Definition
The baseline is the set of basic controls an organization is required to implement — such as background checks, mandated training, and foundational policies and procedures. They arrive by requirement rather than through a doorway: they are the floor.
The requirements come from outside — state law, contracts, accreditors, insurers, governing bodies — and you must gather them: Jigsaw won’t tell you what your obligations are. Jigsaw’s Baseline walks your team through each area — screening, training, required behaviors — asking: what are you trying to achieve, what can this control do and not do, and what exactly is required of you? Each answer lands on the Candidate Controls board as Proposed and is promoted like any other control.
Why This Matters
It’s all too easy for required basics to live in a filing cabinet; this aims to prevent that. Each becomes a control the team thought through and owns, with dates that keep it monitored and reviewed — from promotion on. You may have no choice about how to do a background check; working through the how yourselves — knowing what it can and can’t do — is still the difference between a control you own and a box you tick.