Overview of Mission Control

Mission Control is an app that presents control information from the Projects app in a simplified and centralized view. Frontline staff in your organization can use Mission Control to view and manage the controls they have access to, outside the Projects app, and without having to navigate through the structure of each project.

All control information is synced between Projects and Mission Control, and is displayed in both apps, in real time.

Before you start

Before you can manage controls, someone on your team needs to define objectives, risks, and controls in projects, and assign you access to the appropriate projects in the Projects app.

To view control tasks information in Mission Control, control performance schedules must be defined in the Projects app.

How it works

Mission Control displays a list of controls you have access to across multiple projects. You can search for a control or use filters to restrict the list to a subset of controls.

Within a specific control, you can view or update the following information:

• attributes the properties of a control
• test plan a description or series of steps that detail how the control is tested
• walkthrough the assessment of whether or not a control is designed effectively
• testing the assessment of whether or not a control is operating effectively
• control tasks the status of control activities previously performed and currently being performed

You can also use Mission Control to update attributes for multiple controls at the same time.

What the icons mean for control design and control operation

The following icons represent the evaluation of a control walkthrough or test:

Icon	Control design (walkthrough)	Control operation (test)
	Designed appropriately	Operating effectively
	Design failure	Exceptions noted
	Not tested	Not tested
		Not applicable

Example

Permissions

Control attributes

Users with the following permissions can update control attributes in Mission Control:

• Contributor Managers, Professional Users, Professional Managers

• Contributor Testers or Contributor Users, but only if they are also the Owner or Executive Owner of the objective, or the Owner of the control

  • The Owner or the Executive Owner of the objective has read and write access to all controls within the objective

  • Being the Owner of a control allows read and write access to that control only

• Oversight Executives and Oversight Reviewers have read-only access to control attributes

Testing attributes

Users with the following permissions can update testing attributes in Mission Control:

• Professional Users, Professional Managers

• Contributor Testers, but only if they are also the Owner or Executive Owner of the objective, or the Owner of the control

  Note

  A Contributor Tester can see all testing rounds within a control if that user is the Assigned User for at least one round of testing within that control.

• Oversight Executives and Oversight Reviewers have read-only access to testing attributes

Show and hide columns in the table

You can choose which columns Mission Control displays so you only have to review data that is relevant to you.

1. Open the Mission Control app.
2. Above the table, click the Arrange columns button. If you have hidden columns, the button says n columns hidden.
3. In the menu, turn columns on and off using the switches next to the column names. You can also use the links at the bottom to hide all or show all columns.

Sort columns in the table

Change the order of columns in Mission Control.

1. Open the Mission Control app.
2. Above the table, click the Arrange columns button. If you have hidden columns, the button says n columns hidden.
3. In the menu, click and drag the column names up or down to reorder them. Columns at the top of the menu appear to the left in the table. Columns at the bottom appear to the right.

Search or filter controls

Search for a control or use filters to restrict the list to a subset of controls.

1. Open the Mission Control app. The Mission Control app opens.
2. Do one of the following:
   • Search for a control enter the Control ID or a keyword or phrase from the Description of the control

     Tip

     If you previously inserted an image in the control description, and specified alternative text for the image, you can search for the image by its alternative text description. For more information about specifying alternative text for images, see Inserting images in rich text fields.

   • Filter the list of controls apply one or more filters to restrict the list to a subset of controls

Update the title and description for one control

Update the title and statement describing a control.

1. From the Mission Control homepage, click the control description. The control page opens.
2. Next to the control ID, update the control title.
3. In the Description field, update the statement about the control.

Update attributes and view the test plan for one control

Update the descriptive properties of a control and view information about how the control will be tested.

1. Open the Mission Control app.
2. From the Mission Control homepage, click the control description. The control page opens.
3. Under Attributes, update any of the following fields.

   Field	Description
   Owner optional	allows you to assign a licensed or non-licensed user as the owner of the control for tracking and reporting purposes Users assigned the Contributor Tester or Contributor User role are typically assigned as an owner of a control. Owners can be assigned based on a regional, business unit, or project-related framework. Once a person is assigned as an owner of a control, they receive an email notification with a link to the control, granting them write access to the assigned control, and read access to objectives and risks.
   Frequency	determines the default testing method and sample size in the test plan For example, the test plan for a project can be setup with a specified frequency (continuous, weekly, monthly, etc), or on an as-need basis. For more information, see Executing procedures and testing controls.
   Type	determines the default testing method and sample size in the test plan For example, the test plan may include Manual Controls, Application/System Controls, IT General Controls, or It Dependent Manual Controls.  For more information, see Executing procedures and testing controls.
   Prevent or Detect?	specifies whether the control is intended to prevent or detect risk, or if it is not applicable
   Method optional	specifies how the control will be tested or implemented
   Status optional	specifies the current state of the control
   Custom attributes optional	Under Control custom attributes, update any attributes associated with the control. Project Admins can define custom attributes for controls under Manage project types in the Projects app.

4. Optional. To view the test plan, click the relevant Testing tab.

   Result The test plan is displayed below the Attributes section.

Perform a walkthrough for one control

Evaluate the design of a control.

1. Open the Mission Control app.
2. From the Mission Control homepage, click the control description. The control page opens.
3. From the Walkthrough tab, update any of the following fields.
   

   Field	Description
   Walkthrough Results optional	a description about the walkthrough results Note Rich text fields cannot exceed 524,288 characters. Tip To enable spell check on rich text fields, do one of the following: Chrome, Firefox, or Safari CTRL + right-click within the field on Windows or Command + right-click on Mac Internet Explorer or Microsoft Edge open your browser settings and turn on spell check / highlighting of misspelled words
   Is the control designed appropriately? optional	Designed Appropriately specifies that the control designed has passed Design Failure specifies that the control design has failed Tip You can automatically populate the value of this field based on a Results metric. For more information, see Automating control assessments.
   Planned Milestone Date optional	specifies the planned date of a milestone associated with the walkthrough Project Admins can enable and customize this field under Manage project types.
   Actual Milestone Date optional	specifies the actual date of a milestone associated with the walkthrough Project Admins can enable and customize this field under Manage project types.
   Walkthrough custom attributes optional	specifies the attributes associated with the walkthrough Project Admins can define custom attributes for walkthroughs under manage project types.

View control performance

You can view the status of control activities that were previously performed, or are currently being performed.

1. Define control performance schedules in the Projects app.
2. Open the Mission Control app.
3. In the main Mission Control table's Control performance column, or from the Walkthrough tab in a control:
   • View the status of control tasks hover your mouse over the colored sections in the bar chart. Control tasks are occurrences of control activities previously performed and currently being performed. Status information is summarized in the bar chart as follows:

     Status	Description
     Not Started	control performer received the questionnaire but did not provide a response
     In Progress	control performer received the questionnaire, saved their response, but did not submit the response
     Complete	control performer received the questionnaire and submitted their response

4. From the Walkthrough tab in a control, view the following information:
   • View the number of control tasks that are overdue turn on Show Overdue Only. Overdue control tasks are the number of times control activities have not been performed on schedule. An overdue control task displays when a control performer receives a subsequent questionnaire and has not submitted a response to a previously sent questionnaire.
   • Create or edit control performance schedules click Schedule and update any details. For more information, see Scheduling control performance.

Perform a test

Evaluate the operating effectiveness of a control.

1. Open the Mission Control app.
2. From the Mission Control homepage, click the control description. The control page opens.
3. From the relevant Testing tab, update any of the following fields.
   

   Field	Description
   Are you testing this Control as part of this testing round (testingRound)?	Yes specifies that the testing results are applicable to the testing round No specifies that the testing results are not applicable to the testing round
   User assigned optional	specifies the team member responsible for testing the control Note Only Professional Managers and Professional Users can assign control tests, and only Professional Managers and Professional Users can be selected from this field.
   What is the testingRound sample size?	specifies a numerical value that defines the total sample size for the testing round For more information, see Executing procedures and testing controls.
   Testing Results optional	specifies details about the test results Note Rich text fields cannot exceed 524,288 characters. Tip To enable spell check on rich text fields, do one of the following: Chrome, Firefox, or Safari CTRL + right-click within the field on Windows or Command + right-click on Mac Internet Explorer or Microsoft Edge open your browser settings and turn on spell check / highlighting of misspelled words
   Did this Control operate effectively? optional	Operating Effectively specifies that the control test has passed Exception(s) Noted specifies that the control test has failed Tip You can automatically populate the value of this field based on a Results metric. For more information, see Automating control assessments.
   Planned Milestone Date optional	specifies the planned date of a milestone associated with the test Project Admins can enable and customize this field under Manage project types.
   Actual Milestone Date optional	specifies the actual date of a milestone associated with the test Project Admins can enable and customize this field under Manage project types.
   Testing custom attributes optional	specifies the attributes associated with the test Project Admins can define custom attributes for tests under Manage project types.

Update attributes for multiple controls at the same time

You can update attributes for up to 50 controls at once, as long as you have read and write access to those controls, and if those controls are from projects with the same type. If you need to update more than 50 controls, repeat the bulk update process as necessary. Changes you make this way appear in the activity log for those controls.

The following control attributes can be updated this way:

• Frequency
• Type
• Prevent or Detect?
• Method
• Status
• Custom attributes
• Owner

The following testing attributes can be updated this way for each testing round:

• Are you testing this control as part of this testing round?

  • You must select Yes to enter values for any other attributes for that testing round.

    Caution

    If you select No for a control that has an automated control assessment configured, the assessment driver becomes disabled. Even if you later select Yes, you must also open the control and re-enable the assessment driver to use it again.

• Assigned user
  • You can assign Professional Users, Professional Managers, and Contributor Testers as the assigned user. Each user you can choose from is associated with all of the projects that contain the controls you selected.
• Sample size

• Did this Control operate effectively?

  Note

  You can't change this value for a control that has an automated control assessment configured. You must disable the control assessment to change this value in Mission Control.

Attributes you cannot update in bulk:

• Control ID
• Control description
• Title
• Control design
• Control operation
• Project type

Follow the steps below to update multiple controls.

1. Open the Mission Control app.
2. Search for or filter controls, if necessary.
3. Select the checkbox next to each control you want to update.

4. Click the Update button above the table, then choose either Update control attributes or Update testing attributes.

   Note

   You can only select Update testing attributes for controls that have testing rounds, or if the projects they're in are the Internal Control project type.

5. If you selected controls from different project types, Mission Control asks you to choose which set of controls to update. Choose one, then click Continue updating.
6. In the Update controls side panel, change the attributes you want to change.
   
   Note

   Attributes with pending changes are indicated by a blue dot. Setting an attribute to blank is the same as deleting the value. If you want to revert pending changes to an attribute, use the reset icon or link next to that attribute.

7. Click Update n controls. The side panel closes, and Mission Control displays a confirmation message.

Troubleshooting

If you tried to perform a bulk update and failed, it may be for one of the following reasons:

• The objective is checked out and can't be edited until it's checked back in again.

• You tried to update an assessment that's automated by an assessment driver.

• The control test has already been signed off on, making it read-only.

• The control, objective, or project was deleted while you attempted to perform your update.

• The project was archived while you attempted to perform your update.

• Another user also tried to update the same control at the same time, causing a conflict with your update.

• The field you were attempting to update was disabled for that project type while you attempted to perform your update.