Getting started

PTAB-assistant is for PTAB members only. Clients have no logins. Ask the administrator for an account.

Logging in

1. Open the application and type your Username and Password. Press Next.
2. Type the code from your authenticator app, or one of your recovery codes, and press Log in.

The first time you log in you must also set up your authenticator (see below), and you must choose a new password, because the administrator gave you a random one.

If the login fails, the page says "Login failed". It never says whether the username or the password was wrong.

Setting up the authenticator

Every account needs an authenticator app, such as Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator or any other TOTP app. The first time you log in, the page Set up your authenticator opens.

1. In the app, add an account by scanning the QR code. If you can't scan it, type the key shown under it.
2. Type the six-digit code the app now shows, and press Confirm.
3. The page Your recovery codes shows ten codes. Keep them somewhere safe, away from your phone. Then press I have kept them. Continue.

At every later login, the page Authenticator code asks for the current code from the app. A code works once only; if it is refused, wait for the next one.

If you lose your phone, log in with a recovery code. If you have lost both, ask the administrator to reset your authenticator. You then set up a new one at your next login.

Recovery codes

• You get ten recovery codes when you set up the authenticator.
• Each code lets you log in once without the authenticator. Type it where the code is asked for.
• Your account page shows Recovery codes left.
• Make ten new recovery codes on your account page replaces them all. The old ones stop working at once. The new ones are shown only once.

The session timeout and the account lock

• Session timeout: you are logged out after 30 minutes without activity (the server setting ptab.session-timeout). The next page you open asks you to log in again.
• Account lock: after 5 failed attempts in a row (a wrong password or a wrong code), the account is locked for 15 minutes. The login page shows both numbers. A successful login resets the count. The administrator can unlock an account at once.
• Attempts from one address: more than 20 login attempts from one internet address within 5 minutes are refused with "Too many login attempts from your address".
• Disabled accounts: if the administrator disables your account, your session ends at once and the login page says "Your session has ended".

Changing your password

On Your account, press Change your password. Type your Current password, then the New password twice.

• A password has at least 12 characters.
• Common passwords, passwords that contain your username, and passwords of fewer than four different characters are refused.
• The new password must differ from the current one.
• A phrase of several unrelated words works well.

While you must change your password, every page sends you to this one, except this help page.

The menus

The menus are at the top of every page. Click a menu, or move to it with the Tab key and press Enter, to open it.

Then come Help, Help on this page, your name (your account page) and Log out.

The application calls each engagement an audit. Addresses still say engagements.

The dashboard

My work › Dashboard is the first page after logging in. It shows:

• My audits: the active audits you hold a role on today, in the same columns as the audits overview.
• My deadlines: your overdue items, and your deadlines in the next 14 days. See Deadlines.
• Documents outstanding: for each audit you can see, the required documents not yet done, those due from the client, and those past their latest date.

Your account page

Click your name at the top right. Your account shows your username, full name, email and recovery codes left, and has:

• Your standing roles: your page under People.
• Calendar: your calendar feed (below).
• Change your password and Make ten new recovery codes.

Only the administrator changes your name and email.

The calendar feed

The calendar feed is a private, read-only iCalendar address. It holds your own deadlines, from the past up to 12 months ahead, with their labels, dates and links. The Director's feed also holds every overdue item.

To create it:

1. Open My work › Calendar, or the Calendar panel on your account page.
2. Press Create calendar feed.
3. Copy the address shown. It is shown only once.

To add it to Outlook: choose Add calendar, then Subscribe from web, and paste the address. To add it to Google Calendar: next to Other calendars, choose +, then From URL, and paste the address.

Treat the address like a password: anyone who has it can read your deadlines.

• Renew calendar feed makes a new address. The old one stops working at once. Use it if the address may have been seen by someone else, then paste the new address into your calendar.
• Revoke calendar feed stops the feed with no replacement.
• The panel shows when the address was made and when a calendar last fetched it.
• The Director and the administrator can revoke anyone's feed from that person's page.

What you see depends on your role

• Audits: you see an audit, its client and its records only while you hold a role on it today. The Director and the administrator see every audit.
• The Director and the administrator also see the NABCB and Administration menus. Only the administrator sees Admin.
• The administrator can view certification data but can't vote, decide, raise NCPARs or change audit documents. The administrator never takes part in certification decisions.
• Restricted records are shown only to the people linked to them, the Director and the administrator. See access levels.
• Personnel details (CV, training, declarations) are shown only to the person, the Director and the administrator. Competence evaluations are shown only to the person and the Director, and only the Director sees the whole competence matrix.

Getting help

• Help at the top opens the help index, with a search box.
• Help on this page opens the section about the page you are on.
• When a page refuses something because of a rule, the message has a link Why? See the help on this rule.
• All topics on one page can be printed.