> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.msportal.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Compliance Settings
> Build your compliance check library, organize it with folders and groups, and schedule runs
Compliance Settings is where you curate the catalog of checks your team uses when assessing clients. It has three tabs: **Checks** for the check library, **Groups** for bundling related checks, and **Runs** for the templates that schedule those bundles against your companies.
## Accessing Compliance Settings
1. Click **Settings** in the sidebar
2. Select **Compliance**
3. Use the tabs at the top of the page to switch between **Checks**, **Groups**, and **Runs**
Every tab in Compliance Settings uses a split-pane layout: the list on the left, the detail on the right. You can collapse the left sidebar with the panel-close button at the top of the list to make more room for the detail view.
## Checks Tab
The Checks tab manages every compliance question your tenant can ask. Checks are organized in folders, and each check can be wired up to auto-populate notes when an assessor picks a particular answer.
### Layout
* **Left sidebar** - Folder tree, an **Uncategorized** bucket at the bottom, and a search box. Click the panel icon at the top to collapse the sidebar.
* **Right pane** - Details for the selected check: title, description, guidance, criticality, priority, frequency, status list, compliance type, group assignments, and per-status note template links.
### Folders
Folders are a settings-only organizational tool. They do not change how checks behave during a run, they just make a large check library easier to browse.
Click the **folder-plus** icon at the top of the sidebar to create a root folder, or open the menu on any folder row and choose **New subfolder** to nest inside it.
Give the folder a descriptive name like "Microsoft 365" or "CIS Controls v8" and click **Create**.
Create a new check inside the folder with the **New check here** menu item, or move existing checks in using drag and drop.
Deleting a folder removes its subfolders, but any checks in it move to **Uncategorized**. No check data is lost.
### Moving checks with drag and drop
Click any check row to open it on the right. Hold **Cmd** (macOS) or **Ctrl** (Windows) and click additional rows to add them to a multi-select. Hold **Shift** and click to range-select between two rows. Selected rows get a teal ring and the sidebar shows "N selected".
Click and drag any selected row onto a folder. The target folder highlights in teal while you hover. Drop to move every selected check into that folder at once.
To take a check out of its current folder without picking a new one, drag it onto the **Uncategorized** row at the bottom of the sidebar.
If you drag a check that isn't in the current multi-select, only that one check is moved. The multi-select set is preserved so you can keep selecting and moving in batches.
### Search
Type in the sidebar search box to filter. Folders that contain a matching check auto-expand in place, and clearing the search restores your previous expanded/collapsed state.
### Editing a check
Click any check to open it in the detail pane. The form covers everything about the check:
| Section | Fields |
| ---------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Identity** | Title, description, how to check, why it matters |
| **Remediation** | Remediation steps, remediation impact, references, default value |
| **Assessment** | Criticality (1-5), priority, frequency (Daily through Annually) |
| **Classification** | Status list, compliance type |
| **Note templates by status** | Per-answer template links (see below) |
| **Group assignments** | Which groups this check belongs to |
Click **Save** to persist changes. The **Improve with AI** button in the header uses AI to suggest a better description, how-to-check, remediation, and references based on the title.
### Linking note templates to statuses
Each check uses a **status list** that defines its answer choices (for example, **Pass / Fail / Needs review**). You can link a different note template to each answer, and that template's content will be auto-applied to the assessor's public notes when they pick that answer.
In the check detail pane, pick a **Status list** from the dropdown. This reveals the **Note templates by status** section.
Every status option in the list gets a template picker. Choose a note template for any status where you want auto-population. Leave others as **No template**.
In the check dialog during a run, when the assessor picks a status that has a linked template, that template's content is appended to their **Public notes**. If the notes already have content, the template goes underneath it with a blank line in between.
Only templates categorized as **Compliance Check Note** appear in the picker. Create those under **Settings > Templated Notes** first. Auto-apply runs once per (status, template) pair in a single dialog session, so toggling between statuses does not duplicate the template text.
### Creating checks
Click the **+** icon on the checks tab header (or **New check here** on a folder's menu) to open the new-check form. New checks default to the currently selected folder, or Uncategorized if none is selected. The **Bulk generate** option is also available from the page header if you want AI to draft multiple checks at once.
### Deleting checks
Open the three-dot menu on any check row in the sidebar and choose **Delete**. Delete requires the **manage\_compliance** permission. Deletion is permanent — the check is removed from every group it was in.
## Groups Tab
Groups bundle related checks together so you can assign a whole category (for example, "Microsoft 365 security baseline") to a run with one action. A check can belong to any number of groups.
### Layout
* **Left sidebar** - List of every group. Search by name or description, filter by compliance type, collapse the sidebar with the panel icon.
* **Right pane** - Group metadata header and two transfer columns: **Available checks** (left) and **Members** (right).
### Creating a group
Click the **+** icon at the top of the groups sidebar.
Enter a **Name**, an optional **Description**, and pick a **Compliance type**. The compliance type is important: if you pick one, only checks that match that type can be added to the group. Leave it as **None** to allow any check.
Click **Create**. The new group appears at the top of the sidebar and is selected in the detail pane.
### Adding and removing checks
The right pane shows two columns — **Available checks** on the left and **Members** on the right. Moving a check between them is always drag and drop.
Each column has its own search box. Click any check to select it. Hold **Cmd/Ctrl** to multi-select, or **Shift** to range-select.
Drag from **Available checks** onto **Members** to add them to the group. Drag from **Members** onto **Available checks** to remove them. The target column gets a colored glow as you hover and the number badge at the top updates when you drop.
Dropping a check back onto the same column is a no-op, so you don't have to be precise — the system only counts the items that actually cross over.
### Compliance-type filtering
If the group has a compliance type set, only checks with a matching type appear in **Available checks**. This prevents mismatched checks from being added. If you later clear the compliance type (by editing the group), every check becomes available.
### Editing or deleting a group
Use the three-dot menu on a sidebar row, or the **Edit** and **Delete** buttons in the detail pane header. Deleting a group does not delete its checks — it only removes the group itself.
## Runs Tab
Run templates bundle groups and individual checks into reusable assessment packages. When you run a template against a company, every check in every member group (plus every individually-added check) gets assigned as a compliance run.
### Layout
* **Left sidebar** - List of every template. Each row shows the group count and individual-check count at a glance. Search, filter by active/inactive, collapse the sidebar.
* **Right pane** - Template metadata header with an **Active** toggle, and two tabs: **Groups** and **Individual checks**. Each tab is its own two-column transfer.
### Creating a template
Click the **+** icon at the top of the templates sidebar.
Enter a **Name** (for example, "Quarterly security review"), an optional **Description**, and the **Active** toggle. Inactive templates are hidden from quick-assign dropdowns but still visible here.
Click **Create**. The new template opens on the right with empty Groups and Individual Checks tabs.
### Adding groups to a template
On the detail pane, click the **Groups** tab. It shows **Available groups** on the left and **Groups in this template** on the right.
Drag one or more groups from Available onto Groups in this template. Every check inside those groups will run whenever this template is used.
Drag a group from the members column back to Available to remove it. Cmd/Ctrl-click and Shift-click work the same way as in Checks and Groups.
### Adding individual checks
Switch to the **Individual checks** tab for one-off checks that aren't part of a group. These run in addition to any group membership. The same drag-and-drop transfer UI applies.
Groups and individual checks are independent. You can use either, both, or neither. Many teams use groups for the bulk of a template and drop in a few individual checks for unusual one-off requirements.
### Activating, editing, and deleting
* **Active toggle** - Each template has an **Active** switch in the header. Inactive templates are hidden from run-assignment UIs throughout the app but preserved in settings.
* **Edit** - Opens the name/description/active dialog.
* **Delete** - Removes the template. Runs already created from the template are not affected — they keep their original check assignments.
Deleting a run template does not stop or modify in-flight runs. It only prevents new runs from being created from that template.
## Permissions
| Action | Required permission |
| -------------------------------------- | ---------------------- |
| View checks / groups / templates | **read\_compliance** |
| Create, edit, move, add/remove members | **write\_compliance** |
| Delete checks, groups, or templates | **manage\_compliance** |
## Keyboard and mouse reference
| Action | How |
| --------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Open a check/group/template | Single click the row |
| Multi-select | **Cmd/Ctrl + Click** additional rows |
| Range-select | **Shift + Click** a second row |
| Clear selection | Click **Clear** in the sidebar, or click a row without a modifier |
| Drag and drop | Hold and drag any selected row; drop targets glow teal |
| Collapse the sidebar | Click the panel-close icon at the top of any list |
## Best practices
* **Start with folders** - Organize your check library by framework (CIS, NIST, SOC 2) or by domain (Microsoft 365, networking, physical security) before you have a lot of checks.
* **Use note templates for repetitive findings** - If most "Fail" answers on a given check need the same remediation write-up, link a template to that status once instead of typing it every assessment.
* **Keep groups compliance-type-aware** - Set a compliance type on groups whose checks all target the same scope (device, location, company). This prevents accidentally adding mismatched checks.
* **Build templates around groups, not individual checks** - Groups are easier to maintain than long flat lists of checks in a template.
* **Disable instead of delete** - Use the **Active** toggle on run templates rather than deleting them. Keeps the history without cluttering pickers.
## Related resources
* [Compliance module](/user-guides/compliance/index) - Running checks and reviewing results
* [Templated Notes](/user-guides/settings/templates) - Create the note templates that auto-populate on status change
* [Playbooks](/user-guides/settings/playbooks) - CIS and other pre-built benchmark content
* [Adding CIS Benchmarks](/user-guides/compliance/adding-cis-benchmarks) - Seed your library from a standard framework