What Is a Crosswalk?

This is where a crosswalk becomes essential.

A crosswalk is a structured way to connect and align multiple frameworks, standards, or requirements. Rather than treating each regulation or framework as a separate obligation, a crosswalk allows organizations to understand how requirements relate, where controls overlap, and where gaps may exist. The result is a more efficient, more resilient approach to governance and compliance.

TL;DR

• Crosswalks connect frameworks by mapping overlapping requirements so organizations can reuse controls, reduce duplication, and manage compliance as one integrated system instead of isolated checklists.
• They deliver real business value by improving visibility into coverage and gaps, strengthening audit readiness, and helping teams allocate risk and compliance resources more effectively.
• SmartSuite operationalizes crosswalks by embedding them into structured data, workflows, and automation, providing real-time compliance visibility, traceability, and scalable governance as requirements evolve.

The Role of a Crosswalk

At its core, a crosswalk maps one set of requirements to another. It identifies equivalencies, dependencies, and distinctions between standards so teams can reuse controls, evidence, and workflows wherever possible.

For example, an organization subject to both GDPR and HIPAA may find that many data protection requirements address similar objectives. A crosswalk makes those relationships explicit, enabling teams to manage compliance holistically rather than framework by framework.

Crosswalks shift compliance from a fragmented, checklist-driven exercise into a connected system of controls and outcomes.

Why Crosswalks Matter to the Business

Crosswalks deliver value well beyond documentation.

By aligning requirements across frameworks, organizations can:

• Reduce duplicated work and redundant controls.
• Improve visibility into compliance coverage and gaps.
• Strengthen audit readiness with clearer traceability.
• Allocate resources more effectively across risk and compliance teams.

Most importantly, crosswalks enable consistency. When controls are mapped and shared across frameworks, organizations gain confidence that changes in one area do not unintentionally create exposure elsewhere.

Crosswalks in Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC)

In modern GRC programs, crosswalks serve as the connective tissue between regulations, internal policies, risks, and operational controls. They allow organizations to manage compliance as an integrated system rather than a collection of disconnected obligations.

Within SmartSuite, crosswalks can be modeled directly as structured data, linking requirements, controls, risks, and evidence across multiple frameworks. This enables organizations to see, in real time, how a single control supports multiple regulatory requirements and how changes to that control affect overall compliance posture.

Example: A global enterprise operating under ISO 27001, PCI DSS, and regional privacy laws can use SmartSuite to maintain one unified control framework, with crosswalks dynamically mapping those controls to each standard. This reduces duplication while improving audit readiness and executive visibility.

Crosswalks in IT Service Management (ITSM)

IT organizations often operate under multiple frameworks such as ITIL, COBIT, and ISO/IEC 20000. Crosswalks help reconcile these perspectives so IT service delivery remains aligned with both operational goals and governance expectations.

Using SmartSuite, IT teams can map ITIL practices to COBIT governance objectives and ISO service management requirements within a single, connected workspace. Crosswalks become actionable rather than static, informing workflows, service reviews, and risk assessments as conditions change.

Example: An IT department can use SmartSuite to ensure service management processes support enterprise governance goals, while maintaining clear traceability for audits and executive reporting.

Crosswalks and Workflow Automation in SmartSuite

Crosswalks deliver the greatest value when they are embedded directly into daily work. SmartSuite enables organizations to operationalize crosswalks by integrating them into workflows, automations, and reporting.

When a control is updated, tested, or fails, SmartSuite can automatically reflect the impact across all linked frameworks. This ensures that compliance status remains accurate without manual reconciliation and that teams are alerted to issues before they escalate.

Example: A healthcare organization managing patient data workflows can use SmartSuite to automatically validate that changes to data handling processes remain compliant with both HIPAA and regional health data protection regulations, using crosswalks as the underlying logic.

Building and Maintaining Crosswalks at Scale

Effective crosswalks require more than initial setup. They must evolve as regulations change, frameworks are updated, and business processes shift.

SmartSuite supports this ongoing lifecycle by:

• Storing crosswalks as structured, auditable records.
• Linking crosswalks directly to controls, risks, and evidence.
• Providing real-time visibility into compliance coverage and gaps.
• Enabling continuous updates without breaking downstream workflows.

This transforms crosswalks from static reference documents into living components of an enterprise compliance system.

How SmartSuite Operationalizes Crosswalks Across Frameworks, Controls, and Workflows

SmartSuite transforms crosswalks from static reference documents into active, continuously managed components of an organization’s governance and compliance system. By modeling crosswalks as structured, connected data, SmartSuite enables teams to align frameworks, reuse controls, and maintain real-time visibility into compliance coverage as requirements, risks, and operations evolve.

Centralized Crosswalk Management as Structured Data

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SmartSuite allows organizations to create and maintain crosswalks directly within the platform by linking regulatory requirements, internal policies, controls, risks, and evidence. Rather than maintaining spreadsheets or PDFs, crosswalks live as auditable records that reflect real-time relationships across frameworks and standards.

One Control, Many Requirements

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SmartSuite enables teams to map a single control to multiple regulations or frameworks, making overlap explicit and actionable. This reduces duplication, simplifies audits, and ensures that updates to a control automatically cascade across all linked requirements, without manual reconciliation.

Real-Time Visibility Into Coverage and Gaps

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Dashboards in SmartSuite provide immediate insight into how requirements are covered across frameworks. Teams can quickly see where controls are shared, where gaps exist, and where changes may introduce risk, supporting proactive governance rather than reactive audit preparation.

Embedded Crosswalks Within Operational Workflows

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Crosswalks in SmartSuite are directly connected to testing, incident management, remediation, and change workflows. When a control is updated, tested, or fails, the impact is reflected across every mapped framework, ensuring compliance status remains accurate as work happens.

Audit-Ready Traceability and Evidence Reuse

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By linking evidence, test results, and remediation actions directly to crosswalked controls, SmartSuite creates end-to-end traceability. Auditors can clearly see how a requirement is satisfied, which controls apply, and what evidence supports compliance, without duplicating documentation for each framework.

Scalable Governance as Requirements Change

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As regulations evolve and new frameworks are introduced, SmartSuite allows teams to update crosswalks without breaking downstream processes. Versioning, ownership tracking, and review cycles ensure crosswalks remain current while preserving historical context for audits and reporting.

Conclusion

Crosswalks are foundational to modern GRC and IT operations. They simplify complexity, strengthen control alignment, and enable organizations to manage compliance as an integrated system.

SmartSuite elevates crosswalks beyond documentation, embedding them into a secure, enterprise-ready platform for connected work. The result is greater visibility, stronger governance, and the confidence to scale compliance efforts without sacrificing speed or flexibility.

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