Patent ID: 8818837

Claim:
A computer enabled method for enabling a user to measure compliance of an organization with selected operational requirements, comprising: executing on a computer instructions which cause the computer to generate a relational database and engine system comprising: an authoritative source library accessible for selection by users, said source library comprising compliance controls applicable to subject elements of the organization, the authoritative source library including compliance controls associated with a plurality of authoritative sources, each of the compliance controls being associated with a specific authoritative source; a limited set of discrete compliance objectives accessible for selection by users, each of the discrete compliance objectives being a compliance category under which compliance controls are logically grouped according to their objectives, each of the compliance controls being associated by associations within the database with at least one of the discrete compliance objectives; and a master pool of questions accessible for selection by users, each said question being associated by associations within the database with at least one of the compliance controls in the authoritative source library and with at least one of the discrete compliance objectives; selecting by the user of criteria for creating a compliance survey, said criteria including at least one discrete compliance objective; and using said relational database according to the selected criteria and said associations between the compliance controls and the discrete compliance objectives and between the questions and the discrete compliance objectives, assembling a subset of the questions in the master pool as the compliance survey, wherein the steps of selecting and using are performed using a computer.