---
title: Create a control test from an engagement
description: After defining a control, audit managers create control tests that run periodically and provide documented evidence of whether the associated control is operating correctly. After creating multiple control tests on an engagement, use the Control tests grid to view, manage, and request evidence for all tests in one place.
locale: en-US
canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/governance-risk-compliance/audit-management/t\_CreateControlTest.html
release: australia
product: Audit Management
classification: audit-management
topic_type: task
last_updated: "2026-03-12"
reading_time_minutes: 5
breadcrumb: [Manage engagements, Audit Management overview, Audit Management, Governance, Risk, and Compliance]
---

# Create a control test from an engagement

After defining a control, audit managers create control tests that run periodically and provide documented evidence of whether the associated control is operating correctly. After creating multiple control tests on an engagement, use the Control tests grid to view, manage, and request evidence for all tests in one place.

## Before you begin

Role required: sn\_audit.admin and sn\_audit.manager

Starting with Audit Management 23.x.x, you can store supporting documents in Microsoft Word or PDF formats on evidence, engagement, and control test records. Use the ServiceNow Otto® panel to ask questions or summarize documents. Use voice assist to enable voice chat and audio summaries. For more information, see [Using Document Management System in Audit Workspace](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/governance-risk-compliance/audit-management/manage-documents-panel.md).

## Procedure

1.  Navigate to **All** > **Audit** > **Engagements** > **All Engagements**.

2.  Open the engagement for the audit task you want to create.

    Assign audit tasks to engagement in one of the following states:

    -   Validate
    -   Fieldwork
    -   Awaiting approval
3.  In the **Audit Tasks** Related List, click **New**.

4.  In the Audit Tasks Interceptor, click **Control Test**.

5.  On the form, fill in the fields.

<table id="table_nht_mjj_mv"><thead><tr><th>

Field

</th><th>

Description

</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>

Number

</td><td>

Unique identification number.

</td></tr><tr><td>

State

</td><td>

-   Open
-   Work in Progress
-   Review
-   Closed Complete
-   Closed Incomplete
-   Closed Skipped


</td></tr><tr><td>

Parent

</td><td>

Parent audit task.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Control effectiveness

</td><td>

Control effectiveness.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Assigned to

</td><td>

User assigned to this control test.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Issue

</td><td>

Issue related to this control test.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Test plan

</td><td>

Test plan associated with this control test.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Short description

</td><td>

Brief description of the control test.

</td></tr><tr><td class="sub-head" colspan="2">

Schedule

</td></tr><tr><td>

Planned start date

</td><td>

Intended date the control test should begin.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Planned end date

</td><td>

Intended date the control test should end.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Planned duration

</td><td>

Expected duration of this control test. As with actual duration, the planned duration shows total activity time and takes the control test schedule into consideration.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Actual start date

</td><td>

Date that this control test began.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Actual end date

</td><td>

Date that this control test ended.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Actual duration

</td><td>

Duration of the control test from control test start to control test closure.

</td></tr><tr><td class="sub-head" colspan="2">

Design test

</td></tr><tr><td>

Design effectiveness

</td><td>

-   Effective
-   Ineffective
-   None: Default value; to be populated after design testing is complete


</td></tr><tr><td>

Design expectations

</td><td>

Basic requirement that should be met by a control so that it is effective. This checks if the control was designed properly to achieve the control objective.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Design assessment procedures

</td><td>

Procedure or steps to be followed to conclude whether the design of the control is effective to achieve the control objective or not. This is based on the design expectation.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Design results

</td><td>

Results of testing the design of the control based on the design assessment procedure.

</td></tr><tr><td class="sub-head" colspan="2">

Operation test

</td></tr><tr><td>

Operation effectiveness

</td><td>

-   Effective
-   Ineffective
-   None: Default value; to be populated after design testing is complete


</td></tr><tr><td>

Operation expectations

</td><td>

Expectations that should be met to ensure that the control is operating effectively to achieve the control objective.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Operation assessment procedures

</td><td>

Detailed steps, to carry out the operation expectations, which need to be performed to conclude that the control is operating successfully.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Operation results

</td><td>

Results of testing the operation of the control based on the operation assessment procedure.

</td></tr><tr><td class="sub-head" colspan="2">

Activity journal

</td></tr><tr><td>

Work notes

</td><td>

Comments that are viewable by the audit manager.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Additional comments

</td><td>

Customer-viewable comments.

</td></tr><tr><td class="sub-head" colspan="2">

Confidentiality

</td></tr><tr><td>

Confidential

</td><td>

Option to enable confidentiality of the record. Only the assigned confidential users or confidential groups of users can access the record.For more information on confidential option, see [Confidentiality flag for audit and compliance records](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/governance-risk-compliance/audit-management/confidentiality-flag-audit-pc.md).

</td></tr></tbody>
</table>    The control test form captures two types of testing:

    -   Design Test: Validates whether the control was designed properly to achieve the control objective. Set Design effectiveness to Effective or Ineffective based on design assessment procedures and results.
    -   Operational Test: Validates whether the control is operating effectively in practice. Set Operation effectiveness to Effective or Ineffective based on operational assessment procedures and results.
    Both sections capture expectations, assessment procedures, and results to provide documented evidence of control effectiveness.

    **Note:** After you create the control test and assign it to a user, that assigned user can edit the Design results and Operational results fields. Other fields are editable only by users with sn\_audit.admin or sn\_audit.manager roles.

6.  Click **Submit**.

7.  Attach a document with the record in the Document panel.

8.  Ask questions about the document in the ServiceNow Otto® panel.

9.  Use voice assist to navigate documents with voice commands and receive audio summaries.


## Result

After creating the control test, you can:

-   View in grid: Use the **Control tests** tab on the engagement record to view all control tests in a single grid without opening individual records. For information, see [View control tests in a grid on an engagement](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/governance-risk-compliance/audit-management/view-control-tests-tab-engagement-ws.md).
-   Request evidence: Select Request evidence directly from the grid to collect evidence from the assigned auditor.
-   Personalize columns: Show or hide additional columns such as Reference and Implementation Statement through column personalization settings.
-   Use Hierarchical view: Switch to Hierarchical view for a tree-structured layout of control tests and related audit tasks.

## What to do next

Beginning with 23.x.x release, the control test form also has a Documents panel in addition to the Attachments panel. You can add, version, and manage permissions on documents while the control test is not in a Closed Complete, Closed Incomplete, or Closed Skipped state. For more information, see [Using Document Management System in Audit Workspace](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/governance-risk-compliance/audit-management/manage-documents-panel.md).

-   **[Automatically generate control tests from an engagement](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/governance-risk-compliance/audit-management/automatically-generate-control-test.md)**  
After adding an entity to an engagement, you can automatically generate control tests.

**Parent Topic:**[Manage engagements](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/governance-risk-compliance/audit-management/c_Engagements.md)