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Auditor
Frequently
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Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about how to get the most out of Dakota Auditor. If you don't find the answers you need here, please contact us so that we may help you.

If you do not find the answer to your question in the FAQ, then contact our customer support staff at (216) 765-7100 or submit your question using our contact form.

Answers

What's the simplest way to conduct a comprehensive audit?

Dakota Auditor has many features and modes of operation - both basic and advanced. The following procedure illustrates a simple approach for conducting a comprehensive audit. The three basic steps are: determine applicability, access compliance checklists, and print and save audit results.

Determine Applicability with Profile Mode

Choose New from the Quick Access dialog box. The Select Modules dialog box appears. Upon selecting one or more modules, the Navigator window appears with the selected module(s).
From the Navigator menu, choose Profile Mode. The applicability question for the first domain (Navigator topic) is displayed in the Investigator window.
Click on the Autoadvance button so that you can progress through the applicability questions automatically.
For each applicability question, either answer the question or click on the Next button to skip the question until later.

Assess Compliance Checklists

After Profile Mode is ended, the Investigator window displays checklist questions for the first Navigator domain. Answer the questions using your mouse. Scroll down as necessary.
To add a comment, finding, or corrective action, move the pointer over a question and click on the right mouse button.
To access regulations in the Reference Library, double-click an underlined citation in the Investigator window.
To move to the next domain in the Navigator click on the Next button in the toolbar.

Print and Save the Audit Results

Choose Print/Export from the File menu and select Basic Reports.
Select which questions to include in your report. Choose Print or Print Preview to generate the report.
To save your audit session, choose Save from the File menu.

How do I answer all of the Applicability Questions for an audit?

Open or create an Audit Session with the desired modules.
Click on the Profile Mode button in the toolbar. Applicability Questions appear in sequence in the Investigator window.
Click on the Autoadvance button in the toolbar so that you can progress through the Applicability Questions automatically.
Answer all of the Applicability Questions and click OK at the Profile Mode Complete message box

How do I build a complete Facility Profile?

Open or create an Audit Session with the desired modules.
Click on the Profile Mode button in the toolbar. Applicability Questions appear in sequence in the Investigator window.
Click on the Autoadvance button in the toolbar so that you can progress through the Applicability Questions automatically.
Answer all of the Applicability Questions and click OK at the Profile Mode Complete message box.

There are too many domains in the Navigator window.

Dakota Auditor includes several techniques for controlling the display of the Navigator window.
Click on the Navigator folders with minus (-) signs to collapse the domain hierarchy. To collapse all the domains in the Navigator, click on the System folder.
Choose Navigator Display Settings from the View menu to hide domains based on applicability status or completion status.
Select an Audit Scope that contains the domains of interest. The Navigator will collapse to show only the domains in the selected Audit Scope.

How can I focus my audit on selected topics?

Dakota Auditor includes several techniques for controlling the display of the Navigator window.
Click on the Navigator folders with minus (-) signs to collapse the domain hierarchy. To collapse all the domains in the Navigator, click on the System folder. You can then expand the hierarchy by clicking on the folders with plus (+) signs.
Choose Navigator Display Settings from the View menu to hide domains based on applicability status or completion status.
Select an Audit Scope that contains the domains of interest. The Navigator will collapse to show only the domains in the selected Audit Scope.

How can I save a list of domains?

An Audit Scope is a selection of domains. Because the hierarchy can be expanded to display many domains, using an Audit Scope is an efficient way to focus on a particular area. When you first create a new session, Dakota Auditor uses a pre-defined System scope. It comprises all domains within the selected modules. User-defined Audit Scopes allow you to select domains according to your specific auditing needs.

To define an Audit Scope:

While holding down the Control key, click the left mouse button to highlight multiple domains in the Navigator window.
From the Scope menu, choose Define Audit Scope. The Define Audit Scope dialog box appears. Enter a name for your Audit Scope.
The Include subdomains feature is checked by default. If you do not want subdomains of the selected domains to be included in the Audit Scope, clear this check box. Choose OK.

To select an Audit Scope:

From the Scope menu, choose Select Audit Scope. The Select Audit Scope dialog box appears.
Click User Defined Audit Scope and select a previously-defined Audit Scope from the drop-down list.
Choose OK. The Navigator then collapses to display only those domains that are included in the User Defined Audit Scope.

How can I use Audit Scopes?

To define an Audit Scope:

While holding down the Control key, click the left mouse button to highlight multiple domains in the Navigator window.
From the Scope menu, choose Define Audit Scope. The Define Audit Scope dialog box appears. Enter a name for your Audit Scope.
The Include subdomains feature is checked by default. If you do not want subdomains of the selected domains to be included in the Audit Scope, clear this check box. Choose OK.

To select an Audit Scope:

From the Scope menu, choose Select Audit Scope. The Select Audit Scope dialog box appears.
Click User Defined Audit Scope and select a previously-defined Audit Scope from the drop-down list.
Choose OK. The Navigator then collapses to display only those domains that are included in the User Defined Audit Scope.

How do I eliminate GMPs and Proposed Rules from my audit?

Use the Select Question Types feature to eliminate unwanted questions from your reports. For example, you could eliminate all questions based on GMPs or Proposed Rules.

Choose Select Question Types from the Scope menu.
Deselect any question types that are not relevant to your audit. To eliminate GMPs and Proposed Rules, clear the boxes for GMPs and Proposed Rules. Click OK.

Your Question Type settings are automatically reflected in the Navigator window, Investigator window and all printed reports.

How can I tell when the audit is complete?

By clicking on the Indicate Completion Status button in the toolbar, the Navigator window can indicate which domains have been completed. A box will appear to the left of each applicable domain with a checklist icon.

When a checklist has been completed, either by answering all of the questions in the domain or by manually indicating User Complete, an X will appear in the completion box in the Navigator window. A box with an X indicates that the corresponding domain has been completed.

In order to see if all of the subdomains are complete, highlight the top domain and choose Expand All in Selected Domains from the Navigator floating menu.

How can I tell which domains are completed?

In order to see if all of the subdomains are complete, highlight the top domain and choose Expand All in Selected Domains from the Navigator floating menu.

How can I transfer applicability information to a new Audit Session?

Profile Transfer (Load Profile From) enables you to copy the regulatory profile of a saved Audit Session into a new Audit Session using the latest release of Dakota Auditor.

A regulatory profile contains the following types of information:

responses to Applicability Questions (not checklist responses)
comments associated with Applicability Questions

When you transfer a profile, your original audit file remains intact. You can always access your original audit using the regulatory information that was current when it was last saved.

To transfer a regulatory profile to a new Audit Session:

From the File menu, choose Load Profile From. The Load Profile From dialog box appears. This dialog box explains what will happen during Profile Transfer. Review this information and choose Next to continue.
The Load Profile From dialog box opens. This dialog box works in a manner similar to the Open dialog box. Select the Audit Session whose profile will be transferred and choose OK.
Dakota Auditor examines the Applicability Questions in the audit and determines which have been revised for the current release. Responses to outdated questions are not transferred to the new release; rather, they are copied into a log file.
The Profile Loaded message box is displayed to summarize the transfer process. Click OK. Your answers and comments from Applicability Questions are loaded into a new untitled Audit Session. The original Audit Session is never altered.

How can I see which regulations have changed since my last audit?

When you Load Profile from an Audit Session created with a prior release of Dakota Auditor, the Reference Change Tracking feature is automatically set to show all regulatory changes since that Dakota Auditor release. Use the Load Profile / Reference Change Tracking features in tandem to find regulatory changes that have occurred since your last audit.

If the original Audit Session included a complete profile (all of the folders in the Navigator window were green or gray), any yellow folders in the new Audit Session will be related to those domains with new or changed regulatory applicability.
To see which domains include changed regulations, click on the Indicate Reference Changes button (blue delta symbol) on the toolbar. Changed regulatory information is displayed with blue text.

Why is some information displayed with blue text?

The Reference Change Tracking feature highlights (in blue text) the regulatory information that has changed since a specific date or a previous Dakota Auditor release.

You have the option of viewing or hiding regulatory change indicators in the Navigator window; regulatory changes are always highlighted in the Investigator and Reference Library.

The following types of information are highlighted:

specific text that has changed in the Reference Library
citations to regulations that have changed (highlighted in all windows)
domains that contain changed regulations in the Navigator window (indicated by a blue delta symbol and highlighted text)

In the Navigator window, changes are shown in two ways:

A blue delta symbol appears next to each domain in which a change appears. The change appears in the domain itself (if the domain name is highlighted) or in one of its sub-domains.
Domain names are highlighted in blue when a change appears within them.

To show changes in the Navigator window, click the Reference Change icon (blue delta symbol) in the toolbar. The delta symbols and blue domain titles highlight all of the domains that include changed references.

How can I find questions related to a specific regulatory citation?

The Locate Reference command allows you to locate the domains that include a specific Federal citation or State subject.

Start an Audit Session with the relevant modules loaded into the Navigator window.
Select a state from the Federal Only / State list box in the toolbar.
Open the Reference Library window. Click on the Contents button until the Module Table of Contents is displayed.
Click on the Table of Contents entry for the relevant Federal or State module. All of the citations for that module are loaded into the Citation Lists on the left side of the Navigator window.
Click once with the right mouse button on a citation or state subject in the Citation List. Choose Locate Reference from the floating menu.
Dakota Auditor searches the entire Navigator window and highlights all of the domains that include the selected citation.
Choose Show Checklist from the Navigator window to display the Checklist Questions for all of the highlighed domains.

How can I find questions related to a specific state subject?

The Locate Reference command allows you to locate the domains that include a specific Federal citation or State subject.

Start an Audit Session with the relevant modules loaded into the Navigator window.
Select a state from the Federal Only / State list box in the toolbar.
Open the Reference Library window. Click on the Contents button until the Module Table of Contents is displayed.
Click on the Table of Contents entry for the relevant Federal or State module. All of the citations for that module are loaded into the Citation Lists on the left side of the Navigator window.
Click once with the right mouse button on a citation or state subject in the Citation List. Choose Locate Reference from the floating menu.
Dakota Auditor searches the entire Navigator window and highlights all of the domains that include the selected citation.
Choose Show Checklist from the Navigator window to display the Checklist Questions for all of the highlighed domains.

How do I export audit results to other software applications?

In addition to being able to print a report from Dakota Auditor, you can also export the report to a delimited text file. The delimited text file may be opened by other software (e.g. word processors or spreadsheets) and used to edit and/or re-format the report.

Set up your Audit Session as you would for Printing a Report. You may want to Set Filters from the View menu.
Click the Print button on the toolbar.
Select either Basic Reports or User-Defined Reports and choose OK. The appropriate reporting dialog box opens.
Specify the appropriate report settings.
Click on the Export button.
From the Select Export Format dialog box:
- Components - Select components by checking in the box for each desired component (any combination of these ten components may be used).
- Output Delimiter - To create a table in a word processor or to use the file in a spreadsheet, choose Tab as the delimiter. To create a paragraph style report in a word processor, choose New Line as the delimiter;
- Additional Options - If you are creating a table and would like column titles to be included in the file, click in the box next to Add Column Titles.
Click Next.
From the Export File Name dialog box, enter the desired name and location for the exported file. Click OK.

How do I change the format of my audit reports?

The best way to change the format of Dakota Auditor reports is to export them to a delimited text file. You can then format the text in a word-processor or spreadsheet application.

The following explanation serves as a guide for importing a delimited text file, created by Dakota Auditor, to Microsoft Word 6. This procedure can be adapted for using a delimited text file with many other word processors.

In MS Word, Open the delimited text file that you created with Dakota Auditor. You need to know the location and name of the file in order to open it. You may need to change the List Files of Type: list box from Word documents (*.doc) to Text files (*.txt). Once you have found the file, click on OK.
To create a table using a tab-delimited text file choose Select All from the Edit menu.
From the Table menu, select Convert Text to Table. From the Convert Text to Table dialog box, verify that the Separate Text At: box is marked Tab and click OK. You may also want to try experimenting with AutoFormat options.
A table is created with each question component appearing in a different column of the table. Format the table to the desired appearance using any of the features available in MS Word. When saving this file, choose Save As from the File menu to save it as a Word document (*.doc), not a text file (*.txt). If you save it as a text file all of the formatting changes will be lost.
To create a paragraph style report (using a New Line delimited text file): After the file is opened in MS Word, each question component is separated by a return character (new line). Simply use any of the formatting features in Microsoft Word to achieve the desired appearance.

How do I print information from Dakota Auditor?

There are three basic methods for printing information from Dakota Auditor. Each method works best in certain situations.

Print a Current View - Prints the current contents of any Dakota Auditor window. Used for single-domain checklists, and for printing information from the Navigator and Reference Library windows.
Basic Reports - Collects questions from all domains into commonly-used audit reports. Used for printing red-flag reports and for printing checklists for use in field.
User-Defined Reports - Collects questions from specified domains into a user-defined audit report. Used whenever you want to define which domains and questions to print. You can use filters in conjunction with User-Defined Reports to further refine which questions are included in your report.

To print from Dakota Auditor:

From the File menu, choose Print/Export or click the Print icon on the toolbar.
Select one of the following options:
- Print a Current View
- Basic Reports
- User-Defined Reports
Choose OK. The appropriate printing dialog box opens.
Select your report settings and choose Print.

How do I print the Materials to be Gathered Lists?

Start Dakota Auditor and load modules from the Select Modules menu. Click OK.
Click on the plus sign in the domain folder for each module. This will expand each module domain and allow you to see the Materials to be Gathered (MTBG) domain for each module listed.
In the Navigator window, highlight each MTBG domain that you wish to print. To highlight the first domain click on the words Materials to be Gathered once. To highlight subsequent domains, hold down the Control key while clicking on domain titles. You will end up with all of the MTBG domains that you wish to print highlighted in the Navigator window.
From the Navigator menu, select Show Checklist. The Investigator window appears with each of the MTBG lists displayed.
Click the Print button in the toolbar. Select A Current View from the Print dialog box and click OK.
In the Print Views dialog box, click the Investigator checkbox and then click Print.

How do I print Applicability Questions for Major Topics?

Major Topic Applicability Questions are a subset of all applicability questions and are specifically designed to be appropriate for pre-audit activities. Facility personnel can answer the questions and return the completed checklist. Then you can input the answers into Dakota Auditor and accomplish most, if not all, of the applicability determination prior to the start of the audit. In prior versions of Dakota Auditor these Major Topic Applicability Questions were called "Screening Questions."

To print all of the Major Topic Applicability Questions in your Audit Session:

Start an Audit Session and select the desired modules.
From the File menu, choose Print/Export.
Select Basic Reports from the Print/Export dialog box and choose OK.
Select Applicability Questions (Major Topics Only).
Verify that both the Answered Questions and Unanswered Questions check boxes are selected. Click Print.

How do I print Screening Questions?

To print all of the Major Topic Applicability Questions in your Audit Session:

Start an Audit Session and select the desired modules.
From the File menu, choose Print/Export.
Select Basic Reports from the Print/Export dialog box and choose OK.
Select Applicability Questions (Major Topics Only).
Verify that both the Answered Questions and Unanswered Questions check boxes are selected. Click Print.

How do I print all the Applicability Questions for an Audit Session?

Start an Audit Session and select the desired modules.
From the File menu, choose Print/Export or click the Print button on the toolbar.
Select User-Defined Reports from the Print/Export dialog box and choose OK.
Select the following options in the User-Defined Reports dialog box:
- System Scope for Question Coverage
- Applicability for Question Types
Clear the checkboxes for Major Topics Only, Answered Questions Only, and Questions Matching Current Filter Only.
Click Print.

I've started to build a regulatory profile. How do I print all of the remaining unanswered Applicability Questions?

Use the following procedure to print a list of all the unanswered Applicability Questions that are necessary to complete your profile.

From View menu, choose Navigator Display Settings. The Navigator Display Settings box appears.
Remove the check from the boxes for Applicable/Included and Not Applicable/Excluded. All green and gray domains are removed from the Navigator.
Select the System domain in the Navigator. From the floating menu, choose Expand All in Selected Domain.
Highlight all of the yellow domains in the Navigator. (To select multiple domains in the Navigator hold down the Shift or Control keys when selecting domains.)
From the Navigator menu, choose Define Audit Scope. Verify that the Include subdomains box is not checked, and name the scope. Choose OK.
From the View menu, choose Set Filter. Check the box for Answer Does Not Exist.
Click on the Print button in the toolbar. Select User-Defined Reports and choose OK.
In the User-Defined Reports dialog box, select User-Defined Audit Scope and select the name of the appropriate scope of yellow domains.
Select Applicability for Question Type and check the box for Questions Matching Current Filter Only. Clear all other checkboxes.
Click Print.

How do I print all the Checklist Questions for an Audit Session?

During the audit, you may want to print Checklist Questions for use in the field.

Because these checklists can be very long, it's a good practice to answer as many Applicability Questions as possible before printing checklists. Questions from non-applicable domains (gray Navigator folders) are automatically excluded from these printed checklists.

Start an Audit Session and select the desired modules.
From the File menu, choose Print/Export or click the Print button on the toolbar.
Select Basic Reports from the Print/Export dialog box and choose OK.
From the Basic Reports dialog box, select Checklist Questions, and verify that both the Answered Questions and Unanswered Questions checkboxes are checked (selected).
Click Print

How do I print Checklist Questions for specific topics (domains)?

Because checklists can be very long, you may want to print selected sections of the checklists. Any questions from non-applicable domains (gray Navigator folders) are automatically excluded from these printed checklists.

Select domains of interest - In the Navigator window, select the desired domain by clicking once on the domain title. Use Shift-Click or Control-Click to select additional domain titles. Use the Question Count Indicator in the Navigator window to limit scopes to less than 250 questions.
Create a Scope - From the Scope menu, choose Define Audit Scope. Type in a name for your Audit Scope and check or clear the box next to Include subdomains as appropriate. Click OK.
Click on the Print button in the toolbar. Select User-Defined Reports and choose OK.
In the User-Defined Reports dialog box, select User-Defined Audit Scope, and select the name of your Audit Scope.
Select Checklist for Question Type, and clear (remove checks from) the checkboxes for Answered Questions Only and Questions Matching Current Filter Only.
Click Print.

I'm halfway through my audit. How do I print the remaining unanswered Checklist Questions?

Open the appropriate Audit Session.
From the File menu, choose Print/Export or click the Print button on the toolbar.
Select Basic Reports from the Print/Export dialog box and choose OK.
From the Basic Reports dialog box, select Checklist Questions, and check the box for Unanswered Questions.
Clear (remove the check from) the box for Answered Questions.
Click Print.

How do I use Filters to print specific Checklist Questions?

You can use Filters to control which questions are included in your printed checklists. For example, you could print all the questions that have Findings.

Open the appropriate Audit Session.
Choose Set Filters from the View menu. Click the boxes to match your questions of interest. For example, click the box for Finding Exists to focus on the questions that have Findings.
Click the Print button on the toolbar. Select User-Defined Reports and choose OK.
Select the following options in the User-Defined Reports dialog box:
- System Scope for Question Coverage
- Checklist for Question Types
Check the box for Questions Matching Current Filter Only.
Click Print.

How do I print my audit results?

Dakota Auditor makes it easy to print all of the answered questions with their associated Comments, Findings and Corrective Actions.

Open the appropriate Audit Session.
From the File menu, choose Print/Export or click the Print button on the toolbar.
Select Basic Reports from the Print/Export dialog box and choose OK.
From the Basic Reports dialog box, select Checklist Questions, and check the box for Answered Questions.
Clear (remove the check from) the box for Unanswered Questions.
Click Print.

How do I print a report of all the answered Checklist Questions?

Dakota Auditor makes it easy to print all of the answered questions with their associated Comments, Findings and Corrective Actions.

Open the appropriate Audit Session.
From the File menu, choose Print/Export or click the Print button on the toolbar.
Select Basic Reports from the Print/Export dialog box and choose OK.
From the Basic Reports dialog box, select Checklist Questions, and check the box for Answered Questions.
Clear (remove the check from) the box for Unanswered Questions.
Click Print.

How do I print a Red Flag Report?

A Red Flag Report contains all of the questions which generated a red flag (automatically or manually) and all of the associated Comments, Findings and Corrective Actions.

Open the appropriate Audit Session.
From the File menu, choose Print/Export or click the Print button on the toolbar.
Select Basic Reports from the Print/Export dialog box and choose OK.
From the Basic Reports dialog box, select Red Flag Questions.
Click Print.

Is Dakota Auditor Year 2000 (Y2K) compliant?

Y2K Readiness Disclosure Statement

Dakota Auditor will function accurately and without interruption before, during and after January 1, 2000 without any change in operations associated with the advent of the new century. All dates are stored internally in a universal date format and are displayed with 4-digit year expansion. For the user's convenience, dates may be entered with either a 2-digit or 4-digit number for the year. Prior to January 1, 2000, 2-digit numbers will be converted automatically by Dakota Auditor as follows: the numbers 00 through 69 are converted to years of the 21st century and numbers from 70 through 99 are converted to years of the 20th century. After 12/31/99 all 2-digit numbers will be converted automatically by Dakota Auditor to years of the 21st century. The date is displayed with the 4-digit year for the user's confirmation.

What do I do when the "All licenses have expired" message appears?

You may have entered the serial number or license number(s) incorrectly. If so, it is necessary to re-enter the correct number(s).

To locate the current serial number:

From the Help menu, choose About Dakota Auditor.
The current serial number is displayed.

To re-enter your serial number:

Exit Dakota Auditor.
In the Windows Program Manager, choose Run from the File menu.
In the Command Line box, type c:\dakota\serial if Dakota Auditor was installed to the C:\DAKOTA directory. If it was installed to a different directory, use the appropriate path name in the Command Line box (path_name\serial).
Choose OK.
Restart Dakota Auditor. The User Registration dialog box appears.
Enter the requested information, including the correct serial number.
Choose OK. The License dialog box appears.
Enter the correct license number(s).
Choose OK.

To re-enter the license number(s):

From the Tools menu, choose License. The License dialog box appears.
Enter the correct license number(s).
Choose OK.

The Dakota Auditor windows appear in unusual sizes or seem to be missing. How do I get them back?

To reset the windows to their original sizes and locations, use the Default command on the Window menu.

If windows are still missing, check to see if they have been minimized. Sometimes the minimized icon is hidden behind either the Navigator or Investigator window.

Why doesn't my right mouse button activate the floating menu?

Your Windows settings for the mouse might be set up incorrectly. Check the mouse settings in the Windows Control Panel and verify that the right mouse button has not been assigned an alternate function.

To set mouse buttons:

Double-click the Control Panel icon in the Windows Main program group. The Control Panel appears.
Double-click Mouse in the Control Panel. The Mouse Manager dialog box appears.
Click the Orientation button. The Orientation dialog box appears.
Click the Set Buttons button.
Click the Left mouse button to set your primary button. Click the Right mouse button to set your secondary button.
Choose OK.

If this doesn't resolve the problem, double-click Windows Setup in the Windows Main program group and verify that the driver is compatible with the mouse being used.

Domains are missing from the Navigator. How do I get them back?

If domains are missing from the Navigator window, you will want to reactivate all domains.

To activate all domains:

From the Scope menu, choose Revert to System Scope. User-defined scope is cleared.
From the View menu, choose Clear Filter. All filters are cleared.
From the Scope menu, choose Set Question Types. Verify that all question types are checked.
From View menu, choose Navigator Display Settings. Under the Collapse Navigator to Match heading, verify that all "Completion Status" and "Applicability" boxes are checked.

What should I do if Dakota Auditor won't print?

Printing problems are caused by a number of different factors. The challenge is to identify and resolve the hardware or software conflicts. Here are some helpful strategies:

Always Save your Audit Session before using the Print or Rapid Data Entry commands.
Verify that you can print from other applications. Then check the Printer settings by choosing Print Setup from the File menu. If possible try printing to a different printer.
Long print jobs are more error-prone than shorter jobs. Try decreasing the size of your print jobs by using a smaller Audit Scope.

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