HECVAT Imports Mark Questions as “Answered” Due to Non-Answer Fields (Guidance/Sub-Labels)
Requested by Genetec (Enterprise, $56k)
Summary:
When importing HECVAT (and similar security questionnaires), certain questions are automatically marked as “answered” even though no actual response has been provided. This appears to be triggered by secondary fields such as “guidance” or sub-label metadata, rather than true answer content.
Problem Statement:
- Imported questions are incorrectly flagged as complete due to non-response fields
- These fields are not intended to represent a submitted or usable answer
- Creates confusion for users and undermines trust in completion status
- Forces manual validation and slows down high-volume security workflows
Current Behavior:
- Questions with secondary labels (e.g., guidance, sub-sections) are treated as “answered”
- These do not correspond to actual response fields
- Users see partially or entirely blank answers marked as complete
Expected Behavior:
- Only true answer fields should determine completion status
- Non-answer metadata (guidance, descriptions, sub-labels) should be ignored
- Questions should remain “unanswered” unless a valid response exists
Impact:
- High impact on security questionnaire workflows (HECVAT, SIG, CIQ)
- Leads to inaccurate progress tracking and reporting
- Increases manual review burden for already resource-constrained teams
- Reduces confidence in platform accuracy for compliance-related responses
Suggested Solutions:
- Update import logic to distinguish between answer fields and metadata fields
- Introduce configurable mapping for HECVAT structures (e.g., ignore guidance fields)
- Add validation layer to confirm actual answer presence before marking complete
- Optionally allow admins to define what qualifies as a “completed” response
Additional Context:
- This behavior was observed consistently during HECVAT imports
- Root cause appears tied to structure of questionnaire (secondary titles/sub-fields)
- Customer processes high volumes of security assessments and relies on accurate completion indicators
