For compliance hotlines
Test your hotline the way prosecutors ask about it.
For compliance officers, general counsel, audit committees, and the vendors that run ethics and whistleblower hotlines. Scripted test reports, tracked from the first ring to close-out.
“Does the company periodically test the effectiveness of the hotline, for example by tracking a report from start to finish?”
This is guidance prosecutors use to evaluate compliance programs, not a statutory mandate.
Request the free auditWhat we test, start to finish, by phone
Each test report follows one path through your hotline, and we record every step.
The line answers
We call during business hours, after hours, and at overflow times, and record whether a person or system answers, how long it takes, and what the caller hears.
Anonymity is offered and honored
The intake script is checked for an offer of anonymity, and the test confirms that the caller’s choice is respected through the rest of the call.
Language access
We place test reports in the languages your hotline says it supports and check that the caller is connected to someone who can take the report.
Intake captures the report accurately
A scripted report is read in, and the intake record is compared with what was said: who, what, where, and when.
The report reaches case management
With your compliance contact, we confirm that the test report arrived, how long it took, and that it carried the right details.
Routing to the right reviewer
Each scenario is built to belong with a particular reviewer. We check that it landed there and not somewhere else.
Acknowledgment and follow-up
We measure acknowledgment and any follow-up against the service level you state, with timestamps for each step.
Close-out without investigation
The test report is closed by your compliance contact as a test, so it never becomes an investigation.
Tracking a report from start to finish takes the compliance team’s cooperation. Test reports are scripted, synthetic, and agreed in advance, and each is identifiable to a named compliance contact so it never triggers a real investigation. We never use real allegations or real names.
Out of scope: employee awareness surveys. Another question in the same DOJ guidance asks whether employees know about the hotline and feel comfortable using it. We do not survey employees.
Why the test has to be independent
The hotline vendor and the compliance team both have a stake in the result.
A vendor’s own report on its service, or a compliance team’s own check on a program it runs, is an opinion. An independent test produces evidence for the audit committee and, if it is ever needed, for regulators or prosecutors. CanaryTel takes no referral fees or commissions, and results are never edited at anyone’s request. Read the independence policy.
What you receive
Scored test reports
One result per scenario, with the step that passed or failed and a timestamp for each.
Audio and transcript
The recording and transcript behind every score, so any finding can be checked.
Routing and acknowledgment timing
How long the report took to reach the reviewer and to be acknowledged, against your stated SLA.
Findings
What failed, where in the path, and what to fix, written so a non-technical reader can follow it.
Audit committee summary
A periodic summary of results and trends in a form that can be filed with committee materials.
A CanaryTel report provides evidence toward an obligation or an expectation. It does not make a program compliant. Your counsel decides what is required.
Questions compliance teams ask
Do you need access to our case management system?
No, not for intake testing. We test what a caller experiences by phone. For start-to-finish tracking, a named compliance contact confirms that the test report arrived and where it was routed. We do not need a login.
Will this create a real investigation?
No. Test reports are scripted, synthetic, and agreed with you in advance. Each is identifiable to your compliance contact, who closes it as a test. We never use real allegations or real names.
Do you test web or text intake?
Phone today. Web forms and text intake are not part of the service yet.
How often do you test?
The free audit covers one week on one hotline. After that, you set the cadence and test volume, and we provide a periodic summary for the audit committee.
Who sees the results?
The people you name. Results go to your compliance team and, on request, a version for the audit committee. We share a result with a hotline vendor only with your consent.
Free one-week audit on one hotline
Seven days of scripted test reports against one hotline, happy and failure paths, and a scored audit report with audio, transcript, and timing. No integration, no cost, no commitment.
Request the free audit