Who this article is for: Authority users
Overview
When a sample report or inspection turns up violations, you can respond with a formal enforcement document — a Notice of Violation, an Administrative Order, and so on — built from a template your program configures. The document records what you found, and it can carry requirements: extra sampling, a report the industrial user owes you, or a follow-up inspection. SwiftComply then tracks whether those requirements are met.
This article covers responding to violations and issuing the document.
Before you begin
To create a document, you need at least one Response template. A quick note doesn't need one. Templates are built once and reused for every document of that type.
If the response will require a submittal or an inspection, you need a template for that too.
Have the violations in front of you. A response can only address violations from one source: a single sample report, inspection or submittal, or one ad-hoc violation on its own. You cannot combine violations from two different records into one response.
Choosing what you are responding to
Open the sample report, inspection, or submittal that has the violations.
Go to the Enforcement tab and click Add Response.
Select the violations you're responding to and click Continue.
From a single violation's page, click Add Response to respond to just that violation.
Starting a quick note or a document
The Add New Response window offers two paths.
Quick note records what you did without producing a document. Fill in Description — it is the record of what you actually did, so it is worth writing properly — set Response Date/Time, attach files if you want, and click Save Response. The response is saved as Completed immediately.
💡 Some programs write the notice outside SwiftComply — an NOV in Word, say. That works: record a quick note describing what you issued, and attach a copy of the document to it.
Create Document builds the enforcement document. Choose it and fill in these fields, in this order:
Do you want to add additional report requirements? Yes or No. It defaults to Yes. Requirements are sample report configurations, submittals, or inspections.
Template: the response template to build from.
Document Name: required.
Description and attachments: optional.
Then click Add Response.
The response is created in Draft and the wizard opens.
📝 The template and document name are locked once the response is created. To use a different template you have to delete the draft (Delete Response, at the top of any wizard step) and start again. Requirements are only available on a document response — a quick note can never carry them.
💡 Response Date/Time appears on a quick note only. It can't be in the future, and it can't be earlier than the Date/Time of the violation you are responding to (with several violations, the latest of them).
Filling in the document
The first wizard step, Template Form, is your template, filled in the same way as a permit or an inspection form.
System fields, such as the industrial user's name and address, fill themselves. If your template has an Issue Date field, enter the date here — it isn't filled in when you sign. This is the date the response page later shows as Issued On.
If your template includes a Nonconformances table, it fills in the violations this response addresses — you don't build it by hand.
Complete the data-entry fields your program put on the template: findings, required corrective actions, deadlines.
Click Save & Exit at any point to stop. The response stays in Draft.
Adding requirements
If you chose Yes for requirements, the Requirements step comes next. Click Add New Requirement and pick a type. Each opens a window.
Sample Report — sets up a new sample report configuration. You choose who it's Assigned To (Industry or Authority), the outfall, and whether it runs once or repeats. If it's assigned to Industry, you also choose what makes it enforceable; if it's assigned to Authority, this response enforces it. When you're responding to a sample report, the outfall is fixed to that report's outfall, and Add from report configuration copies that report's sampling requirements for you to change.
Submittal — a document the industrial user owes you. Pick the Submittal Template, give it a Document Name, and set a Due Date. Tick Make this a recurring schedule. to repeat it — the field becomes First Due Date, and you set how often it repeats and when it stops.
Inspection — pick an inspection template and a due date.
To remove requirements, tick them and click Delete.
📝 Everything you add here is created as Pending and does nothing until you issue the response. Submittals and inspections are only generated when you issue, so they don't appear on the location's Documents tab or the inspections list until then. Delete the draft and every pending requirement is removed with it.
Reviewing and issuing
At the top of the Review & Issue step, type your name in Type Your Name. The field unlocks once the PDF preview has finished rendering.
Check the PDF preview of the finished document — the system fields, the nonconformances table if your template has one, and everything you typed appear as the recipient will see them.
If the response carries requirements, confirm the Requirements summary below the preview.
Click Finish.
⚠️ Issuing a response that carries requirements cannot be undone. Once issued it can never be edited or deleted, because its requirements immediately begin generating sample reports, submittals and inspections against the industrial user. Check the document and the requirements summary before you click Finish.
What happens next
Issuing a response that carries requirements sets it to Issued and turns on everything attached to it:
Sample report configurations become Active and start generating reports.
Submittals become Scheduled and appear on the location's Documents tab with their due dates.
Inspections become Scheduled.
A response with no requirements goes straight to Completed. One with requirements becomes Completed once nothing it generated is still outstanding (a sample report or inspection marked Not Submitted counts as done).
The violations it addresses follow it: In Progress while its requirements are outstanding, Closed once it completes. A response issued with no requirements closes them straight away.
The response now has its own page, reachable from Response in the left navigation. Its Overview tab shows the document, the violations it addresses, and a Requirements table you can click through to each item.
Once the response is issued, the Requirements table lists each sample report, submittal and inspection it has generated, with that item's own status — for example Scheduled, Not Submitted or Completed.
The Activity tab logs Response Created, Response Issued, Requirement Added, Requirement Fulfilled, Response Edited, and Response Completed.
What you can still change
The response is… | You can… |
Draft | Edit and delete it freely. Deleting also removes its pending requirements. |
A quick note (no document, no requirements) | Edit and delete it at any time. |
A document with no requirements (it goes straight to Completed) | Nothing from the response page. Once a document response is issued it is read-only, whether or not it carries requirements. |
Issued with requirements | Nothing. It is locked permanently. |
A response with requirements is locked because those requirements produce reports and inspections of their own, which can raise new violations, which can carry their own responses. Changing the response underneath that chain would break the enforcement record. Attachments on a document response are added only in the Add New Response window and can't be changed afterward; a quick note's attachments can be changed with Edit.
FAQ
It won't accept my Response Date/Time.
It can't be in the future, and it can't be earlier than the violation you are responding to (with several, the latest one). Pick a time between the two.
I picked the wrong template. Can I change it?
No — the template and document name lock when the response is created. Delete the draft and start again.
Finish won't complete.
Usually either you haven't typed your name, or the PDF preview is still rendering — Type Your Name stays locked until the preview is ready. Wait for the preview to finish, then type your name. If the preview fails, click Retry.
I issued a response and it's wrong. Can I correct it?
No. Once a document response is issued it is read-only — especially when it carries requirements, because those have already started generating reports and inspections. Its violations are no longer open, so they can't take a second response either. Check the PDF preview and the requirements before you click Finish.
Can one response cover violations from two different reports?
No. A response addresses violations from a single source — one sample report, one inspection, one submittal, or a single ad-hoc violation.
Can a quick note carry requirements?
No. Requirements are only available on a document response.