Who this is for: Template builders (needs Manage My Audit Templates) to set the fields up, and auditors to complete them.
Every audit already records where it took place (the location) and what it was checked against (the template's questions). Three optional fields let you also record why the audit is being done and where its edges are, so that anyone reading the report can see exactly what was and was not covered.
Field | What to write | Example |
Objectives | What the audit sets out to achieve | Confirm that the permit-to-work process is followed on night shift |
Boundaries | What is in scope: the areas, processes and period covered | Warehouse B and the loading bay, night shift only, 1–31 October 2026 |
Exclusions | What is out of scope, and why, in one box | Contractor vehicles: covered by the separate transport audit in November |
Each field takes up to 1,000 characters.
Boundaries or Scope? The older optional Scope field is a free description of the audit. Boundaries is narrower: it states the limits of what was covered. You can use either or both.
Setting the fields up in a template
Go to Audits › My Audit Templates and edit the template.
Open ② Audit Details. Under the optional fields you'll find Objectives, Boundaries and Exclusions.
Set each one to Off, On or Required.
Publish a new version of the template.
Setting | What the auditor sees |
Off | Nothing. The field isn't on the audit or in the report. |
On | The field is on Audit Details. Filling it in is optional. |
Required | The field has an asterisk. The audit can't be published until it is filled in. |
Only these three fields have a Required setting. The older optional fields (Business Context, Scope, Audit Period and so on) are still just On or Off.
Which audits get the fields? Audits started after you publish the template. You can't change a template while one of its audits is in progress: the builder shows 1 audit is in progress on this template. Come back once it is finished. and Publish Template is greyed out. Finish (publish) those audits first, or duplicate the template and change the copy. When you duplicate a template, the settings are copied.
Filling the fields in on an audit
Open the audit and go to the Audit Details step.
Below the standard fields, complete Objectives, Boundaries and Exclusions (whichever the template includes). A counter shows how many of the 1,000 characters you've used.
Select Save.
Fill these in before fieldwork where you can. Agreeing the objectives and boundaries with the auditee up front avoids arguments later about whether something should have been looked at.
Each change is recorded in the audit's History.
When a field is Required
A Required field left blank keeps the Audit Details step on a red warning. On Review & Publish, the Audit Details card names what's missing, for example Required fields with no value yet: Objectives., with a Go to Audit Details link.
In the published report
Each field prints in its own box in the Audit Details section of the report, straight after Scope, so the reader sees the objectives, boundaries and exclusions alongside the location and date. A field that is switched on but left empty still prints its heading, with no text, so fill in every field the template includes.
Once the audit is published it is locked, and the fields can no longer be changed.
If this doesn't work
The fields aren't on my audit. The template has them Off, or the audit was started before the template was changed. Ask your template builder to check ② Audit Details and publish a new version, then start a new audit from it.
I can't publish and the card says "Required fields with no value yet". The template makes that field Required. Go back to Audit Details and fill it in.
The text stops before I've finished. Each field holds up to 1,000 characters. Keep it to a short statement; attach longer documents under Linked Documents.
I can't edit the fields. The audit has been published, so it's read-only.
Related articles
Turning on optional audit detail fields
Completing Audit Details
Preparing for an audit: scope, criteria and the opening meeting
Adding an audit plan and sampling approach to an audit