June 2023 Release Notes

• Notifications have arrived!  

• • In-app Notifications are now available in A-SCEND – look for the bell icon in the top-right-hand corner of the page for your notifications.  

• Clients and auditors can now direct message each other from all comments fields within A-SCEND using the @username convention, facilitating faster communication between client and auditor. 
• Additionally, clients can direct message members of their team that have an A-SCEND account. 

• In addition to direct messages, clients will get notified when:  

• A request has been moved to Action Required status. 
• A request has been moved to Accepted status. 
• A new Sample Request has been created or updated. 
• A user has been assigned to a policy. 
• A Policy status change has been made.  
• A user has been assigned to a Readiness Assessment. 
• An Integration error has occurred.
• In an upcoming release, all of the in-app notifications listed above will be available as emails and all users will have the ability to set their notification preferences 
• If you have any feedback on this new feature, please submit it via the Idea Portal. 

A-SCEND navigation just got easier 

• The left navigation panel now has persistent global navigation – users no longer have to navigate back to the home page to select between different Engagements, Readiness Assessments, or other modules, making the user experience faster, easier to navigate, and the features of A-SCEND easier to find.  
• You will also be able to switch between engagements much easier using “Engagement” drop-down menu that appears at the top of the screen. 

New Readiness Assessments 
All A-SCEND Premium subscribers now have access to the following: 

• New “Privacy” Readiness Assessment helps you prepare for privacy requirements from multiple standards: 

• • • GDPR 
    • CCPA 
    • ISO 27701 

• • • SOC Privacy 

• • Also available with auditor assistance for an additional charge. Please contact your A-LIGN account manager for more information. 
    

Compliance Monitoring is now “Compliance Hub” – and has over 30 new tests 

• The Compliance Monitoring feature is now called the Compliance Hub and the following updates have been made: 

• • 28 new tests were added to GCP for a total of 52. 

• • Three new tests were added to Azure for a total of 55.  

• • • The new tests will be automatically added to clients’ existing monitoring groups! 

The AWS AEC Report is now more informative, friendlier, and easier to read 

• Descriptive text describes what each table is collecting.  

• The function of the service for which the data is being collected. 
• Best practice settings for each configuration