---
title: "Opening a Case"
space: "Industrial Relations Documentation"
url: "http://www.buff0k.co.za/ir-docs/opening-a-case"
updated: "2026-08-17"
---

# Opening a Case

Disciplinary, incapacity, and poor-performance matters each start as their own doctype - **Disciplinary Action**, **Incapacity Proceedings**, or **Poor Performance** - but all three share the same shape and the same downstream process (NTA Enquiry, Written Outcome, a sanction, and a possible Appeal).

![A new Disciplinary Action in Draft: accused employee, site, responsible IR, complainant, and offence details](/files/ir-disciplinary-action-draft7ef9e2.png)

## What each one captures

| Field | Disciplinary Action | Incapacity Proceedings | Poor Performance |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Accused/employee | `accused` | `accused` | `employee` |
| Their designation, at the time | `accused_pos` | `accused_pos` | `employee_designation` |
| Site | `branch` ("Site for Hearing") | `branch` ("Site for Inquiry") | `branch` |
| Complainant | Required | Required | Required |
| Case-specific detail | `offences` (a Charges table of specific misconduct incidents) | `type_of_incapacity`, `details_of_incapacity` | `details_of_poor_performance` |

None of the three let you set `outcome` directly - it starts empty (the case shows as **Pending**) and only ever gets written by a downstream sanction document once the case is actually decided (see **Issuing a Sanction**).

## What's different between them

- **Warning Form is not a valid Incapacity outcome** - incapacity is about ability, not conduct, so a disciplinary-style warning doesn't apply.
- Poor Performance's own "No Further Action" equivalent is a **Performance Improved** finding, not a not-guilty verdict.
- All three carry a rolling history table of the employee's *previous* outcomes of the same type, shown for context when a new case is opened against the same employee.

## The Actions menu

Once saved, every case in **Draft** shows an **Actions** dropdown (visible to IR Manager/IR Officer) with every possible next step:

![The Actions dropdown on a Draft Disciplinary Action: Issue NTA, Write Outcome, Issue Warning, sanctions, Issue VSP, Cancel](/files/ir-disciplinary-action-actions-menu09d1c2.png)

Everything below - the hearing notice, the written outcome, and every sanction - is created from this menu, always against the *same* case, so the whole history stays linked together.

Next: **NTA Enquiry**, to schedule the hearing.