# Activity Administration *Overseeing activities across the utility - locking, auditing, and admin-only properties.* # Manage Activities ### Overview — Locking and Unlocking **Locking** an activity makes it read-only. It is how you close an assessment out: the data is preserved exactly as it stood, and no one — regardless of role — can change it. Locking and unlocking happen in **two different places**, and knowing which is which saves a great deal of confusion:
**Operation** **Where** **Who**
**Lock** an activity The activity's **Properties** page **Utility Admin** whose utility matches the activity's
**Unlock** an activity **Manage Activities** in the sidebar **COG Admin** only
**HEADS UP **Locking an activity **hides its Properties page** from the dashboard menu. Since Properties is where the lock checkbox lives, a Utility Admin who locks an activity **cannot unlock it themselves** — the page they would need is gone. Only a COG Admin, via **Manage Activities**, can reverse it.
**PRO TIP **Treat locking as a one-way door you need someone else to open. Before you lock, confirm the assessment is genuinely finished — reports produced, observations closed, recommendations written. If a COG Admin is not readily available in your organization, that confirmation matters even more.
### What a Lock Prevents A locked activity is read-only for **everyone**, including Utility Admins and Team Leads. · Save and delete buttons throughout the activity are disabled. · Survey, interview, and focus group content cannot be edited. · Observations, recommendations, and lessons learned cannot be added or changed. · The activity's **Properties** page disappears from its dashboard menu. · The **Activity Feed** also disappears from the menu. · The rating scale cannot be changed.
**GOOD TO KNOW **A lock does not hide the activity or its data. Reports remain readable, responses remain viewable, and anyone with access can still open the activity — they simply cannot change anything.
**HEADS UP **Because **Properties** is hidden while locked, you cannot change an activity's **team** either. To adjust who has access to a locked activity: have a COG Admin unlock it, edit the team, then lock it again.
### Locking an Activity Open the activity's **Properties** page from its menu on the dashboard, then tick the **Activity Properties Status** checkbox — it reads **Unlocked** when clear and **Locked** when ticked. Save the page. You may lock when **both** hold: 1. You are a **Utility Admin**, and 2. Your utility matches the activity's utility.
**GOOD TO KNOW **A **COG Admin** cannot lock an activity from Properties — the checkbox is gated on the Utility Admin role and a utility match. COG Admins unlock; Utility Admins lock.
**PRO TIP **Run through a short checklist before locking: reports generated and exported, observations resolved, recommendations recorded, lessons learned written up, and the survey closed. Everything on that list needs write access, and locking removes it.
### Unlocking an Activity Open **Manage Activities** from the sidebar. It appears for **COG Admins only**. [![image.png](http://knowledge.services.conexusnuclear.org/uploads/images/gallery/2026-08/scaled-1680-/mtzFEPJGFrZsdipR-Z31image.png)](http://knowledge.services.conexusnuclear.org/uploads/images/gallery/2026-08/mtzFEPJGFrZsdipR-Z31image.png) *The Manage Activities dialog.* 3. Choose the activity from the **Activity** picker. Entries are listed as the activity title followed by its id — Spring Assessment ( id: 42 ) — so identically titled activities can be told apart. 4. Its current lock state loads into the checkbox below, showing **Locked** or **Unlocked**. 5. **Untick** the checkbox so it reads **Unlocked**. 6. Click **Unlock**. 7. Confirm at **Set Lock Status** — *"Are you sure you want to update the lock status of this activity?"* On success you get **Activity Lock status Updated** — *"The activity lock status was successfully updated"*.
**HEADS UP **The **Unlock** button stays **disabled while the checkbox is ticked**. That is not a fault — the dialog only unlocks. You must clear the checkbox first, which is what enables the button. There is no way to *lock* an activity from this dialog.
**GOOD TO KNOW **The activity id shown in the picker is the same id that appears in the browser address bar when you open the activity — /activities/properties/42. Use it to confirm you have the right one before unlocking.
**PRO TIP **Before unlocking, check the **Activity Feed** to see who locked it and when. An activity locked deliberately at the end of an assessment is a different situation from one locked by mistake last week — see **Activity Feed**.
### Locking as a Workflow The intended sequence for closing out an assessment: 8. **Finish the work** — all responses collected, notes written, observations and recommendations recorded. 9. **Generate and export the reports** you need. Do this before locking; it is far easier while everything is still editable. 10. **Lock the activity** from **Properties**, as a Utility Admin. 11. **The activity becomes a read-only record.** Reports stay readable; nothing can be altered. 12. **If something must change later,** a COG Admin unlocks it via **Manage Activities**, the change is made, and it is locked again.
**GOOD TO KNOW **Locked activities still appear in cross-activity reporting. A locked activity can be included in a **Trending Report** or a **CPRO Report** exactly like an open one — locking protects the data, it does not retire it.
**PRO TIP **Lock completed activities as a matter of routine rather than leaving them open indefinitely. An open activity from two years ago is an accident waiting to happen — someone with lingering access can edit historical data that a trend line depends on.
### Common Problems
**What you see** **What it means**
**Manage Activities** missing from the sidebar It is COG Admin only. A Utility Admin cannot reach it.
**Unlock** button greyed out The checkbox is still ticked, or no activity is selected. Untick it to enable the button.
**Properties** missing from an activity's menu The activity is locked. A COG Admin must unlock it.
**Activity Feed** missing from an activity's menu Also hidden while locked — same fix.
Lock checkbox greyed out on **Properties** You are not a Utility Admin, or the activity belongs to a different utility.
Locked an activity by mistake and cannot undo it Expected. Only a COG Admin can unlock, via **Manage Activities**.
Save buttons disabled all over an activity It is locked. Everything is read-only until it is unlocked.
Cannot change a locked activity's team Team editing lives on Properties, which is hidden while locked. Unlock, edit, re-lock.
Two activities with the same title in the picker Tell them apart by the ( id: N ) suffix.
# Activity Properties ### Overview — The Activity's Settings Page **Properties** is where an activity's administrative settings live: its title, its lock status, who works on it and what they may do, and its rating scale. It is the page an admin visits most often once an assessment is under way. Open it from the activity's menu on the dashboard, under **Properties**.
**HEADS UP Properties disappears from the menu when the activity is locked.** If you cannot find it, the activity is almost certainly locked — a COG Admin must unlock it first. See **Manage Activities**.
The page has four sections: 1. **Activity Title** 2. **Activity Properties Status** — the lock checkbox 3. **Team Lead Selection** and **Team Members** 4. **Rating Scale Configuration** ### Who Can Edit What Editing rights on this page are not uniform — different sections have different gates.
**Section** **Requires**
**Activity Title** **Utility Admin** + matching utility + unlocked
**Lock checkbox** **Utility Admin** + matching utility
**Team Leads** list **Utility Admin** + matching utility + unlocked
**Team Members** — add, remove, edit **Utility Admin** *or* a **Team Lead** on this activity + unlocked
**Rating Scale** **COG Admin**, *or* **Utility Admin** + matching utility; and unlocked; and no responses yet
**GOOD TO KNOW Team Members** is the one section a **Team Lead** can edit. A Team Lead can add, remove, and adjust team members on their own activity, but cannot rename it, change the Team Leads list, or lock it. Where they lack rights, a **Readonly Access** chip appears in place of the buttons.
**HEADS UP **"Matching utility" means your account's utility must be the same as the activity's. A Utility Admin from another utility can open this page and read it, but the title, lock, and Team Leads controls are greyed out. That is the intended behaviour, not a fault.
### Activity Title A single required text field. Renaming an activity changes it everywhere — the dashboard, report headings, and the **Manage Activities** picker.
**PRO TIP **Give activities names that stay unambiguous a year later — include the year or the assessment period. When two activities share a title, the only way to tell them apart in the Manage Activities picker is the ( id: N ) suffix.
### Activity Properties Status — the Lock A single checkbox, labelled **Unlocked** when clear and **Locked** when ticked. Ticking it and saving makes the entire activity read-only for everyone.
**HEADS UP **Locking here is effectively one-way for you. Once saved as locked, this page vanishes from the activity's menu — so you cannot come back and untick the box. Only a **COG Admin**, through **Manage Activities**, can unlock it.
Full detail on what a lock prevents and the intended close-out workflow is on **Manage Activities**. ### Team Leads **Team Leads** is a multi-select list of user emails, shown as removable chips. At least one is required. Being a Team Lead grants **write access to everything** in this activity, with no per-area checkboxes — and, as noted above, the ability to manage this activity's Team Members.
**PRO TIP **Assign the person actually running the assessment as a Team Lead. It gives them what they need — including the ability to build out their own team — without granting the utility-wide reach of the Utility Admin role.
**GOOD TO KNOW **Someone already on the **Team Members** list is not offered in the Team Leads picker, and vice versa. A person holds one role per activity, not both.
### Team Members Team Members are shown **one at a time**, with pagination beneath and arrow buttons to move between them. Each member's **Name** and **Email** are read-only, and their permissions are displayed as read-only checkboxes — to change them you open the edit dialog. [![image.png](http://knowledge.services.conexusnuclear.org/uploads/images/gallery/2026-08/scaled-1680-/HCj3EkJKaZs5BkiL-M2zimage.png)](http://knowledge.services.conexusnuclear.org/uploads/images/gallery/2026-08/HCj3EkJKaZs5BkiL-M2zimage.png) *The Team Members section of the Properties page.* #### Adding a member Click **Add New Team member**. In the dialog, choose the person and set their **Read** / **Write** permissions per area: **Interviews**, **Focus Groups**, **Survey Response**, **Observations**, **Recommendations**, **Lessons Learned**, and **Reports** (Read only). Read and Write are linked — ticking **Write** ticks **Read**, and clearing **Read** clears **Write**. Four buttons set everything at once: **Read All**, **Write All**, **Read None**, **Write None**.
**PRO TIP **Start with **Read All**, then tick Write on the two or three areas the person actually contributes to. It is faster than working down fourteen checkboxes and it produces a sensible default — everyone can see the activity, only the right people can change it.
Full detail on the permission model is on **Roles & Access Control**. #### Editing a member Click **Edit Team Member Properties** on the member currently shown. The dialog opens with their permissions loaded.
**GOOD TO KNOW **The permission checkboxes on the main page are **read-only** by design — they are a summary. Editing always happens through the dialog, so a stray click cannot silently change someone's access.
#### Removing a member Click **Remove Team Member** and confirm at **Confirm removal of team member** — *"Are you sure you want to remove this team member?"*
**HEADS UP **Removing someone revokes their access to the activity immediately, but does **not** remove work they already recorded. Their interview notes, observations, and responses stay, correctly attributed. Removal is about access, not authorship.
**PRO TIP **When a person leaves mid-assessment, remove them from the activity **and** disable their account in **Manage User**. Doing only one leaves either a live account with no work or a team list naming someone who cannot sign in.
### Rating Scale Configuration Sets the scale respondents use for this activity — **3-Point** or **7-Point**, with optional custom labels and a live preview. On success you get **Rating Scale Saved** — *"The activity rating scale has been saved successfully."*
**HEADS UP **Once the activity has **any recorded response**, the scale type is frozen. Attempting to change it snaps the toggle back and shows **Cannot Change Rating Scale**. Labels can still be edited; the 3-versus-7 choice cannot. Settle it before distributing the survey.
Full detail, including what switching the scale does to custom labels, is on **Rating Scales**. ### Saving Saving the page asks **Confirm Save properties** — *"Are you sure you want to update the properties for this activity?"*
**GOOD TO KNOW **Team Member changes are saved by their own dialogs as you make them, and are confirmed separately. The page-level save covers the title, the lock status, and the Team Leads list.
**HEADS UP **If you tick the lock checkbox and save in the same action as other edits, the page disappears immediately afterwards. Make all your other changes first, confirm they saved, and lock as a separate final step.
### Common Problems
**What you see** **What it means**
**Properties** missing from the activity menu The activity is locked. A COG Admin must unlock it.
**Readonly Access** chip instead of team buttons You are neither a Utility Admin nor a Team Lead on this activity.
Title and lock greyed out, but team buttons work You are a Team Lead, not a Utility Admin. That combination is expected.
Everything greyed out though you are a Utility Admin The activity belongs to a different utility than your account.
Permission checkboxes won't respond They are a read-only summary. Use **Edit Team Member Properties**.
A person is missing from the Team Leads picker They are already a Team Member. Remove them from that list first.
**Cannot Change Rating Scale** The activity has responses. The scale type is frozen; labels can still be edited.
Save disabled The title is empty, or the Team Leads list has no one on it.
Locked the activity and lost the page Expected. Ask a COG Admin to unlock via **Manage Activities**.
# Activity Feed ### Overview — The Audit Trail The **Activity Feed** is a running log of what has happened inside an activity: who did it, what they did, which item they touched, and when. It is the page to open when you need to know how an activity got into its current state. Open it from the activity's menu on the dashboard, under **Activity Feed**. It is available to **COG Admins and Utility Admins** only.
**HEADS UP **The feed is **admin-only and enforced**, not merely hidden. A non-admin who reaches the URL directly is redirected to the dashboard rather than shown the page.
**HEADS UP **Like **Properties**, the **Activity Feed** entry disappears from the menu when the activity is **locked**. To review the feed on a locked activity, a COG Admin must unlock it first — see **Manage Activities**.
[![image.png](http://knowledge.services.conexusnuclear.org/uploads/images/gallery/2026-08/scaled-1680-/HcNu4Nx8xyIR7Ekx-IIoimage.png)](http://knowledge.services.conexusnuclear.org/uploads/images/gallery/2026-08/HcNu4Nx8xyIR7Ekx-IIoimage.png) *The Activity Feed.* ### Reading an Entry Each entry is one line in the timeline, newest first, showing four things:
**Part** **What it tells you**
**Name** Who performed the action — the person's first and last name from their account.
**Action** What they did, colour-coded by kind.
**Item title** Which item was affected, shown in quoted italics. Absent where the action has no specific item.
**Time** How long ago it happened, in relative form.
#### The colour and icon coding Entries are colour-coded so you can scan the timeline for a kind of change rather than reading every line:
**Kind of action** **Icon** **Colour**
Something was **created** or **added** Plus **Green**
Something was **updated** Pencil **Blue**
Anything else Pin **Grey**
**PRO TIP **Scan the colours first. A burst of green means content was being built; a run of blue means existing content was being reworked. That distinction usually answers "what happened here?" faster than reading the entries in order.
#### Relative timestamps Times are shown as **Just now**, **N minutes ago**, **N hours ago**, **Yesterday**, or **N days ago**. The display refreshes about once a minute, so an open page keeps its times current.
**HEADS UP **Only relative times are shown — there is no absolute date or clock time on an entry. For anything needing a precise timestamp, such as a formal audit record, capture it another way; the feed tells you *roughly when* and *in what order*, not the exact moment.
**GOOD TO KNOW **Anything older than a couple of days reads as **N days ago** and keeps counting up. For an activity that ran months ago the ordering is still exact, but you will be reading "N days ago" rather than dates.
### Refreshing The feed keeps itself current in two ways: · **Automatically**, roughly every 30 seconds while the page is open. · **Manually**, using the **refresh** button in the page header. Polling pauses when you switch to another browser tab and resumes when you come back, so a page left open in the background does not keep polling.
**GOOD TO KNOW **After three consecutive failed refreshes NSCAT stops polling to avoid hammering a server that is not answering. The warning stays on screen; use the **refresh** button to try again once you believe the problem is resolved.
**PRO TIP **Because the feed auto-refreshes, it is useful to leave open on a second screen while a team is working — interviews being recorded and observations being added appear within half a minute.
### What You Will See When It Is Empty Two different messages, worth telling apart:
**Message** **Meaning**
**Loading activity feed…** The first fetch is in progress. Normal.
**No activity yet.** The fetch succeeded and there is genuinely nothing logged.
**Could not load activity feed. Will retry automatically.** The fetch failed. Anything already on screen may be stale.
**HEADS UP No activity yet** and a load failure are different situations. If you see the warning alert, do not read an empty or short list as "nothing happened" — the data did not arrive.
### Using the Feed The feed answers questions the rest of NSCAT cannot:
**Question** **How the feed answers it**
"Who changed this survey?" Look for blue **Updated** entries naming the survey.
"Has anyone actually started this activity?" An empty feed with a successful load means no.
"Is this activity finished, or just quiet?" Check how long ago the most recent entry was.
"Why is this activity locked?" Read back to who was working on it and when they stopped.
"Is this team member contributing?" Look for entries under their name.
**PRO TIP **Check the feed **before unlocking** an activity. Seeing the work stop cleanly weeks ago tells you the lock was a deliberate close-out; seeing it stop mid-flow yesterday suggests it was locked by mistake and unlocking is uncontroversial.
**GOOD TO KNOW **The feed logs actions, not their content. It records that someone updated an item and which item it was — not what the old and new values were. For the content itself, open the item.
### Common Problems
**What you see** **What it means**
**Activity Feed** missing from the activity menu The activity is locked, or you are not a COG Admin or Utility Admin.
Redirected to the dashboard on opening it Your account is neither a COG Admin nor a Utility Admin. Access is enforced, not just hidden.
**Could not load activity feed** The fetch failed. It retries automatically, then stops after three failures — use **refresh**.
Feed stopped updating on its own Either three consecutive failures stopped the polling, or the tab was in the background. Refresh.
**No activity yet** on an activity you know has work in it Confirm no warning alert is showing. If there is one, the list is not trustworthy.
No exact date on an entry Expected — the feed shows relative times only.
An action you expected is not listed Not every operation is logged. Absence from the feed is not proof it did not happen.
# Deleted Observations ### Overview — Deletion Is Recoverable, Recovery Is Not Universal When someone deletes an observation it is not removed from the database. It is flagged as deleted, stamped with who deleted it, when, and why, and taken out of every active list, report, and export. A **Utility Admin** can see that list and restore any entry on it. Two facts about this feature cause almost all the confusion around it, so state them plainly to your assessment teams: 1. **Anyone with Observations write access can delete an observation.** Team Members and Team Leads included. 2. **Only a Utility Admin can see the deleted list or restore from it.** Team Leads cannot. COG Admins cannot.
**HEADS UP **This asymmetry is the single most important thing to communicate. A Team Lead who deletes an observation believing they can undo it has to come to you. Brief your Team Leads before an assessment starts, not after.
**HEADS UP **The **Show Deleted Observations** button is rendered for COG Admins as well as Utility Admins, but the server grants the deleted list and the restore action to Utility Admins only. A COG Admin who clicks the button gets an access error, not a list. The button's visibility is broader than the permission behind it — treat the Utility Admin role as the real requirement.
### Where It Lives There is no sidebar entry. Open the activity's **Observations** page from its menu on the dashboard, and look for the red eye-off button in the page header — tooltip **Show Deleted Observations**. [![image.png](http://knowledge.services.conexusnuclear.org/uploads/images/gallery/2026-08/scaled-1680-/VKwgp0Zntrb3Jsaw-C4Wimage.png)](http://knowledge.services.conexusnuclear.org/uploads/images/gallery/2026-08/VKwgp0Zntrb3Jsaw-C4Wimage.png)
**GOOD TO KNOW **The Observations page itself disappears from an activity's menu when the activity is locked, and with it the deleted list. To review or restore a deleted observation on a locked activity, a COG Admin must unlock it first — see *Manage Activities*.
### Deleting an Observation Deletion happens on the Observations page, from **Delete current Observation**. NSCAT asks for confirmation and captures a **deletion reason** before it proceeds.
**PRO TIP **Insist on a meaningful deletion reason as a matter of team discipline. "Duplicate of #418" tells you in six weeks whether the deletion was right; "not needed" tells you nothing, and you will end up restoring it to find out.
**GOOD TO KNOW **Deleting an observation removes it from the Observations list, from every report, and from the Observation Data Export — immediately. Nothing on those pages indicates that a deleted item is being excluded.
### The Deleted Observations List The list is a table, one row per deleted observation:
**Column** **What it holds**
Observation Id The observation's id — the same id it will have again if restored.
Deleted Date When it was deleted, as a real date and time.
Deleted By The name of the person who deleted it.
Deletion Reason The reason captured at deletion.
Actions **View** and **Restore**.
[![image.png](http://knowledge.services.conexusnuclear.org/uploads/images/gallery/2026-08/scaled-1680-/vZs1UxR5kPkFKUxf-Imbimage.png)](http://knowledge.services.conexusnuclear.org/uploads/images/gallery/2026-08/vZs1UxR5kPkFKUxf-Imbimage.png)
**GOOD TO KNOW **Unlike the Activity Feed, this table carries an actual date and time rather than a relative one. Where you need a precise record of when a finding was removed, this is the page that has it.
#### View **View** opens the observation's full detail read-only — its summary, detail, ISF classification, rating, and themes — so you can judge whether it should come back without restoring it first.
**PRO TIP **Always View before you Restore. Restoring puts the observation straight back into the active list and into every report; if it was genuinely a duplicate, you have just recreated the problem someone deleted it to solve.
#### Restore **Restore** returns the observation to the active list. On success:
**Observation Restored** — *"The observation has been successfully restored."*
If it fails:
*"Failed to restore observation. Please try again."*
**GOOD TO KNOW **A failed restore leaves the observation deleted. Nothing is lost — try again, and if it keeps failing, check the activity is not locked and that you hold the Utility Admin role for that activity's utility.
**HEADS UP **Restoring changes report output. The observation reappears in the Observations list, in the activity's reports, and in the Observation Data Export. A report circulated before the restore will not reconcile with the same report run after it — the same caution that applies to consolidating themes.
### Handling Requests to Restore A Team Lead asking you to restore something is a routine request. A short procedure keeps it honest: 1. Open the activity's Observations page and click **Show Deleted Observations**. 2. Find the row — search on the id if they gave you one, otherwise sort by Deleted Date. 3. Read the **Deletion Reason** and the **Deleted By** name. 4. **View** the observation and confirm it is the one they mean. 5. Restore it, and tell the requester it is back so they can check it in the report.
**PRO TIP **If the deletion reason says "duplicate", find the observation it was a duplicate of before restoring. Half of these requests are someone who forgot they had already recorded the finding under a different summary.
### When an Observation Cannot Be Restored
**Situation** **Why**
The activity is locked Everything in a locked activity is read-only. A COG Admin must unlock it first.
You are a COG Admin without Utility Admin Restore is Utility Admin only.
You are a Utility Admin from a different utility Your utility must match the activity's.
You are a Team Lead Team Lead grants write access, not the deleted list.
### What This Feature Does Not Cover Soft delete and restore apply to **observations only**. These are permanent:
**Deleted item** **Recoverable?**
Observation **Yes** — Utility Admin, via Show Deleted Observations
Theme No — see *Theme Management*
Training record No — see *Training Management*
Team member assignment No, but their work is retained
Question in a survey or interview Removed from that survey only; the pool copy is untouched
ISF Trait or Attribute (saved) Cannot be deleted at all — see *The ISF*
Recommendation, lesson learned, interview, focus group No
**HEADS UP **Do not let "deletion is recoverable in NSCAT" become a general belief in your teams. It is true of observations and nothing else.
### Common Problems
**What you see** **What it means**
No Show Deleted Observations button You are neither a Utility Admin nor a COG Admin, or the activity is locked.
Clicked the button and got an access error You are a COG Admin without the Utility Admin role. The button shows more widely than the permission.
The list is empty Nothing has been deleted in this activity.
Failed to restore observation The restore did not complete. Retry; check the activity is unlocked and the utility matches.
An observation is missing from a report or export It may be deleted. Check here before anyone rewrites it.
A Team Lead says they cannot find the deleted list Expected. Team Lead does not include it.
Deletion Reason column is blank The deletion predates the reason being captured, or it was left empty.
Restored an observation and the report changed Expected. Restoring returns it to reports and exports.
Observations page missing entirely The activity is locked, or you have no Observations read access.