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Assessment Editor

Assessments Editor CLI

This CLI feature will allow you to edit Control Implementations inside of a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, save those changes, and update them to the RegScale database. Its purpose to create a familiar user experience for control attestation based on Excel workflows while allows seamless upload of edits to the database without any duplicate data entry.

Problem to Solve

Executives want the benefits of a real-time compliance system but practitioners want the familiar user experience and simplicity offered by Excel.

Solution

The assessments editor was designed to provide a simple, repeatable, and consistent process for using Microsoft Excel to bulk edit assessments. This process is as follows:

  • Run a command to generate a new assessment or to modify an existing one
  • The system then builds a templated and validated Excel file and loads the data for editing
  • The practitioner then makes their edits in Excel
  • Run a command to bulk update all records in the system in seconds

Details

The following fields are required to utilize this feature:

  • regscale_id - The ID (primary key) of the parent record housing the controls (NOTE: this is typically a Security Plan or a Component)
  • regscale_module - The name for the parent module you would like to view for the Control Implementations (NOTE: this is typically 'securityplans' or 'components'), please view RegScale Modules for options.
  • path - A temporary file path for where you will edit and save the excel file in your current working directory
    • --path - this value is already set as a default

The purpose of this CLI feature is to provide the ability to either create a new Assessment or pull all Assessments, using a given rescale_id and regscale_module, into an Excel spreadsheet and allow clients with appropriate access to add/update the following fields:

  • Title - This is a string value
  • Lead Assessor (populated with user list)
  • Assessment Type - The following options can be selected from the drop down menu: Control Testing, External Review, Inspection, Internal Audit, Lightning Assessment, Linda's metadata for Assessments, Management Assessment, Script/DevOps Check, Walkthrough
  • Planned Start Date - This is a date value that should be entered using mm/dd/yyyy formatting
  • Planned Finish Date - This is a date value that should be entered using mm/dd/yyyy formatting
  • Status - The following options can be selected from the drop down menu: Scheduled, In Progress, Complete, Cancelled
  • Actual Finish - This is a date value that should be entered using mm/dd/yyyy formatting
  • Assessment Result - The following options can be selected from the drop down menu: Pass, Fail, N/A, Partial Pass
  • Organization - (populated with list)
  • Facility - (populated with list)

The CLI feature will analyze any differences made to these fields and make bulk updates where necessary in the RegScale database.

Assessments Editor Workflow

  1. Log into RegScale to set the token, which is good for 24 hours, and will secure all future RegScale API calls. (NOTE: You can skip this step if you are using a RegScale Service Account.)
    • regscale login
  2. Execute generate/new-file command.
    Open "artifacts" folder located in current working directory and make changes to "new_assessments.xlsx" workbook.
  3. Save changes to "new_assesssments.xlsx" workbook.
    OR
    Execute generate command.
  4. Open "artifacts" folder located in current working directory and make changes to "all_assessments.xlsx" workbook.
  5. Save changes to "all_assesssments.xlsx" workbook.
  6. Check "artifacts" folder for file "differences.txt" to view a detailed listing of all changes that were made.
  7. Execute load command.
    (NOTE: It is important to follow steps as listed to ensure data accuracy and efficient loading. Always complete all steps and in the proper order.)

Example Commands

Enter the parameters below with your desired information

Make all edits necessary directly in Excel and save the workbook.

  • regscale assessments generate_new_file

Create the excel file structure and load the current data from RegScale database into your workbook.

Make all edits necessary directly in Excel and save the workbook.

  • regscale assessments generate generate and confirm that all data has been saved prior to upload
    • --regscale_id - The desired Parent ID
    • --regscale_module - The desired RegScale Module

Upload any changes made to your Excel workbook to the RegScale database.

  • regscale assessments load