Control Editor

📘

Command renamed

The standalone regscale control_editor command has been replaced by the unified bulk-editor, regscale model, using --model control. Update any scripts that still call regscale control_editor.

Control Editor CLI

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

The 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.

The Solution

The control editor is designed to provide a simple, repeatable, and consistent process using Microsoft Excel to bulk edit security controls. The process is as follows:

• Run a command to pull down all available controls for a given security plan or component
• The system then builds a templated and validated Excel file and loads the data for editing
• The practitioner then makes 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: typically a Security Plan or Component)
• --regscale_module - the name of the parent module whose Control Implementations you would like to view (NOTE: typically securityplans or components); see RegScale Modules for the full list of options
• --model control - selects the control bulk-editor. This is what replaces the old control_editor command
• --path - the temporary file path where the Excel file is generated and edited. Defaults to artifacts in the current working directory

The purpose of this CLI feature is to provide the ability to pull all Control Implementations, using a given --regscale_id and --regscale_module, into an Excel spreadsheet and allow clients with appropriate access to update the following fields:

• status - this field may be one of the following: Not Implemented, Fully Implemented, In Remediation, Not Applicable, Inherited, Planned

• policy - a string value describing the policy and what outcome or success criteria the implementation must achieve

• implementation - a string value describing how the policy is implemented

• responsibility - who is responsible for this control (Cloud Service Provider, Shared Responsibility, Customer Responsibility, etc.)

• inheritable - a Boolean value that determines if the control can be inherited in other security plans or components

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

Control Editor Workflow

1. Log into RegScale and set a token, good for 24 hours, which 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 the generate command.
3. Open the "artifacts" folder located in the current working directory and make changes to the "all_implementations" workbook.
4. Save your changes to the "all_implementations" workbook.
5. Execute the load command.
6. Check the "artifacts" folder for the file "differences.txt" to view a detailed listing of the changes made.
7. Execute the delete_files command.

(NOTE: It is important to follow the steps as listed to ensure data accuracy and efficient loading. Always complete the steps in the proper order.)

Example Commands

Enter the parameters below for the desired information.

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

regscale model generate --model control --regscale_id 123 --regscale_module securityplans --path artifacts

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

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

regscale model load --model control --path artifacts

Delete the files in the "artifacts" folder created in the current working directory.

regscale model delete_files --model control --path artifacts