⏱️ 5 mins
Note: Before going any further, please check if your firm has set up Compliance Risk Assessments on Leo. If so, you need to complete one before creating a Compliance Monitoring Report.
1. Creating a New Monitor Report
To create a new compliance monitoring report:
- From your Home Page, go to Compliance and click on the Compliance Monitoring icon
- Click on the green NEW REPORT button
- A pop-up window with a form will appear. Complete the required fields and select drop-down options to create your report:
- Template: use the drop-down to select the template you want to utilise. Most scenarios will only show one template.
- Report Name: enter the name of the report, which will appear on the front cover of the report, as well as in reminders sent to users to complete the report
- Submit By Date (optional): this is the date that you want the report to be ready for reviewing
- Due Date: this is the date when the report needs to be published
- Assigned To: use the drop-down to select the name of the person who has been tasked with completing the report. (Only users who have been assigned permissions to access and modify a specific module or report will be listed on the drop-down menu.)
- Reviewer: the reviewer is the person who has ultimate responsibility for the report. They will generally check the content and publish the final report
- Delegates: select more users from the drop-down list if you wish to add them to the report
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- Review Period End: this is the end of the period covered by your report. For example, if it’s an annual report for a previous calendar year (say, Jan 2022 - Dec 2022), the review period's end would be December 2022. You can select the period from one of the options on the drop-down.
- Type of Firm: using the drop-down menu, select the type of business and activities that your firm engages in
- Prudential Category: this field relates to how the firm is categorised by the FCA and will determine what prudential sourcebook they will be subject to
- Types of Clients: this field refers to what customer type permissions your firm has
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- Reminder Options: you can set reminders in the Leo calendar related to the due date. You can do this to suit you: you could set a reminder two weeks before the due date and every day until the due date. More frequent reminders like this may be useful for ensuring that employees complete their attestations, for example.
- Schedule Options: you can schedule your report to be created automatically whenever you need to complete it. Could be Bi-monthly, Monthly, or Yearly.
2. Understanding the Report Interface
Here is a visual example of the new report window interface:
3. Report Navigation
Once the report has been created, a new page will open with the reporting questionnaire.
On the left-hand side of your screen, you’ll see the report navigation. Each chapter expands and collapses, and you can expand more than one chapter at the same time. The section of the report that you’re working on will appear in bold.
NOTE: If the report has required questions, then you will see a grey dark line that extends underneath each chapter and subchapter. When a required question is answered the grey line will start turning blue. This way you can track the progress of the report. Once the entire line is dark blue, it means all required questions have been answered.
Before navigating to a different section, click SAVE for the section you’ve just worked on.
4. The Report Utility Bar
The Utility Bar displays the following key functions for reports:
- Save: Allows you to save your work so far and come back to it later
- Submit: Sends an email alert to the person who has been designated reviewer for the report that it’s ready to be reviewed for publication
- Publish: Locks the report against further edits, and saves it on the software as a PDF
- Attachments: Opens a new window showing all documents that have been uploaded to the Document Repository from this particular report window and also allows for documents to be uploaded quickly to the report.
Note: When uploading an attachment they are stored in the system alongside the report, but not really integrated into the report.
- Preview Report: Clicking this button will enable you to preview the entire report. The preview will launch as a PDF in a new tab of the browser and simulates what the report would look like if published
- Section Tips (‘?’ symbol): The question marks that appear at various points give you information about why specific questions are relevant and required for the report to be generated
5. The Report Question Area
The Report Question contains the report template’s questions for the selected section. Whenever a question is answered, the report will automatically populate the text in the section underneath, based on the answers selected and/or text entered. This powerful tool allows for reports to be organised and uniform as well as saving a large amount of time writing up the text from scratch each time.
6. Report Text Area
This displays the content that will be shown in the report. Typically it displays the auto-generated text that the template is programmed to use when a particular question is answered. In most instances, when the section loads for the first time, the text will appear blank. When a question has been answered the text associated with the answer will be added with any variables in-line with the text. If further personalisation is needed each section of the generated text can be edited manually (if you have the user permission to do so) (see photo below). Also, an answer/free text section can be added to the report if there are certain sections that require free-form text (such as a note section). You can do this by clicking the + button on the right side of the Report Text.
NOTE: This area can be set to be completely hidden for some user groups.
7. Red Flags, Concerns and Observations
Whenever a user selects an answer, a pre-set red flag, concern or observation will appear.
Red flag: a breach of regulations
Concern: a deviation from best practice
Observation: Suggestion for further improvement
You will see the red flag, concern or observation included in your report text. It will also appear in the corresponding executive summary red flag/concern area at the bottom of the report screen where users can fill out answers, as well as in the executive summary of the published PDF report.
Red flags, concerns and observations alert the reader to any regulatory breaches or notable divergences from best practices, in an easy-to-read summary.
NOTE: This area can be set to be completely hidden for some user groups.
8. Remedial Actions
Using this tool is straightforward. Upon spotting a Red Flag, Concern or Observation in a report, you can seamlessly create a remedial action by clicking Add Remedial Action in its menu.
Consequently, the action will appear in the Executive Summary and be added as an entry in the Remedial Action Feature.
Once the Remedial Action has been created it will appear in the report and you can edit it, marked as complete or delete it.
To learn more about the Remedial Action feature and how it works see our Remedial Action Article.
9. Comments and Notes
There are two ways to make notes when working on a report. The first is the ‘Answer Review’ option on the right-hand side for question-specific notes.
Secondly, at the end of each report page, there is a comments area for users to enter comments in relation to the report. Comments are dated and time-stamped with the name of the user. Whenever a comment is entered, the Report Owner receives an email notification that a comment has been made. They can add their response just below, which will also be dated and time-stamped with the name of the user. This ensures that conversations surrounding the report remain on Leo and do not get lost or forgotten on third-party applications.
The comments can also serve as an internal blog or messenger system. They can be used to create a discussion between staff members if, for example, a junior analyst requires some clarification on completing a specific section.
Sometimes when third-party users are given access, they also serve as a repository for questions between the Leo user and their client.
