Compliance Automation Terminology Guide

Associated Controls

The list of controls where the evidence task can assist in providing the implementation or completion of the work outlined in the control. One or more evidence tasks can be associated with a control.

Collection Guidance

Out of the box (OOTB) standards and frameworks to provide guidance on the types of documentation, screenshots, or content required and guidance on how to keep track of content. Clients can customize the OOTB content or add their own to custom evidence tasks they create.

Collection Interval

How often it is recommended that evidence should be collected for an evidence task.

Collection Period

The time period (start date and end date) associated with the collection interval. For example, for a yearly task it may state February 1 to January 31 or for a quarterly evidence task it may state December 1 to February 28.

Compliance

The state of meeting the requirements defined by standards and frameworks with which your organization must comply.

Control

The requirements used by process owners to insure organizational adherence to the policies, standards, and frameworks. Controls are used to define requirements which are put into place to avoid risks, errors, or to define measures that will take place if an error or risk is found.

Control Implementations

Mechanisms put in place by an organization to ensure that its operations adhere to applicable laws, regulations, standards, and internal policies. These controls are designed to mitigate risks, prevent violations, and promote ethical conduct within the organization.

Control Library Templates

The primary controls found in the Controls Library Templates that must meet requirements for the related controls to be implemented.

Control Status

The status indicating the progress to completion for a control.

Current Interval Status

The status of the specific interval as shown on the Evidence Task Details screen. It highlights whether the current interval has been collected, is in progress, or is not collected.

Evidence Task

Proof that proper controls are in place and operational. An evidence task can be associated with one or more controls.

An evidence task is the specific action or documentation requirement undertaken to demonstrate compliance with a standard or framework control, providing tangible proof that the prescribed measures have been implemented and are effective at a predefined interval (annually, quarterly, monthly, etc.).

Initiative Owner

The user responsible for tracking the completion of the initiative.

Initiative Score

The percent of controls completed out of the total number of applicable controls identified for the initiative.

Initiative

A plan of action to improve compliance posture towards a particular standard or framework as it relates to a particular component of the business.

Interval

The name of the interval(s) that were automatically generated to collect evidence tasks.

Interval Due Date

The due date of the current collection interval.

Library Evidence Task

An evidence task record that can be copied and modified to create a new evidence task that will be associated to a control implementation.

Observation Period

The period of time in which the initiative will be observed. The maximum observation period is three years.

Overall Status

The status calculated by collecting interval statuses during the initiative observation period. If all interval statuses have been collected, the overall status will be Collected. If an interval has not been collected, the overall status will be Overdue.

Scope

The inventory record that is associated with the initiative during creation.

Standard/Framework

The standard or framework with which initiatives are associated. Controls are populated based on the standards or frameworks selected when the initiative was created.

What to Collect

The types of documentation, screenshots, or content required to collect evidence.