Evidence requests

Part ofBuild and run your compliance programme Take part as a member of staff

Answer the requests for evidence your compliance team sends you, for example a quarterly access review or a backup restore report. Counsel checks every file as you add it, so you can fix a problem before the reviewer sees it.

Who does what

Who	What they do
Your compliance team, in Command	Asks for evidence for one or more controls, with instructions and a due date, and reviews what you send. See Evidence in Command.
You, in Counsel	Add the files that show the control is in place, and send them to the requester.

You see only the requests addressed to you, either to you by name or to a department you belong to.

Before you begin

Requests appear only in a Counsel that is linked to your compliance team's Command, either through your Soveryne partner or within your own organisation. In that Counsel the Knowledge page has a Requests tab.

Counsel does not email you when a request arrives. Your compliance team will usually tell you; otherwise check the Requests tab now and then.

Find your requests

Select Knowledge, then the Requests tab. The number next to the tab is how many requests are waiting on you.

The page lists your requests in two groups:

Waiting on you: requests you still have to answer, and requests that were sent back to you. Overdue requests come first, then the one due soonest.

Already sent: requests you have answered, newest first.

The Requests tab with a request from Command waiting on you

Each request shows its title, the controls it is for (or "General request"), its due date and how many files are attached. An Overdue label marks a request past its due date.

A request has one of these statuses:

Status	Meaning
Waiting on you	You have not sent anything yet.
Sent back	The reviewer asked for something more. Their note explains what.
Submitted	You sent it. It is waiting on the reviewer.
Accepted	The reviewer accepted your evidence.

Answer an evidence request

Select the request to open it.

Read What this evidence needs to show. It holds the requester's instructions. If there are none, it says "No specific instructions were given. Send what best shows this is in place." Below it you see which controls the request is for, who asked, and the due date.

Select Add a file and choose one file. Counsel starts checking it straight away and shows "Checking this document…".

Wait for the result of the check. See The check on each file.

Repeat steps 3 and 4 for each further file you want to send.

If a file is not right, select Remove on that file to take it off this answer, then add a better one.

Select Send to the requester.

An open evidence request with its instructions, who asked, the due date and the place to add a file

The request moves to Already sent with the status Submitted and the note "Waiting on their review". The requester gets a notification in Command.

If more than one person was asked for the same evidence, the first answer sent closes the request for everyone.

The check on each file

Counsel reads each file and compares it with what the request asks for and the controls it is for. The result appears next to the file, with a short summary and, where something is missing, a To fix: list.

Result	What it means	Can you send it?
Looks good	The file appears to show what was asked.	Yes
Needs more	The file is relevant, but something is missing, for example a date or a signature. The To fix: list says what.	Yes. You may know something the check does not. Consider adding a file that fills the gap.
Not the right document	The file does not appear to be the evidence that was asked for.	No. Replace or remove it first.
Could not be read	Counsel could not read the file's contents.	Yes, but the reviewer will judge it unaided. Where you can, use a PDF, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, CSV or text file.
Could not be checked	The check was not available.	Yes. The reviewer will check it.

While any file is still being checked, Send to the requester stays unavailable. While any file is marked Not the right document, Counsel shows "Replace or remove the file marked “Not the right document” before sending."

Very long documents may be only partly checked. The check helps you; the final decision is always the reviewer's.

When a request is sent back

If the reviewer needs something more, the request returns to Waiting on you with the status Sent back and their note, "Sent back:" followed by what needs to change.

Open the request and read the note.

Add the files that answer it, as in Answer an evidence request.

Select Send to the requester again.

How your evidence is protected

Evidence files are private within your organisation. No other user can see them.

They are kept apart from your own uploads and are never used in your chats.

You can send evidence only for requests addressed to you, and only to the compliance team that asked for it.

Troubleshooting

Message	What it means	What to do
"Nothing is waiting on you right now."	You have no open requests.	Nothing.
"Could not load your requests."	Counsel could not fetch your requests.	Reload the page. If it keeps failing, contact your administrator.
"That upload did not work: …"	The file was not added. The reason follows the colon.	Check the file and try again. Files larger than 50 MB, programs and scripts are refused.
"Could not send that: …"	Your answer was not sent.	Try again. If it keeps failing, contact your compliance team.
"Replace or remove the file marked “Not the right document” before sending."	One of your files failed the check.	Select Remove on that file, and add the right document.
There is no Requests tab	Your Counsel is not linked to a compliance team's Command, through your Soveryne partner or within your own organisation.	Ask your compliance team or Soveryne partner.

← PreviousPolicies Next →Your uploads