How it works
From a worried whisper to a closed case
The same steps every time, so nothing depends on who happens to be in the office. Here is what happens on both sides of the screen.
Overview
Two sides, one secure core
Reporters see a simple, private channel. Your team sees a controlled workspace. The system between them does the heavy lifting.
The reporter
Reports through a public link, stays anonymous if they wish, and follows progress with a reference and access code.
ClearVoice
Encrypts the report, opens a case, checks conflicts, routes it, tracks deadlines and records every step in a tamper-evident log.
Your case team
Triages, investigates, talks to the reporter, closes the case and fixes the underlying problem.
The reporter journey
Six steps, none of them hard
Reporting is deliberately short. The less effort it takes, the more people use it.
- 01
Open your reporting link
The reporter goes to your link, or opens the portal and types your organisation identifier. No account, no download.
- 02
Choose a category and describe what happened
They pick a category, write a neutral title and explain what happened. The category may add its own questions, and some appear only when an earlier answer calls for them.
- 03
Add context
Optional details: when and where, the department involved, who the report is about, urgency, and whether they fear retaliation. These drive routing and protection.
- 04
Decide whether to be anonymous
Anonymous is the default. They may instead share a name and preferred contact method, which is stored in a separate vault.
- 05
Save the reference and access code
After submitting they receive a reference and a one-time code. They can copy, download or print them. The code is never shown again.
- 06
Follow up
With the reference and code they see progress, read messages, answer questions, attach files and, if needed, raise a retaliation concern.
Case lifecycle
Seven stages, twelve statuses
A case moves through a fixed workflow. The server enforces every move, so a step cannot be skipped by accident, and every move is recorded on the timeline.
| Stage | Statuses | What happens | Controls |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intake | Submitted, Acknowledged | The report is encrypted, a case is opened and the reporter is acknowledged automatically. Deadlines start. | Automatic acknowledgement, deadline clocks start |
| Triage | Under triage, Escalated | Routing rules choose a department, skipping conflicts. If none fits, the case is escalated for manual routing. | Conflict check, routing history, justification on override |
| Assignment | Assigned | A named person is assigned. They accept, or reject with a reason and the case returns to triage. | Workload suggestions, rejection reasons recorded |
| Investigation | Under investigation, Awaiting reporter, Awaiting evidence, Suspended | Tasks, interviews, evidence and messages. Deadline clocks pause while waiting. | Tasks, findings, custody records, pauses |
| Review | Under review | Findings are reviewed and the outcome is proposed. A second person approves if required. | Closure approval by a different person |
| Action | Pending action | Corrective actions are carried out by their owners. | Owners, due dates, overdue alerts |
| Closure | Closed | The case closes with an outcome. Closed cases can be reopened with a written justification. | Outcome, effectiveness review, reopening justification |
Deadline clocks pause when they should
While a case is Awaiting reporter, Awaiting evidence or Suspended, the acknowledgement and feedback clocks pause. The time lost is added back when work resumes.
Reporters see plain labels
Reporters never see triage, routing or escalation. They see simple progress labels that tell them where things stand without revealing internal handling.
Automatic routing
The right people, never the wrong ones
Routing is where fairness is won or lost. ClearVoice makes the decision in the same way every time and keeps a record of why.
The decision, step by step
- 1Read the report: category, urgency, who it is about, retaliation flag and the department involved.
- 2Build the conflict list: the implicated department and everything under it, plus any named person and their reporting line.
- 3Check active rules in priority order, lowest number first.
- 4Take the first rule that matches and whose handling department is not in conflict.
- 5Apply the rule: optionally raise confidentiality, and name the handling, investigating and approving departments.
- 6If the rule requires it, wait for a person to confirm the route.
- 7If nothing matches, escalate and flag the case for manual routing. It is never silently dropped.
Three examples
A report about the Finance Director
Finance and everyone under it are in conflict, so the rule that would send it to Finance is skipped. The case goes to Internal Audit instead, and the confidentiality level rises.
A retaliation concern
A rule matching the retaliation flag sends the case to your protection team, and priority and confidentiality are raised.
A report nobody anticipated
No rule matches, so the case is escalated and flagged Needs manual routing. A case manager assigns it and records why.
Investigation and closure
Work that stands up to review
Investigators have one workspace for the whole file. Decisions that matter need a second person.
During the investigation
- Tasks with owners and due dates
- Interviews and findings
- Evidence with chain of custody
- Notes, including investigator-only
- Two-way messages with the reporter
- Linked and duplicate cases
Closing the case
- Choose one of seven outcomes
- Record at least one finding
- Request closure
- A different person approves
- The approval is used once
- The reporter sees the result
After closure
- Corrective actions with owners and dates
- Overdue alerts
- Effectiveness review
- Reopen with a written justification
- Analytics for the board
- Audit log verification
Who does what
Five roles, separated on purpose
Access is split so the people who configure the system cannot read the cases, and the people who read cases cannot quietly rewrite the rules.
| Role | What they do | What they cannot do |
|---|---|---|
| Organisation Administrator | Sets up departments, users, roles, categories, routing rules and settings. | Cases, evidence, reporter identity, audit log |
| Chief Compliance Officer | Owns the process: sees every case including restricted ones, assigns, closes, reopens, approves, verifies the audit log, handles protection. | Reveal reporter identity unless granted the identity permission, which no default role holds |
| Case Manager | Triages, assigns, escalates, messages reporters, tracks corrective actions and deadlines. | Closing, reopening, reporter identity, restricted cases |
| Investigator | Works assigned cases: tasks, interviews, findings, evidence, notes and messages. | Cases not assigned to them, configuration |
| Read-only Auditor | Reviews cases, analytics and the audit log, and verifies integrity. | Changing anything |
You can create custom roles from over thirty permissions. See the roles and permissions reference in the help centre.
Getting set up
Eight steps to a live channel
Work through them in order. Each depends on the one before.
- 1Create your organisation and sign in as the first administrator.
- 2Build your departments to mirror the organisation chart.
- 3Invite your team and give each person the narrowest role that works.
- 4Create report categories and any extra questions.
- 5Create routing rules, including a fallback, and test them with the simulator.
- 6Set deadlines, holidays and approval requirements in Settings.
- 7Turn on two-step sign-in for case handlers.
- 8Submit a test report, handle it end to end, then share your reporting link.
Try the whole journey yourself
Create your organisation, submit a test report and handle it from intake to closure.