Auditing Six Case Records Against House Rules
A supervisor is auditing six new case records against three house rules:
- R1 Reference: exactly three capital letters followed by exactly four digits, with no spaces or hyphens (e.g. ABC1234).
- R2 Dates: written as YYYY-MM-DD, and the "received" date cannot be later than the "logged" date.
- R3 Fee band: A for a fee of £50 or less; B for £51 to £150; C for £151 or more.
The six records are:
| # | Surname | Reference | Received | Logged | Fee | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Okafor | HMQ2048 | 2024-03-11 | 2024-03-11 | £45 | A |
| 2 | Fenwick | TRS7719 | 2024-03-04 | 2024-03-02 | £120 | B |
| 3 | Marsh | KD77120 | 2024-03-08 | 2024-03-09 | £150 | B |
| 4 | Iyer | PLM3096 | 2024-03-12 | 2024-03-12 | £151 | B |
| 5 | Boyd | RNB4488 | 12/03/2024 | 2024-03-12 | £50 | A |
| 6 | Quist | VXD1027 | 2024-03-15 | 2024-03-15 | £210 | C |
1. Identify every record that breaches a rule, naming the rule and the correct value where one can be determined.
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Records 1 and 6 are clean. The breaches are:
- Record 2 (Fenwick): breaches R2 - received 2024-03-04 is later than logged 2024-03-02, which is impossible. Either date is wrong; the correct value cannot be determined from the record. (Reference and band B for £120 are fine.)
- Record 3 (Marsh): breaches R1 - "KD77120" is two letters followed by five digits. The correct reference cannot be determined from the record. (Dates and band B for £150 are fine.)
- Record 4 (Iyer): breaches R3 - £151 falls in band C, not B. Corrected value: C. (Reference and dates are fine.)
- Record 5 (Boyd): breaches R2 - the received date 12/03/2024 is in the wrong format. Reformatting gives 2024-03-12, which is consistent with the logged date. (Reference and band A for £50 are fine.)
Total: four breaching records, five faults (record 2 and record 3 each have one, record 4 one, record 5 one). The trap is assuming record 1 or 6 must contain an error; neither does.
2. Which corrections can be made in-house from the information on the record, and which require the applicant or a dated document to be checked?
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Test to apply: can the correct value be derived from information already on the record? If yes, correct in-house. If the true value is external to the record, it must be verified.
In-house (derivable):
- Record 4 - band is a pure recalculation from the fee (£151 → C).
- Record 5 - date is a format conversion of the same calendar date (12/03/2024 → 2024-03-12).
Needs verification:
- Record 2 - two dates contradict each other; nothing on the record says which is right, so check the receipt stamp, post log or the applicant.
- Record 3 - the reference is malformed and the intended reference cannot be reconstructed; check the source document or the applicant.
A useful warning: do not "fix" record 2 by picking the earlier or later date because it looks tidier. Guessing a date creates a false audit trail.
3. The supervisor has time to query only two records today. Which two, and why those two?
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Query records 2 and 3.
Criteria for prioritising a query:
- Cannot be fixed internally - both need information that only the applicant or a source document can supply, so the delay clock only starts once the query is sent.
- Blocks the substantive decision - an unverifiable reference or an unreliable date affects whether and when the case is actioned, whereas a mislabelled band or a date format does not change what the case is about.
- Risk of compounding error - if record 3's reference is wrong, later correspondence and any linked records will carry the wrong identifier; the sooner it is caught, the smaller the knock-on.
Records 4 and 5 are corrected in a few seconds from the record itself, so they are done today without a query. Record 1 and 6 need nothing. Answering "the two with the most errors" misses the point - no record has more than one fault; the deciding factor is verifiability.