Managing Policies

Getting Started - Managing Policies

Managing policies in DISPulse gives users unparalleled control and visibility of their compliance status and obligations.

To get started, navigate to the Policies & Controls page under the Compliance tab.

Now that you're on the Polices & Control page, scroll down to the Unified Policy & Control View and find the policy you wish to manage. To help you find the right policy, use the search bar or filters to refine your search. The filters are Framework, Statue and Domain.

Once you've found the policy you wish to manage, either open the policy card by simply clicking the policy if you're using the default Unified Policy & Control View or click the view details button if you're using one of the other view densities.

Policy card headers include several buttons to help users manage their policies in DISPulse. From left to right: Edit Mode, Update Status, Evidence, Schedule, and Export.

Edit Mode: Enables users to edit policy content. In edit mode, users can edit the policy title, description, and body content. To ensure all policy content changes are saved, click the Save Content button at the bottom of the content tab. Users can tell they are in edit mode by reviewing the button's blue colour, and the text has changed from EDIT MODE to VIEW MODE.

Update Status: The status update button updates the implementation progress and subsequent timeline events.

Evidence: The evidence button is a shortcut to the Evidence & Testing tab.

Schedule: The schedule button is a shortcut to the Schedule tab

Export: The export button exports your policy content into a formatted Word document.

Policy Detail cards have 6 tabs, from left to right: Overview, Content, Implementation, Evidence & Testing, Governance, Schedule, and Timeline.

Overview: The overview tab provides basic information about the policy, including ID, Framework, Domain, Last Updated, Title, Description and Assigned Date.

Content: The Content tab allows DISPulse users to store and edit their policies in a single, secure platform. In view mode, users can review policy content. To edit policy content, users must click the Edit Mode button in the policy cards header. Once edit mode is toggled on, users can edit the policy title, description, and body content.

It's essential for document exporting that content developed and edited in DISPulse is well-formatted. Learn how to access and use all the features of the content editor by clicking the question mark icon in the body content header, or press Alt+0 for help.

To save any changes, click the Save Content button in the bottom left-hand corner of the content tab. To discard any changes, click the edit mode button again. If your document is formatted correctly, you can also export straight to a Word document by clicking the export button in the policy card header.

Implementation: The implementation tab lets users track, organise, and manage policy implementation.

Users can move policies through 7 implementation status options: Not Started, Planning, In Progress, Deployed, Tested, Under Review, and Approved. To progress through the implementation stages, click the Select New Status button and choose the status from the dropdown list that best matches your current implementation state. Then users can optionally assign the policy to a DISPulse user with system access (Personnel who haven't been given a DISPulse account will not appear in the Assign Personnel dropdown menu), add implementation notes, progress updates, or relevant details. Note that for each change in implementation status, the implementation notes can be updated; the previous notes will be saved in the timeline entry.

Once you're ready to change the policy implementation status, click the Save Implementation button. Once saved, either refresh your browser or click the update status button in the policy card header.

Evidence & Testing: The Evidence & Testing tab is only applicable to controls. Records of policy review completion are stored automatically in the system.

Governance: The Purpose of the governance tab is to fulfil the CSO's responsibilities for implementing security standards in the organisation and participating in security compliance processes.

From the governance tab, multiple parties can approve changes and policy implementations. Once each stage is approved, users can submit the policy to the CSO for review. CSOs can finish the approval workflow from the CSO dashboard.

Schedule: From the schedule tab, users can manage review frequency and assign personnel. To set or change a policy review schedule, first select the enable review schedule checkbox, then select the desired review frequency from the options: Monthly, Quarterly, Biannual, or Annual. Once you've chosen the frequency and set the next review date, the review cycle will begin on the date you specify here. Then, if desired, assign a user to the policy review (note: you can assign anyone from the personnel register). Finally, click Save Review Schedule to save the review schedule and create compliance events in the compliance calendar.

Timeline: The timeline tab records all implementation updates for a policy created in DISPulse.