in order to populate key data and related records, and update the lifecycle state of the complaint based on the state of the associated _Known Complaint_.
* **Related Records**: Depending on your Admin's configuration, Vault may copy _Assessment Risks_, _CAPAs_, _Codes_, _Investigations_, and _Root Causes_ from a source _Complaint_ to a _Known Complaint_, and from a _Known Complaint_ to associated processing _Complaints_.

## Known Complaint Profiles Process

The process for working with Known Complaint Profiles may look like the following:

* An incoming _Complaint_ is processed, closed, then [promoted][1] to a Known Complaint Profile and approved.
* Similar incoming processing _Complaints_ are [associated][2] with the _Known Complaint_. Upon association, each processing _Complaint_ is updated with information from the _Known Complaint_ record and automatically transitioned to a downstream lifecycle state.

If you promote a _Complaint_ to a Known Complaint Profile before it's finished processing, the process may look like the following:

* An incoming _Complaint_ is [promoted][1] to a Known Complaint Profile based on its similarity to other incoming _Complaints_.
* Similar incoming processing _Complaints_ are [associated][2] with the _Known Complaint_ while the source _Complaint_ is still processing.
* The source _Complaint_ finishes processing and the _Known Complaint_ [updates][3] with the latest information from the source _Complaint_ and is approved.
* The processing _Complaints_ associated with the Known Complaint Profile are [updated][4] with information from the closed _Known Complaint_ record and automatically transitioned to a downstream lifecycle state.

The following diagram outlines the flow of information between source _Complaints_, _Known Complaints_, and processing _Complaints_:

## Promoting a Complaint to a Known Complaint Profile {#promote}

You can promote a _Medtech_ or _Pharma_ _Complaint_ to a Known Complaint Profile by selecting the **Promote to Known Complaint Profile** action from the **All Actions** menu of a _Complaint_. This action creates a _MedTech_ or _Pharma Known Complaint_ from the source _Complaint_ and copies field data and related records from the source _Complaint_ to the created _Known Complaint_. The new record serves as a Known Complaint Profile.

Typically, your Admin would configure this action for processed _Complaints_ in a closed state, but you may want to run this action earlier in the process if a number of similar incoming complaints exist. If you promote a complaint early in the triaging process, after you have processed the source _Complaint_, you can run the [_Update Known Complaint Profile_ action][3] to update the known complaint with details from the source _Complaint_.

After promotion, the _Known Complaint_ can then be [associated][2] with additional similar processing _Complaints_.

## Updating a Known Complaint Profile {#update-profile}

In some cases, you may wish to promote a _Complaint_ to a _Known Complaint_ record early in the complaint handling process and later update the _Known Complaint_ after the source _Complaint's_ data is complete. This may occur automatically when the source _Complaint_ enters a final approval or terminal lifecycle state. Alternatively, you may be able to select the **Update Known Complaint Profile** action from the **All Actions** menu on the source _Complaint_ to populate the latest field data and related records from the source _Complaint_ when all investigations have been executed and the source _Complaint_ enters a final approval or terminal state.

## Associating a Complaint with a Known Complaint Profile {#associate}

If you determine that an incoming processing _Complaint_ is similar to an existing _Known Complaint_, you can associate the processing _Complaint_ with the _Known Complaint_ to populate field data and related records from the _Known Complaint_ and fast-track the processing _Complaint_ to a downstream lifecycle state. You can do this either by populating the _Associated Known Complaint_ field on a _Complaint Intake_ and promoting the intake to a _Complaint_, or by selecting the **Associate Known Complaint** action from a processing _Complaint's_ **All Actions** menu. When you select the action, a dialog appears with the following filters:

* _Material_
* _Product_
* _Product Variant_

The values for these filters match the corresponding field values on the _Complaint_ record. These filters do not display if the corresponding fields are empty. You can adjust these values if needed and add additional filters. You cannot adjust the filters for _Status_ and _Object Type_. You can select one _Known Complaint_ from the filtered list.

If you run this action on a _Complaint_ that is already associated with a _Known Complaint_, Vault displays a dialog allowing you to disassociate the currently associated _Known Complaint_, or associate the _Complaint_ with a different _Known Complaint_.

## Updating Associated Records from a Complaint Profile {#update-records}

When a _Known Complaint_ reaches an approved or terminal state, Vault automatically updates related processing _Complaints_ in certain lifecycle states with field data and related records from the _Known Complaint_, then fast-tracks the _Complaints_ to a downstream lifecycle state. This is useful in situations where a source _Complaint_ is promoted to a _Known Complaint_ before being processed. After the update is complete, Vault sends a notification to the user who initiated the state change on the _Known Complaint_ letting them know if the update was successful or encountered failures.

## Limitation

The following limitation applies to Known Complaint Profiles: The Known Complaint Profiles actions can copy up to 100 related records per _Complaint_.

## Related Permissions

See Configuring Known Complaint Profiles for the permissions required to use the Known Complaint Profiles feature.

[1]: #promote
[2]: #associate
[3]: #update-profile
[4]: #update-records