Playbooks
Write a policy or a procedure by sections
The three document types, the policy and procedure templates, the section editor, the coverage of linked controls and what the assistant adds.
Role: Compliance manager This page details the text editor of the Policies screen. The whole cycle (submit, approve, have it read and accepted, revise) is in The lifecycle of a policy.
Three document types
When you create one, "Type of document" is Policy, Procedure or Standard. A procedure describes steps and can hold a flowchart; a standard sets a technical requirement. The type does not change when you open a revision. The register can be filtered by type.
The templates
"New policy" offers a template or a blank page. The template is copied: the document does not follow it afterwards, and the text is yours. Each template exists in French and English, is short on purpose and quotes no standard.
| Type | Templates |
|---|---|
| Policy | Information security; access control; acceptable use of IT resources; security incident management; backup and business continuity; supplier security; data protection and classification; secure development and change management; remote working |
| Procedure | Security incident handling; access request and removal |
The text of a policy template has five sections: Purpose, Scope, Policy statements, Roles and responsibilities, Exceptions and review. That of a procedure template has seven: Purpose, Scope, Trigger, Roles and responsibilities, Steps (numbered), Flowchart (drawn from those steps) and Records. Read it through: what the template says about roles and steps is a starting point, not a description of your organisation.
The section editor
The text stays one document in markdown, versioned and approved as a whole. A section is a ## heading of the text: the editor shows it apart so that you write section by section.
- Open the policy and edit it. The "Section outline" lists the sections; a counter gives the characters of the section and of the whole text (60,000 at most).
- "Add a section" offers section templates according to the document's type: Purpose, Scope, Roles and responsibilities, Requirements, Exceptions, Sanctions, Review and update for a policy or a standard; Purpose, Scope, Trigger, Roles and responsibilities, Steps, Flowchart, Records, Review and update for a procedure. "Free section" adds a section with no template.
- Move a section up or down, or delete it. Deleting asks for confirmation and only becomes final when you save.
- Save. A saved text goes, as before, through submission and approval; the version, the fingerprint and the history cover the whole text.
Draft on your device. Until you save, the text is kept in your browser. If you come back to the policy, the editor says "An unsaved draft from … exists for this text" and offers "Resume the draft" or "Delete the draft". This draft is not in the app: another browser or device does not see it, and it does not survive a browser that clears its data.
What the editor shows while you write
- Coverage. The requirements of the controls linked to the policy, against the text: those the text speaks of, those it does not. It is a reading by words, with no AI: it is recomputed at each keystroke, and a person confirms it. With no linked control, the editor says so.
- Suggested controls. The "Suggest controls" button asks the assistant for the catalog controls the text supports, each with the quoted passage. The editor checks that the passage really is in the text (otherwise: "Passage not found in the text: check it before linking"). Tick the controls you want, "Link the ticked controls", then save the policy.
- Write this section with the assistant. Five actions: Write, Complete, Shorten, Make more formal, Adapt to an active framework. "Insert" adds the proposal after the section's text; "Replace" takes its place (the section's flowcharts stay). The policy must have been saved once. What goes to the model is in the assistant page.
For the approver: what changed
When a policy or a revision is submitted, the drawer shows "What changed" to whoever can edit or approve it: the submitted text against the version in force, section by section (section added, deleted, changed, with the text before and after). The gap is computed with no AI; a first version is shown as entirely new. The "Summarise for the approver" button asks the assistant for a summary of that gap. The summary helps you open the right section; it does not replace reading.
What the app does not do
- It does not say that a text complies with a standard. Coverage counts words, not obligations.
- It does not keep more than 60,000 characters per version.
- It does not share the draft between two devices.
- It does not read or write the linked Confluence page.
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