Who this is for: Needs Manage My Audit Templates.
Findings are raised by the auditor as they work. They are not produced by the template in response to a particular answer — the template's job is to make the + Findings button available on every clause, and to decide what the auditor has to fill in once they press it.
Where findings are raised. In ③ Checklist Columns, the FINDINGS (PER CLAUSE) section states the behaviour: "Findings are raised while the audit is conducted — every clause row carries a +Findings button." See 3.10.
What a finding must contain is set in ④ Findings Fields, which controls the contents of the Add Finding pop-up.
Three fields are fixed and always present:
Field | What it captures |
Finding Type | Nonconformity, Observation, Opportunity for Improvement or Positive Finding |
Severity | Minor or Major |
Statement | The written description of what was found |
Two fields are switched on or off:
Field | What it captures |
Objective Evidence | What was observed, reviewed, measured or tested |
Auditor's Notes | Additional context or commentary |
Two are set to Optional or Required:
Step | What it is |
Root Cause Analysis (Step 2) | The analysis of why the finding happened |
Corrective Actions (Step 3) | The action assigned to resolve it |
Setting Root Cause Analysis or Corrective Actions to Optional does not stop them being added later. Findings can always have a root cause and corrective actions added from the Audit Findings table after the audit is published — often by an operations team rather than the auditor. Leaving them Optional in the template simply means the auditor is not held up for them on site.
That is a genuinely useful pattern for fast, high-volume audits: let the auditor record findings quickly, and have someone else do the analysis afterwards. Set them to Required where the audit is the only point at which anyone will look at the finding properly.
Related: 3.10 ③ Checklist Columns · 3.13 Setting evidence requirements · 6.7 Raising a finding from a clause · 7.5 Adding a root cause analysis after the audit