This article is designed to give an overview of the Folio systems main features and explain some of the key terms that will be used throughout these help guides. There will also be links to more in-depth articles on a feature at the end of each section.

Folios

Folio allows you to enter your organisation's various Contract, Risks, Incidents etc into the system as records, and these records are called Folios. The types of records that can be entered are separated into what is called Folio Templates. For instance, you may be a template for Supplier Contracts, one for IT Contracts, one for Incident Reports etc.

The common terms that you will run into when using Folios include:

Fields: A field is a question on the form in which you can enter data. For instance an Incident Form may have a field for when the incident occurred, who is reporting the incident, a description of the incident etc.
Key: Every template will have a field called Key. This field is automatically filled out when a new record is created from that template and is used as a unique identifier for that record.
Person Responsible: Every template will have a field for the Person Responsible, which is the User in the system who has ownership of that Folio record. This field is important as it has certain functionality attached to it, such as notifications around end dates for contracts.
Stages and Workflow: Templates can be set up with a workflow which records made from that template will move through. Each step in this workflow is called a stage.
Approver: You can set up a templates workflow to require user approval before moving to the next stage or being closed, we call these users approvers.
Eligibility Criteria: Certain contracts may require the counter-party (supplier, contractor or service provider) to have specified credentials. Typically these include insurances such as professional indemnity insurance or public liability insurance but may also include service provider-specific credentials such as working with children checks, police checks or qualifications. In Folio these requirements are called Eligibility Criteria.
Merge Doc: A Merge Doc is a Word Document that contains several Merge Tags in it that correspond to specific fields on the Template. You can then go to a Folio record and generate this Merge Doc as a .dox or .pdf and the mergetags will be replaced by the data in those fields. Typically this is used to generate either contracts or standard letters to counterparties. However, this can also be used for instance in an Incident Template to generate an Insurance Claim Form without having to fill out the form manually.
Public Link: Each template can generate its own public link. This link can be posted on your website/intranet and allows anyone who can access the link to fill out and submit the form without being a user of the system. Examples of public links include an Incident Form or a Feedback form.
Launch Pad: Public Links can be grouped together into a single "Launch Pad". This is a page that contains several public links, meaning a single Launch Pad can be placed on your website/intranet instead of individual links.

Articles on Folios

Articles on Folio Templates

Articles on managing a Workflow

Articles on the Public Link

Articles on creating Merge Docs

Actions

Actions are tasks that need to be completed by a user, and can be set up either as one-off actions or on a recurring basis. Actions can have priorities and have preset responses when a user is completing them (Completed, Cannot Complete, In Progress). A user may also need to provide comments or upload evidence when completing an action.

The common terms that you will run into when completing Actions include:

Action Assignment: A single Action can have multiple assignments made from it to different users, and each assignment is an individual task to be completed. For example, you may have a Conduct Site Inspection audit, this can then have several assignments made from it for each site.
Person Responsible: Every assignment will have a field for the Person Responsible, which is the User in the system who needs to complete that assignment. This user will also receive notifications around the due date of the assignment.
Escalation: If an assignment passes the due date without being completed you can designate escalation users who will be able to complete the action on behalf of the Person Responsible.
Action Results: Every Action Assignment has a corresponding Action Result. This show the responses to the action, as well as the history of the result, what evidence and comments were made etc. For recurring assignments, each recurrence has an individual action result.
Action Response: When responding to an assignment there are preset responses. By default, the responses are Completed, Cannot Complete and In Progress, but these can be customised. At the very least there needs to be a response for assignments that are currently being worked, assignments that are completed and assignments than cannot be completed.

Articles on Actions

Articles on Action Assignments

Articles on Completing Actions

Articles on Action Results

Checklists

Checklists are collections of questions that are assigned to a user to complete and can be set up either as one-off actions or on a recurring basis. For example, you may have a monthly performance report with a set of questions for someone to complete, which can be set up as a checklist in Folio. Another example would be the use of a site inspection checklist which would repeat on a monthly basis. Checklists can also have review stages, which have their own set of questions for a reviewer to complete once the checklist is completed.

The common terms that you will run into when completing Checklists include:

Checklist Assignment: A single Checklist can have multiple assignments made from it to different users, and each assignment is an individual checklist to be completed. For example, you may have a Monthly Performance Report, and create assignments from this for each of your Service Providers.
Person Responsible: Every assignment will have a field for the Person Responsible, which is the User in the system who needs to complete that assignment. This user will also receive notifications around the due date of the assignment.
Escalation: If an assignment passes the due date without being completed you can designate escalation users who will be able to complete the checklist on behalf of the Person Responsible.
Checklist Results: Every Checklist Assignment has a corresponding Checklist Result. This show the responses to the Checklist Questions, as well as the history of the result, what evidence and comments were made etc. For recurring assignments each recurrence has an individual checklist result.
Review Stage: A Checklist can have multiple review stages set up on it. Each stage has its own set of questions and reviewers. When the Checklist Assignment is completed it moves to the first review stage, when the first review stage is completed it moves to the second etc.
Reviewer: Every review stage has its own reviewer, which is the User in the system who needs to complete that stage. This user will also receive notifications around the due date of the review stage.

Articles on Creating Checklists

Articles on Checklist Reviews

Articles on Assigning Checklists

Articles on Completing Checklists

Articles on Checklist Results

Checklists also have a feature called Deliverables. A deliverables checklist is a checklist that can be linked to the Deliverables tab of a Folio, then used to track and monitor both quantitative and qualitative key deliverables against service providers in your organisation.

The common terms that you will run into when setting up Deliverables include:

Targets: Numeric questions can have Targets set against them that can then be reported on. You can then see based on responses to the checklist where service providers are over or underperforming.
Performance Criteria: Performance criteria determines what constitutes over or underperforming in questions with targets set against them.
Quantitative: Deliverables questions that have targets set against them. These questions must be numeric (i.e. require an answer in numbers).
Qualitative: Deliverables questions that don't have targets set against them, for instance, Short Text or Single Select questions.

Articles on setting up Deliverable Checklists

Articles on Completing Deliverable Checklists

Articles on Viewing Deliverables

Entities & Contacts

Entities are counterparties to your contracts - they can be Lessors/Lessees (in leases), Contractors, Suppliers, Consultants, Funders etc. Contacts are the various key contacts in those service providers.

Common terms around Entities and Contacts include:

Lite User: Lite Users are special types of users that can be linked to Entities or Contacts. Lite Users are restricted in what they can do in the system, namely, they can only respond to Actions or Checklists that have been assigned to them.
Credentials: Folios such as contracts can be set up with Eligibility Criteria. This requires Entities and Contacts to have certain Credentials before the Contract can go ahead. Typically credentials are used to collect insurances (such as Public Liability or Professional Indemnity Insurance) from entities. In some cases (such as in health service provision), it can be used to collect credentials for the individual contact of the organisation that is providing services - for example, in the case of a Allied Health Provider providing services to children, they may require a Working with Children Check.

Articles on Creating Entities and Contacts

Articles on Managing Entities and Contacts

Articles on Credentials

Miscellaneous Terms

To-Do List: Every User in the system has their own To-Do List which shows what items require their attention in the next 30/60/90/180 days, depending on their settings. This includes Action, Checklists, Expiring Folios, Folios waiting for their approval etc.
Dashboard: There are several dashboards in Folio that contain snapshots for assessing the information currently in the system. There is the Home Dashboard(which includes the To-Do List), the Folios Dashboard and the Risk Dashboard.
Snapshot: These are collections of data such as graphs that can be used to report on the information currently in the system. For instance, the Folios Dashboards has a graph for Open Folios over a period, Closed Folios over a period, Average Days a Folio waits for Approval etc.
Business Unit: Business Units are used to represent your organisations Organisational Structure. This is important as many features of Folio can be driven by Business Units, such as Access Rights, an Approval Workflow, Reviewers for a Checklist etc.
Access Rights: A user's Access Rights determine what parts of the system they are allowed to see. This is broken down into the different parts of the system i.e. Folios, Actions, Checklists, Entities and Contacts etc.
Access Role: A particular Access Right is called an Access Role, e.g. giving a user Read rights for Funding Agreements in the system. These can be further broken down by Business Unit, i.e. only Funding Agreements that are in their Business Unit.
User Profile: A collection of Access Roles can be grouped together to make an User Profile. This profile can then be applied to a number of users that need the same rights.