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Questionnaire Automation

Damien Cantelo avatar
Written by Damien Cantelo
Updated over 3 weeks ago

The Questionnaire Automation feature saves time and effort by automating responses to security questionnaires using the magic of AI. The process involves 4 main steps:

  1. Upload completed questionnaires to the knowledge base

  2. Upload a new blank questionnaire to be completed

  3. Answer the questions (where the magic happens)

  4. Export the file

Upload Completed Questionnaires

You need to have a handful of completed questionnaires that you have already responded to and are happy with the answers that you provided. 2 or 3 questionnaires should be sufficient to get started, depending on how many questions are in each.

NOTE: We currently support Excel files only. More file formats to come soon.

  1. Click Questionnaire AI from the left menu

  2. Click the KNOWLEDGE BASE tab at the top of the page

  3. Click the IMPORT TRAINING QUESTIONNAIRES button

  4. You can select Upload File and attach a file or No File if you're responding via a web portal

  5. Edit the Name if you like, or leave as is

  6. Add some Tags if you want this questionnaire to be used for a specific product, service or region. Tags are managed under Settings > Objects

  7. Click SAVE

  8. If you didn't add one, you will be asked if you want to add a Tag. This is optional

  9. A preview of the spreadsheet will be displayed with a set of Fields to map to across the top of the page

  10. You can map the fields by either:

    1. Clicking on each Field across the top and then choosing the corresponding column from the drop-down menu, OR

    2. Clicking on a cell in the spreadsheet preview and selecting the corresponding field from the drop-down menu

  11. You should map all available fields so the fields and columns are highlighted in matching colours. You can ignore any fields or columns that don't exist or aren't relevant

  12. If there are multiple tabs in the spreadsheet, then click on each tab and repeat the above process for each tab that has questions and answers on it. You can click COPY FROM PREVIOUS to repeat the mapping from the last tab. You can also ignore a tab if it doesn't contain questions and answers.

  13. Once all the fields have been mapped correctly, click SAVE ALL

  14. The mapped spreadsheet should now be displayed in the KNOWLEDGE BASE

  15. You will see a Search bar at the top of the Knowledge Base page to find specific questions and answers, as well as a series of filters such as Status, Tags and Control Types to narrow down the results.

Repeat this upload process until you have enough questions added to the Knowledge base to be able to answer as many new questions as possible. We normally recommend at least 3 to 5 questionnaires totalling 500 or more questions if you want to achieve good coverage.

Upload a Blank Questionnaire

Now that you have some content in your knowledge base, you can upload a blank questionnaire ready to complete. The process is similar to uploading a completed questionnaire, but it's done in a different section of the app.

NOTE: We currently support Excel files only. More file formats to come soon.

  1. Click Questionnaire AI from the left menu

  2. Click the Questionnaires tab at the top of the page

  3. Click the Add Questionnaire button

  4. You can select Upload File and attach a file or No File if you're responding via a web portal

  5. Edit the Name if you like, or leave as is

  6. Add some Tags if you want this questionnaire to be answered for a specific product, service or region. Tags are managed under Settings > Objects

  7. Click SAVE

  8. If you didn't add one, you will be asked if you want to add a Tag. This is optional

  9. A preview of the spreadsheet will be displayed with a set of Fields to map to across the top of the page

  10. You can map the fields by either:

    1. Clicking on each Field across the top and then choosing the corresponding column from the drop-down menu, OR

    2. Clicking on a cell in the spreadsheet preview and selecting the corresponding field from the drop-down menu

  11. You should map all available fields so the fields and columns are highlighted in matching colours. You can ignore any fields or columns that don't exist or aren't relevant

  12. If there are multiple tabs in the spreadsheet, then click on each tab and repeat the above process for each tab that has questions on it. You can click COPY FROM PREVIOUS to repeat the mapping from the last tab. You can also ignore a tab if it doesn't contain questions.

  13. Once all the fields have been mapped correctly, click SAVE ALL

  14. The mapped questionnaire should now be displayed

Answer the Questions

  1. Once the questionnaire is imported, it will automatically begin answering all the questions. The doughnut chart at the top of the page will show you the progress, which should take 30 - 60 seconds, depending on the number of questions

  2. Once you have some answers, you can review the answers (both short answer and long answer) provided next to the questions

  3. If you're unsure about an answer or would like to know where the information came from, you can click the Notes button in the Status column on the right to show the information, including the citations that were used to produce the answer

  4. You can edit the answers to each question and save them as you go. You need to have the required permission level to be able to edit answers.

NOTE: Please make sure you review all answers produced by the AI to ensure accuracy.

Adding Evidence

If attachments are requested in the question, then the AI will attempt to provide those attachments from your policies section of the app. You can also manually add attachments by clicking Notes and then Add Optional Evidence.

Adding to the Knowledge Base (admin only)

If the AI can't find an answer in the Knowledge Base to a particular question, it will mark it as Flagged. You can provide manual answers to those questions and then also add those new answers to the Knowledge Base if desired, to answer future similar questions.

  1. You can click on the Flagged chip in the Status Filters section at the top of the page or the red Flagged section of the doughnut chart to display only the Flagged questions

  2. You can provide an answer inline and click Save, or click anywhere else on a Flagged question row in the list to bring up the detailed dialogue to do the same

  3. Click on the Flagged Status chip and change the value to Knowledge Base.

Export the File

  1. Once you're happy with all the responses, you can export the file back to the original Excel format by clicking Export Excel in the top-right of the screen

  2. The Excel file will be downloaded to your downloads folder in its original format, ready for final review before sending it back to the client.

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