Obligations Overview
Obligations are created by compliance managers interpreting how the requirements of a framework apply to their organization — normally phased in business-friendly language that aligns with your organization's terminology.
In this way, obligations are a product of a specific framework and can only be connected to a single framework in Essential Compliance. Frameworks can have many obligations (1:n relationship).
An obligation can have multiple sub-obligations and a sub-obligation can only have one parent (1:n relationship). Multiple levels of sub-obligations can be created.
Example: Under the Canadian AML statute (PCMLTFA), a financial institution might identify an obligation called "Client identification and record-keeping," outlining the information they need to track for every customer account.
Obligations Console
The Obligations Console is the main screen for viewing and managing all your obligations. It features:
Dashboard tiles at the top showing summary percentages (compliant %, partially compliant %, etc.) that update based on active filters
A filterable table grouped by framework, with expandable/collapsible rows showing sub-obligations
Filters for: Theme, Owner, Framework, Portfolio, Record Status, and Compliance Status
Console Actions
Action | Who Can Do It |
Create Obligation or Sub-Obligation | Admin and Standard users |
Edit/Delete/Merge Frameworks | Admin users only |
Edit, Delete, Move Obligation | Admin and Standard users (subject to permission settings for standard users deleting resources) |
Obligation Details Screen
Click on any obligation to open its details screen. Key sections include:
Summary Section
Name, Owner, Description — Standard fields
Record Status — Draft, Active, Inactive, or Archived (this is separate from Compliance Status)
Version — Optional text field (e.g., "1.2 Canada")
Sub-Obligation Badge — If this obligation is a child of another, a badge appears linking to the parent
Authoritative Citation — Side-by-side view with Official Citation, Authoritative Text, Guidance, and Source Link fields on the left and your Interpretation on the right
Adoption From / Adoption Until — Optional date fields for tracking when the obligation applies
Compliance Status Box
Displays the overall compliance status of the obligation, calculated automatically based on its attached key resources (AKRs): sub-obligations, policies, and must-have controls. Also shows:
% of compliant active policies
% of compliant active must-have controls
% of compliant active sub-obligations
Users can manually override the auto-calculated status using the "set value" link, and reset it back to the automatic calculation at any time.
Configurable Sub-Sections
Admin users can configure which sub-sections appear on the details screen. Available sub-sections include:
Sub-Obligations, Policies, Controls, Risks, Indicators, Objectives, Incidents, Action Plans, Notes
Associations
Shows linkages between the obligation and its related frameworks and themes. Click Manage Associations to create or break these linkages.
Other Sections
Materiality Scoring — Score obligations using materiality factors and scoring systems configured by admin users and assigned through portfolios. Materiality scoring can be used to prioritize obligations and/or to document why some obligations are not material to the organizations (and will not be actively managed).
Risk Heat Map — Plots residual risk scores for risks attached to the obligation (appears only when the Risks sub-section is enabled).
Change Log — Tracks all changes to the obligation.
Sub-Obligations
Obligations support parent-child hierarchies in a 1:n relationship. This means that an obligation can have many sub-obligations, but a sub-obligation can only have one parent. For example, a broad obligation can be broken into more granular sub-obligations, similar to how objectives work. Multiple levels of sub-obligations can be created.
Sub-obligations:
Inherit their parent's framework
Can be in different portfolios from their parent
Appear indented in the console tree view