Governance Management Platforms features

Back to Governance Management Platforms products

Software that supports board and committee management, policy administration, and governance workflows. These platforms maintain governance documents, manage meeting schedules, and track decision implementation.

We ask vendors to mark their product against our feature list. It is not available for all products and in some cases we have derived data from publicly available sources. The list of features follows. Vendors can add a further 10 key features of their own.

Audit & Evidence Management

Support for producing, storing, and retrieving records and audit trails necessary for internal or external audits.

Access-controlled Evidence Sharing: Secure, permission-based access for internal or external auditors.
Audit Engagement History: Log of all past audit events, responses, and outcomes for reference.
Audit Issue Tracking: Track and manage audit findings, recommendations, and remedial actions.
Audit Query Support: Rapid response to audit requests with filtered document and record search.
Audit Trail Logging: Comprehensive logs of all actions, changes, and access events throughout the platform.
Audit-ready Reports: Pre-built report templates for common audit requirements.
Cross-linking to Policies: Link audit evidence and findings directly to governing policy documents.
Data Export Capabilities: Ability to securely export audit logs and supporting documentation.
Evidence Repository: Central, secure storage for audit evidence (documents, communications, files, etc.).
Evidence Version Control: Track changes or additions to audit evidence over time.
Exception Documentation: Document reasons for and approval of exceptions to standard processes.
Link Evidence to Decisions: Direct association of evidence files with meeting items, decisions, policies, or actions.
Point-in-Time Snapshots: Store system state/archive at specific dates for evidence and historical reference.
Retention Management: Automated application of retention policies to audit evidence and logs.
Tamper-evident Logging: Ensure audit logs cannot be altered without detection.

Board & Committee Management

Features facilitating the efficient operation of boards and committees, including scheduling, minutes, and secure collaboration.

Attendance Tracking: System for recording and reporting on attendee participation in meetings.
Automated Reminders & Notifications: Automated emails or alerts for pending tasks, upcoming meetings, or policy reviews.
Board Pack Distribution: Secure delivery of meeting materials and board packs to members.
Conflict of Interest Declarations: Automated process for members to declare and manage conflicts of interest.
Digital Agendas: Support for creating, distributing, and amending meeting agendas electronically.
Document Annotation: Board members can annotate and share notes directly on meeting documents.
Integration with Calendar Systems: Ability to sync with external calendaring solutions (e.g., Outlook, Google Calendar).
Meeting Recording: Audio or video recording of meetings with secure access.
Meeting Scheduling: Ability to coordinate and schedule meetings with automated calendar invitations.
Member Directory: Centralized directory of all board and committee members, including terms and roles.
Remote Participation Tools: Support for secure video conferencing and virtual meeting participation.
Role-Based Access: Customizable access controls for different committee and board member roles.
Secure Minutes Capture: Tool to record, store, and distribute meeting minutes in a secure, permission-controlled environment.
Task Assignment & Follow-up: Assign tasks to board/committee members and automate follow-up reminders.
Voting & Resolutions: Digital tools for facilitating, recording, and storing votes and resolutions.

Compliance & Regulatory Management

Functionalities ensuring adherence to regulations, best practices, and internal governance standards

Audit Trail of Compliance Activities: Detailed auditing of all compliance-related actions and changes.
Automated Compliance Monitoring: Continuous monitoring of compliance with built-in alerts for non-compliance.
Automated Evidence Collection: Automatically gather records necessary for demonstrating compliance.
Compliance Analytics: Analytics to identify compliance trends, gaps, and risks.
Compliance Attestation Tracking: Track and report on user attestation to key policies or regulatory requirements.
Cross-jurisdictional Compliance Support: Manage and track requirements across multiple applicable jurisdictions.
Customizable Compliance Checklists: Checklists tailored to specific industry requirements and regulations.
Policy Exception Management: Workflow for documenting, approving, and tracking policy exceptions.
Regulatory Calendar: System to track filing deadlines and regulatory obligations.
Regulatory Change Notifications: Alerts for relevant changes in laws, standards, or regulations.
Regulatory Reporting: Tools for generating and submitting reports to regulators.
Risk Register Integration: Connect compliance issues to an organizational risk register.
Rule & Policy Mapping: Link regulations and policies to related internal processes and controls.
Third-party Compliance Management: Extend compliance monitoring and reporting to key vendors and service providers.
User Certifications and Training Tracking: Record staff certifications and required compliance training completions.

Decision & Action Tracking

Tools and processes to document, monitor, and evidence the implementation of governance decisions.

Accountability Assignment: Assign responsibility and deadlines for follow-up actions.
Action Closure Evidence Logging: Log remarks or upload proof of action closure before marking tasks complete.
Action Item Status Tracking: Monitor the completion and status of governance-related action items.
Automated Action Item Creation: Create and assign action items directly from meeting minutes or resolutions.
Comment and Discussion Threads: Embedded discussion capability for decision and action items.
Completion Notification: Automated notifications when assigned tasks are completed or overdue.
Decision Register: Central log of all formal decisions made by boards and committees.
Dependency Tracking: Manage dependencies between multiple action items or decisions.
Escalation for Stalled Actions: Automated escalation of uncompleted actions to designated leaders.
Evidence Attachment: Attach evidence items (documents, links, notes) to decision and action records.
Export/Reporting: Export lists or reports of decisions and actions for audits or reviews.
Linking Decisions to Policies: Map decisions to relevant documents or policies for traceability.
Overdue Actions Dashboard: Overview of outstanding or overdue actions by board, committee, or member.
Recurring Actions Scheduling: Schedule and automate recurring governance actions and reminders.
Task Re-assignment: Ability to reassign actions in case of absence or role changes.

Governance Workflow Automation

Automation of key governance processes to increase efficiency, ensure compliance, and reduce manual work.

Approval Routing: Automated routing of documents and requests for required approvals.
Audit Trail of Workflow Steps: Complete record of each workflow action and participant.
Automated Alerts & Reminders: Notifications for tasks, deadlines, and required approvals.
Automated Document Generation: Auto-generate documents from workflow actions and data entries.
Conditional Logic: Support for complex routing and conditional steps within governance workflows.
Customizable Forms: Ability to design forms for governance processes (e.g., requests, declarations).
Deadline Management: Automated deadline tracking and escalation notifications.
Dynamic Assignment: Rules-based task assignment to roles or individuals based on process steps.
Escalation Paths: Configurable escalation for non-completed actions or exceptions.
Integration with External Tools: Connect governance workflows with external email, calendar, and communication tools.
Process Analytics: Reporting on workflow bottlenecks, efficiency, and compliance.
Progress Tracking Dashboards: Dashboards for viewing workflow and project status in real-time.
Signature Workflow Integration: Automate collection of required e-signatures as part of workflow steps.
Workflow Builder: Intuitive tool to design and visualize governance workflows.
Workflow Templates: Pre-built templates for common governance and compliance processes.

Integration & Interoperability

Features supporting seamless integration with external systems, legacy applications, and cloud services.

API Availability: Availability of well-documented APIs for exchanging data with other systems.
Audit Logging of Data Transfers: Audit trail for all data exchanged with external systems.
Calendar Integration: Sync platform events with individual or shared calendars in real time.
Custom Integration Toolkit: Resources for custom integration development (SDKs, sandboxes).
Data Export Frequency: The maximum number of data exports possible per day.
Data Import/Export: Bulk import/export of data to/from external platforms and legacy systems.
Directory Service Integration: Synchronize user accounts and groups with enterprise identity systems.
Email System Integration: Bi-directional communication with corporate email systems.
Integration with Cloud Storage: Connect platform to cloud storage services (e.g., SharePoint, Dropbox, Google Drive).
Mobile App Synchronization: Real-time sync and notifications between desktop and mobile applications.
Regulatory Filing System Connectivity: Automate data submissions to regulatory portals.
Single Sign-On Integration: Seamless login integration with enterprise authentication solutions.
Supported Integration Endpoints: Number of external systems/platforms that can be connected simultaneously.
Webhook Support: Real-time external event notification via webhooks.
Workflow & Automation Tool Integration: Integrate with external workflow automation (e.g., Zapier, Power Automate).

Policy & Document Management

Capabilities supporting the storage, versioning, distribution, and lifecycle management of governance-related documents and policies.

Activity Audit Trails: Record activity, changes, and access events for all documents.
Centralized Document Repository: Single, secure storage location for all governance and policy documents.
Contract & Legal Document Management: Specialized workflow and security for managing contracts and sensitive legal documents.
Document Acknowledgment Tracking: Track which members have read and acknowledged receipt of documents.
Document Encryption: In-transit and at-rest encryption for all stored documents.
Document Expiry & Review Dates: Automated tracking and notification of policy expiration and scheduled reviews.
Document Retention Scheduling: Automated purging and archiving based on retention policies.
Document Version Control: Track changes, maintain prior versions, and manage approvals for documents.
E-signature Integration: Ability for stakeholders to electronically sign documents securely.
External Document Sharing: Secure sharing features for documents with external advisors or regulators.
Multi-format Document Support: Support for popular document formats (PDF, Word, XLS, etc.).
Policy Workflow Automation: Automate drafting, approval, and publishing workflows for governance documents.
Role-Based Document Access: Access controlled via roles and permissions, supporting confidentiality.
Searchable Document Index: Advanced search capabilities across document types and content.
Template Management: Pre-defined templates for common policy and governance documents.

Reporting & Analytics

Reporting tools and dashboards for governance, compliance, and performance monitoring.

Audit and Compliance Reporting: Pre-built templates for regulatory, audit, or compliance reporting.
Automated KPI Monitoring: Continuous monitoring of key performance indicators with alerts for threshold breaches.
Automated Scheduled Reports: Auto-generate and distribute reports on a regular schedule.
Custom Report Builder: Design, save, and schedule custom reports from governance and compliance data.
Dashboards: Configurable, real-time dashboards for monitoring key governance metrics.
Data Visualization: Charts, graphs, and visual aids for performance and compliance trends.
Drill-through Analytics: Navigate from summary dashboards to detailed report data.
Export to Multiple Formats: Download reports in PDF, Excel, CSV, or other useful formats.
Filter and Search Capabilities: Advanced filter and search on report data.
Historical Data Analysis: Compare current and past governance/compliance performance data.
Integration with BI Tools: Connect platform data to external business intelligence tools.
Interactive Data Exploration: Users can interact with report visualizations in the browser.
Maturity & Benchmarking Reports: Compare governance maturity or compliance benchmarks against peers.
Report Access Controls: Restrict access to sensitive reports based on user roles and permissions.
Scheduled Distribution Lists: Auto-email scheduled reports to distribution groups or individuals.

Security & Data Protection

Capabilities ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of sensitive governance information.

Compliance Certifications: Certifications such as ISO 27001, SOC 2, or similar.
Customer Security Portal: A portal for customers to review security operations and documents.
Data Encryption At Rest: Encryption of all stored data in databases and backups.
Data Encryption In Transit: Encryption standards applied to data during transmission.
Data Residency Options: Choice of data storage location to comply with national regulations.
Disaster Recovery & Backups: Automated backup and recovery policies for all data.
Granular Access Permissions: Fine-grained access control for sensitive content.
Incident Response Procedures: Documented and tested plan for managing security incidents.
Penetration Testing: Regular independent security testing and vulnerability scanning.
Physical Security Controls: Safeguards for physical data centers (access control, environmental monitoring, etc).
Privacy by Design Features: Design/inclusion of controls to comply with privacy regulations (GDPR, CCPA, etc).
Real-time Threat Monitoring: Continuous monitoring and alerting for security events.
Secure File Transfer: Methods for securely transferring files to and from the platform.
Secure Mobile Access: Data protection for mobile users and devices.
Time to Restore from Backup: Maximum platform recovery time from backup in case of disruption.

Usability & Support

Features ensuring platform users can efficiently and effectively operate the software, with robust support resources.

Accessible Design (ADA, WCAG): Accessibility and compatibility for users with disabilities.
Customizable Workflows: Users can tailor governance workflows to their organizational needs.
Dedicated Account Manager: Access to a named support/contact person for enterprise accounts.
Email and Ticketing Support: Support available via email or online ticket submission.
In-app Help and Tutorials: Built-in user guides, tooltips, and access to help resources.
Intuitive User Interface: User-optimized design supporting quick learning and efficient task completion.
Live Chat Support: Real-time assistance from support staff.
Multi-lingual Support: Ability to use the platform in multiple languages.
Onboarding & Training Services: Structured programs for training new users and facilitating rollout.
Phone Support Hours: The number of hours per day phone support is available.
Responsive Design: Platform adapts to any device (desktop, tablet, mobile).
Role-based Dashboards: Different dashboards tailored to user roles (trustees, managers, admins, etc).
Self-service Knowledge Base: Users can search and find solutions to common issues.
User Communities or Forums: Access to peer support through online communities.
User Feedback Mechanism: In-platform tools for submitting ideas and improvement suggestions.

User & Access Management

Security and governance features related to user identities, access controls, and role-based administration.

Access Request and Approval Workflow: Automate and document the approval process for user access changes.
Account Lockout Policies: Security measures for failed login attempts and account lockouts.
Bulk User Management: Support for bulk upload or changes to user permissions and accounts.
Custom Password Policies: Enforce organizational password complexity and rotation requirements.
Delegated User Administration: Allow designated personnel to manage users in subgroups or committees.
Group and Committee Memberships: Easily manage group affiliations and role memberships.
Guest/External User Access: Secure, time-limited platform access for external advisors, auditors, or consultants.
Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Support for MFA to enhance security of user accounts.
Role-Based Access Controls: Granular permissions management based on organizational and governance roles.
Session Timeout Configuration: Adjustable limits for user session activity and automatic logoff.
Single Sign-On (SSO) Support: Integration with SSO providers for streamlined, secure login.
User Access Review Reporting: Generate reports for periodic access reviews and audits.
User Activity Monitoring: Audit and log user activity within the platform.
User Directory Synchronization: Integration with enterprise directory systems (e.g., Active Directory, LDAP).
User Provisioning and De-provisioning: Automated onboarding and offboarding of users based on roles.

Features in Governance Management Platforms

for Compliance and Governance