Top 9 Investigation Techniques and Tools
Are you up to date with the best practices for investigation techniques? Do you need a refresher on tools that can help you carry out your investigations more efficiently and effectively?
This article shares nine tips that will ensure your next investigation is a success.
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1. Use Investigation Software
One of the most effective investigation techniques that will save your company both time and money is an investment in investigation software. Investigation software, such as Case IQ, allows you to effectively manage your case workflow, track the progress of case investigations and it also includes a feature that prioritizes and ranks the escalated risk associated with specific cases.
Other processes, such as spreadsheets, make it difficult for collaboration during investigations and are difficult to modify as policies and regulations change. In the article "Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance: GRC Technology vs. Spreadsheets", expert Michael Rasmussen states:
"Spreadsheets are a thorn in the flesh of risk and compliance. I have seen organizations with upwards of 40,000 spreadsheets collected for Sarbanes-Oxley, as control questionnaires are sent to nearly everyone in the organization. The questionnaires come back and the compliance team scratches their heads and says Now what? How do we manage and report on this data?"
When using an investigation software system, reporting is made simpler and faster, as all of the information in the case is populated and inserted into a custom investigation report template. Case IQ reports can quickly be exported in a variety of formats including MS Excel, MS Word, PDF, or CSV. These exported versions of your reports can be downloaded or emailed as an attachment.
"The number one benefit of automating compliance activities is that you also streamline and standardize business activities. Technology reduces ambiguity, makes processes cleaner and makes you more efficient," says John Hagerty.
2. Organize Your Interviews
One of the toughest investigation techniques to get right is the investigation interview.
The experts at Diversified Risk Management Inc. explain, "In most circumstances, you will want to obtain written, verbal, and tape-recorded statements from those interviewed. All information is to be cross-referenced with the information developed from other employee interviews, verifying and confirming results where possible."
The investigation interview is the most critical element of the internal investigation process and must be carefully planned out before the interviews begin, in order to make sure all of the necessary questions are included and addressed at this time.
By recording the responses from those interviewed in a variety of formats, it makes it easier to go back and review information and ensure that all of the facts pertaining to the case are in order before making a final decision. The level of consistency found in interview responses also helps organize the facts of the misconduct.
3. Respond to Incidents and Complaints Quickly
Reaction time is important when it comes to responding to reports of observed misconduct. An investigation tool that you can implement into your workplace is an investigation case management system that sends alerts to the appropriate members of the investigation and management team in order to ensure that action is taken as quickly as possible.
Investigation software solutions like Case IQ allow you to create customized workflow rules that ensure that the right people are kept in the loop– and ensure that nothing falls through the cracks.
In order to make sure that the internal investigation is conducted in a timely manner, Case IQ functions, such as automatic notifications, case/task assignment, reminders, follow-up tasks, approval requests, and escalation notifications allow you to set time limits on particular tasks and track case progress.
These alerts allow your investigations team to spend less time on cases, streamline processes to remove confusion of tasks and responsibilities of team members, reduce time spent creating case reports, and ultimately make the investigation process easier to handle.
RELATED: Are You Following These 16 Investigation Best Practices?
4. Let Investigators Own Case Types
It's much easier being the expert about one thing, rather than knowing a bit about many things. The same applies to your investigators.
One of the most useful investigation techniques would be to assign cases that deal with particular issues to a particular investigator or investigative team. These assignments should be made when establishing your reporting lines within the HR department and your investigative team in order to avoid confusion when starting out.
By dividing the types of complaints and cases that investigators work on, it makes it easier to become an expert in a particular field.
It'll be easier to become familiar with regulations, policy updates, and other legal matters in a specific field, as opposed to trying to keep track of amendments and policy changes for a variety of HR and ethics related topics. It also makes it easier to determine case assignment, because if "Investigator #1" always handles cases involving sexual harassment, "Investigator #1" will only be assigned to cases that involve sexual harassment.
Another benefit to this practice is the fact that as investigators continually work with the same types of cases, they will be able to complete the case in a shorter time frame, as they are already familiar with the workplace policy and legal regulations pertaining to the incident, they already have a good idea of the questions that need to be addressed during the interview process for all parties involved and they have better ideas of the types of evidence to look for and seek out.
Don't get bogged down by reporting.
Investigation reports take a lot of time and effort to write, and you still might forget to include something. Download our free investigation report template to make reporting faster, easier, and less stressful.
5. Offer Multiple Reporting Channels
One of the top investigation techniques, this makes it easier for employees to select and access a method for reporting a case and allows cases to be reported anonymously.
For many, having to report misconduct in person to a senior level manager can be intimidating, and if it's the only option for entering an incident, many incidents may never get reported. Face-to face reporting could potentially create a hostile work environment for the employee that's fallen victim in the incident or lead to excessive money stolen from a company if an employee is to afraid to report that they have witnessed workplace theft.
Investigative software solutions, such as Case IQ, allow for multi-channel case entry, with all of the cases then being filtered through the centralized case management system.
Case IQ is a web-based solution, which means that cases can be added at all times, and is accessible with a computer and an internet connection. This type of accessibility also allows employees to report misconduct as soon as they have observed it, keeping the details fresh in their minds at the time of reporting.
When using Case IQ, cases can be created from these channels:
- Hotlines
- Integration with existing systems
- Email to case
- Public referral form on website
6. Gather Evidence Using Surveys
Surveys are a great investigation tool when conducting witness interviews and gathering additional information from larger groups of employees. Although creating surveys can initially be time consuming and difficult to formulate, surveys can be used in a variety of situations within your workplace investigations to efficiently generate valuable information.
Surveys are a great tool for saving time and collecting information when there are a large number of witnesses that may only be able to provide smaller pieces of evidence or information relating to an investigation case. Surveys are also useful when collecting information from a large group to learn more about any changes they observed within the workplace that may have signaled that something unusual was taking place within the company.
Chances are it's going to still be beneficial to conduct face to face interviews with any employee witnesses that watched the misconduct or noticed the fraud firsthand, as these individuals have a greater amount of knowledge and are likely to be able to provide more detailed responses than other witnesses could.
7. Triage Reports and Complaints
Each time misconduct allegations are reported, a formal investigation may not be the answer. As investigations are costly undertakings, requiring significant investments of time and money, it's best to pre-screen allegations to determine if they warrant further investigation.
Develop a system for evaluating incoming cases, as well as the guidelines that must be met in order for a case to make it to the next step. Provide training to HR and investigative staff regarding the steps and policies established for pre-screening investigations to ensure consistency amongst the team.
Proceeding this way allows for greater concentration and time devoted to larger cases, in order to conduct thorough, timely investigations. In order to be successful, investigations require high levels of quality and attention to detail to avoid leaving out important case information.
RELATED: 101+ OSINT Resources for Investigators
8. Cut Off Access to Evidence
When an investigation is required, deploy measures to ensure computer files, e-mails, physical evidence, surveillance videos, phone recordings and any other evidence related to the case remains intact. Once the subject (the accused) is informed of the investigation, chances are, they will attempt to destroy evidence, making it difficult to prove they violated company policies and/or the law.
To avoid potential lawsuits or accusations, Tim Mohr and Nidhi Rao recommend sticking to company policies when collecting evidence. They further recommend the following evidence collection procedures:
“A crucial component of evidence gathering is ensuring that the chain of custody is documented. This documentation should include a description of how the information was obtained, when it was collected, who has handled it, where and how it was transported, and where it's stored and maintained. Improper documentation of the chain of custody during the collection process may result in information becoming inadmissible in court.”
Case IQ makes it easier to keep track of evidence by enabling team members to attach any kind of electronic file to an investigation case record. Each "Exhibit" that's attached to the file will be automatically assigned an exhibit number and can be categorized (i.e. witness statement, documents) and investigators can provide a description of the file.
Recording exhibits this way makes it easier for investigators to create final reports. Case IQ's Report Template function ensures each exhibit description is extracted from the case file and automatically placed in the final report.
9. Study Your Historic Investigation Data
Internal investigation software solutions, such as Case IQ, allow investigators to view cases in real time using dashboard controls. At a glance, investigative managers can monitor the workloads of team members, detect emerging trends and identify issues.
Complex information is communicated quickly through dashboards in the form of gauges, maps, charts, and other graphics that can display multiple results. Dynamic dashboards allow users to drill down to get more information on data in the dashboard.
Dashboards are extremely useful in identifying the roots of problems.
In many companies, certain issues may become prevalent in a specific department or office location. The ability to identify these trends is extremely important as it provides insight into areas of potential misconduct risk. Understanding these risks ahead of time allows managers to provide additional training or prepare/update policies addressing these issues.
Dashboard reporting makes it easy to:
- Determine which are the most common allegations and investigation types
- Detect patterns and trends
- Communicate the outcomes of investigations
- Look at cases by location or other criteria
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the five elements of investigation?
The five elements of investigations are the scope, investigation plan, investigative team, investigation process, and the final investigation report and recommendations.
What is a tactical investigation?
A tactical investigation involves deploying measures to cut off access to potential evidence in the case, such as computer files, emails, physical evidence, surveillance videos, and phone recordings, to prevent destruction or tampering by involved parties.
What are the traditional investigation techniques?
Traditional investigative techniques involve methods such as conducting interviews, gathering and analyzing evidence, and assessing reports and complaints to determine if further investigation is warranted.