A flag is where your office's work starts. SYSWERX Cases carries every flagged researcher from triage to a signed decision: every finding settled, every request tracked, and a record your office can defend to faculty, counsel and sponsors years from now.
A research security office has to review researchers consistently and show how each decision was made. Most offices start with spreadsheets, shared drives and email. That holds until someone asks how a decision was made, who approved it, and whether the file has changed since.
Every flagged researcher, whether a case is open, who owns it, what is waiting on whom, and what is overdue.
Each finding and how it was settled, every request to the researcher and their answer, and every referral to another office, with names and dates.
The outcome, the written rationale, who proposed it and who approved it, and proof that the record hasn't changed since.
Cases works from the same cited record as the screening, so each finding starts from the evidence behind it.
Visiting appointment confirmed from the 2022 letter and now disclosed. No current funding from the appointing institution. Lab access and travel conditions agreed with Export Control and the researcher.
Each entry carries the fingerprint of the one before it. Edit, delete or reorder any entry and the chain breaks.
Research security cases touch careers, funding and reputations. Who can see a case is decided on the server, not by hiding a button.
Mark a sensitive case restricted and name who may see it. The case owner and your Leads always can. For everyone else on the team it doesn't appear on the board, and its documents won't open.
The roster is screened again on a schedule set by risk, and whenever the watchlist changes. Each new screening shows on the case timeline, and alerts say what changed.
With Program, a travel debrief that raises a concern goes to the researcher's case in one click, so the travel record and the review stay together.
My Institution watches the whole roster, shows exposure by department, and exports a one-page program summary, plus a roster and case log, for leadership. The summary names no researcher.
| The question | Spreadsheets and email | SYSWERX Cases |
|---|---|---|
| Who's flagged without a case? | Whoever remembers to check the list. | A triage queue fills itself from your monitoring roster. |
| What did the researcher disclose, and when? | Somewhere in an inbox or a shared drive. | The request, the upload and the date, on the case. |
| Who approved the decision? | A reply-all, if anyone kept it. | A named Lead, a written rationale and, when your policy calls for it, a second Lead's approval. |
| Has the record changed since? | No way to tell. | Verify the audit chain with one click. |
| Can counsel have the file? | Someone assembles it by hand. | One case package: the case file, every document, and a fingerprint for each. |
It's how a research security office carries a concern about a researcher from the first flag to a documented decision: what was found, what the researcher was asked, which offices weighed in, what was decided and why, and who approved it. It's how an office shows that its reviews are consistent and its decisions are documented.
No. A flag is a reason to look, not a finding. Screening output is a preliminary prioritization aid. The case is where your office checks the facts, hears from the researcher, and decides. A clean result is never a clearance either.
Your team, by role: Leads decide, Analysts work cases, Viewers read. A restricted case opens only for the people named on it, its owner and your Leads. Email notifications say that something needs attention, never what.
Only what your office sends: a request, and a private upload link for their documents. The link can't open the case.
Yes. Send a referral with a secure link that opens the case file until it expires, or download the case file or the full case package. The referral and the answer are recorded on the case.
Every case ends in a documented decision with its findings, rationale and approvals, and My Institution rolls them up into a program summary for leadership. How SYSWERX supports NSPM-33 →
Bring a researcher you'd review anyway. We'll open the case, settle the findings, and show you the case file it produces.