Approving a report

In short

Every report needs a second person before it can be filed. The approver reads the report as the FIC will receive it, then either approves it, which freezes it for good, or sends it back to draft with a note saying what to change.

You need reports.approve and entities.view_pii. With the default roles, that is the MLRO. You can’t approve a report you drafted, or one you sent for approval: the button is disabled, and the database refuses it anyway.

How to find reports waiting for you

Select Reports in the left-hand menu.
Select the Awaiting approval tab. The tab shows how many are waiting.

SpeculaPro doesn’t send a message when a report is sent for approval. Agree with your team how drafters tell you, and check the tab as part of your routine.

What to check

Open the report and read it through, top to bottom:

The narrative. Could someone at the FIC who has never seen the case understand who did what, when, and why it is suspicious? Use the checklist in Writing an STR: before you submit. The narrative may have started as a draft from the AI assistant. The report doesn’t say so; the audit log does, as ai.narrative_draft on the report. Either way you approve the text as it stands: check its facts, names and figures as you would any narrative.
The subject’s details, on the card at the side: name, ID, date of birth, phone and accounts, shown as they will be reported.
The transactions that are included, and the Reported value.
The indicators.
The evidence files, when the panel is there: the case’s files the drafter chose to send with the report. Approving approves this selection too; it can’t change afterwards. To read a file, open the case and download it from its Evidence files panel. See Evidence files.
Validation. There must be no errors (approval is refused while there are). Read every warning and decide whether it matters.

For an STR, open the case too (Drafted from case … at the top) and check the report matches the investigation.

How to approve

Select Approve. A panel titled Approve report opens: Once approved the report can’t change. It can then be exported as goAML XML and uploaded to the FIC. The text names your own FIU and format.
Add a note if you want (optional). It is kept in the audit log.
Select Approve.

The report becomes Approved · to file and appears under the To file tab. Its content, and who approved it and when, can never change. Next it is exported and filed: see Filing with goAML.

How to send a report back

Select Send back. A panel titled Send back to the drafter opens.
Under What to change, say what’s missing or wrong: facts to add, transactions to include or leave out, indicators. At least 3 characters.
Select Send back.

The report returns to Draft, and the drafter can edit it and send it again. Your note is kept in the audit log (report.return); SpeculaPro doesn’t show it on the report or message the drafter, so tell them too.

How to void a report that must not be filed

A report approved by mistake, a duplicate, or one about the wrong subject can be voided, as long as it hasn’t been submitted to the FIC. You need reports.approve (with the default roles, the MLRO).

Open the report. It can be a draft, awaiting approval, or approved.
Select Void. A panel titled Void report opens.
Under Why it is voided, say why it must not be filed (3 to 2,000 characters), for example Approved by mistake, Duplicate or Wrong subject.
Select Void report. The report becomes Voided, and its page shows the reason.

A voided report stays in the register for good, showing who voided it, when and why, and the void is recorded in the audit log (report.void). If it had already been exported, the stored file is kept but can’t be recorded as submitted. Draft STR on the case then starts a new report.

A report already submitted can’t be voided: it is with the FIC. If it was wrong, follow the FIC’s procedure for corrections and record what happened on the case.