This guide explains how and why your team should create a test case in IntegrityCounts prior to officially launching your ethics reporting program. This simple step ensures your organization is fully prepared to handle real submissions.

Creating a test case allows your team to:

• Familiarize managers and investigators with the full case flow.
• Confirm that notification routing and permissions are set up correctly.
• Understand how different roles interact with a case.
• Experience the anonymity levels from a reporter’s point of view.
• Validate how internal communication and responses appear in the case file.
• Running a test case before go-live is one of the best ways to ensure your team is confident and ready.

Steps to Create a Test Case:

1. Visit Your Reporting Portal

Use your organization’s reporting URL (e.g., https://www.integritycounts.ca/org/companyname).

Click File a Report to begin.

2. Complete the Form Using Sample Content

Enter fictional but realistic details for the test scenario.

First choose a location of Case and Department of Case.

Then select a level of anonymity.

• Strictly Anonymous 
  Your identity will not be known to your organization or to IntegrityCounts.
• Anonymous From Your Organization 
  Any provided contact information is available to IntegrityCounts for the purpose of providing notifications and allowing you to reset the password for your case. Your identity will NOT be shared with your organization.
• Contact Information Provided
  By providing your personal information, a company representative may contact you with questions or further information.

3. Next, you’ll be prompted to answer a few intake questions to help contextualize the report:

Is this an ongoing case?
Select Yes if the issue is currently happening, or No if it is no longer active.

Date of Occurrence?
Enter the date when the event took place. This helps with timeline tracking in the investigation phase.

Has the case been reported to a supervisor in the past?
Choose Yes if this concern has already been raised internally. This helps determine escalation history.

Are you an employee of the organization?
Select Yes if the reporter is an internal employee, or No if they are an external party (e.g., vendor, contractor, or public observer).

4. Select Case Types

The case type helps categorize the nature of the report. You can choose up to three categories that best match the concern. 

If the issue doesn’t fall into a listed category, you can enter a custom case type using the "Enter Case Type if it's not included" field.

Next, describe the case in your own words. 

List the individuals involved.

Indicate if the case has been referred externally (e.g., to police or the media)

Add any additional comments about the case.

This information provides essential context for the reviewer and helps guide the investigation.

5. Additional Information section where you can:

Attach supporting documentation (optional): Upload any files relevant to the case. A privacy note will remind reporters to avoid sharing personal details unless necessary.

Protect your report: You can select any individuals involved in the case from a dropdown. Those selected will be restricted from viewing the report. These are users with the Manager role.

Add details about involvement: Briefly explain how the selected individuals are involved

6. Review and Submit the Report

Once submitted, the case will appear in the Case Manager dashboard.

Save the login credentials to check follow-ups as the reporter.

Best Practices:

• Test with different anonymity levels to understand visibility
• Assign different users to experience permission restrictions, or implicate specific managers to observe how access is affected within the system
• Try uploading a test document or adding a note