We’ve been working hard behind the scenes, and we’re excited to unwrap the Chocolate Release—our most flavorful and feature-rich update yet. From smoother workflows to smarter tools, this release is all about giving you more control, more clarity, and more confidence in your compliance journey.
Here's a quick look at what’s changed and why it matters:
Assessment Prep Center & Compliance Review
Getting ready for an assessment takes more than just checking off controls—it’s about timing, accuracy, and team alignment. The newly expanded Assessment Prep Center brings all of that together in one place.
At its core, the Assessment Prep Center is your central command hub for coordinating internal reviews, preparing and planning for an assessment, and aligning key milestones with your CMMC journey.
Page-Level Compliance Review: Assign Accountability Where It Belongs
Every major section of FutureFeed—like People, Tools, Budget, and more—now includes a Compliance Review dropdown in the upper right corner. This feature allows you to:
- Assign a responsible person to review and approve the information logged on that page
- Track completion status across pages using the Assessment Prep Center
- Identify bottlenecks where reviews are still unassigned or incomplete
This addition is about validating that the information entered across your environment is accurate, complete, and approved by the right people before your assessment begins.
Critical Dates: Timeline Visibility That Aligns With the CMMC Process
Also included in the Assessment Prep Center is the Critical Dates page—designed to mirror the lifecycle of a CMMC assessment. Each milestone lets you:
- Set target goal dates and track actual completion dates
- Take a snapshot of your SSP at key stages, like pre-assessment, C3PAO engagement, or post-remediation
- Build a clear record of your compliance journey from readiness to certification
It’s more than a checklist—it’s a structured, timestamped narrative that supports audit defensibility and ongoing cyber hygiene.
Why It’s Better:
- Provides full transparency into the status of each critical compliance page
- Brings milestone tracking, ownership, and documentation review into one place
- Reinforces internal accountability and improves assessor confidence
- Builds a clean timeline of your progress with SSP snapshots at each phase
Pro tip: Use the Prep Center as your assessment playbook—assign a reviewer to each page early, and use the Critical Dates tab to anchor your timeline to real milestones.
Simplified Navigation and Enhanced Workflow
Getting around FutureFeed just got a major usability boost. Whether you're a new user finding your way or a seasoned implementor jumping between tasks, our navigation and workflow updates make it faster and more intuitive to get things done.
- Subway Navigation Updates – We’ve refined the “Subway Line” progress bar at the top of the app to reflect real-time completion percentages for each onboarding area—People, Tools, Documents, Assessments, and more. It's now easier to understand your overall progress at a glance and quickly jump into the section that needs your attention.
- Hover and Dropdown Menus – Access nested pages without extra clicks. Hover over navigation options to reveal dropdowns that let you jump straight to the section you need—like going from Tools directly into a specific compliance category or vendor relationship view. This reduces unnecessary page loads and keeps your workflow flowing.
- Reimagined Landing Pages – Each landing page, like Vendors, Budget, and Tools & Services, has been redesigned with clear visual icons and simplified actions. These redesigned pages serve as intuitive launchpads into deeper workflows—giving you clarity without clutter.
- Personal Dashboards – Your dashboard experience is now tailored to surface key priorities, overdue tasks, and progress metrics based on your role and responsibilities. Whether you're managing the whole project or reviewing your assigned items, the dashboard keeps you informed and aligned.
Why it’s better: With fewer clicks, smarter layout, and a clearer sense of where you are in the compliance journey, your team can move faster, stay focused, and delegate more effectively. It's a design overhaul built for speed, clarity, and confidence.
Getting Started Guides
We’ve introduced context-aware Getting Started Guides to every major section of FutureFeed. These guides are built directly into the interface and appear only when and where you need them—giving you immediate clarity and direction without leaving your workflow.
Each guide is broken into four focused sections:
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Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF): A quick snapshot of what this page is for, the compliance requirements it supports (like AC-3.1.1 and AC-3.1.2), and exactly what actions you need to take.
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Details That Matter: A deeper look at the data being collected, including formatting tips, field explanations, and best practices.
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Compliance Implications: Insight into how this data maps to NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 2, the CMMC framework, and how it’s used during an assessment.
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For the Assessor: A short briefing on what an assessor will be looking for during review of this section—based on guidance from NIST SP 800-171A and the CMMC Assessment Process (CAP v2.0).
Why it’s better:
You no longer need to leave the page, search documentation, or guess how to complete a section. Everything you need is right there—simplified, actionable, and aligned with real compliance expectations.
Pro tip: Each BLUF section includes helpful reminders, like how inactive user accounts are automatically disabled after 90 days—giving you operational clarity and compliance foresight in one view.
Reimagined Tools and Services Cards
In the Chocolate Release, we’ve separated the former “Tech & Docs” area into two purpose-built sections: Tools and Documents. This gives you a clearer, more focused view of the technologies and documentation that support your compliance environment.
Tool & Document Inventory Cards have been completely reimagined with structured tabs and smarter fields:
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The Overview tab captures key metadata, user counts, RACI assignments, and high-level documentation notes.
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The Connect tab lets you map tools to relevant NIST 800-171 or CMMC controls using smart tags, and visually link dependent or related systems using “Leaders” and “Followers.”
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The Compliance tab shows asset categorization, oversight and audit attributes (like SIEM monitoring or backup status), related data types (CUI, FCI, PII), and applicable frameworks.
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The new Task Assignments tab is your go-to for tracking implementation activities and establishing recurring tasks that support continuous monitoring.
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The Evidence tab consolidates documentation and supporting files relevant to each tool, simplifying audit prep.
Why it’s better:
This section now acts as a compliance operations center—allowing you to assign responsibilities, collect evidence, and maintain continuous monitoring directly from the inventory. Whether you're updating documentation, preparing for assessment, or delegating remediation tasks, everything is centralized and actionable.
Copy Framework + “Copy From” and “Copy To” Feature
Working with multiple frameworks just got easier.
- Copy information from one framework to another using smart mapping
- Use “Copy From” or “Copy To” to pull relevant info across controls
- Get intelligent suggestions to reuse existing work where appropriate
Why it’s better: These tools reduce duplicate effort and ensure consistency across compliance initiatives.
New Frameworks
FutureFeed now supports two of the most important and evolving cybersecurity frameworks—helping you stay ahead of regulatory shifts and security best practices.
NIST SP 800-171 Revision 3 (Preview) is now available to all users preparing for CMMC Level 2. This preview helps organizations start mapping their controls to the upcoming version of NIST 800-171, which introduces clearer requirements, restructured families, and more explicit scoping expectations. Getting familiar now means fewer surprises later.
We’ve also added support for NIST SP 800-53 Revision 5, the gold standard for moderate- and high-impact federal systems. Whether you’re preparing for RMF, FedRAMP, or internal GRC alignment, you can now document, track, and manage implementation of 800-53 Rev. 5 requirements—natively in FutureFeed.
Why it’s better:
- Supports early preparation for the next evolution of compliance
- Helps you cross-map and manage requirements between frameworks
- Keeps you in sync with federal expectations and best practices
- Allows deeper documentation with integrated POA&M and ODP tracking
Pro tip: Use the new Copy From / Copy To tools to migrate content between frameworks and align shared responsibilities with confidence.
FutureFeed’s ODP Center
Managing Organization-Defined Parameters (ODPs) used to be tedious—scattered across different requirements and hard to track. Now it’s simple.
Introducing the ODP Center for frameworks with ODPs: a centralized workspace where you can view, select, manage, and update all your ODP values from one screen. No more hunting through framework controls to find where each value lives.
Even better? As you define your ODPs, the related requirement instantly updates in EasyRead mode—so you see the plain-language version of the requirement, exactly as it applies to your organization.
Why it’s better:
- See all framework ODPs in one place
- Set values quickly using drop downs, text inputs, or date selectors
- Instantly preview how your chosen values transform the requirement language
- Maintain consistency across policies, narratives, and assessments
Pro tip: The ODP Center makes it easy to delegate or review assignments—each value is clearly mapped to the related control, and everything is audit-ready.
EasyRead Requirement Narratives
We know compliance frameworks aren’t always written for humans. That’s why we created EasyRead™ narratives—a smarter way to read and understand requirement language.
Many cybersecurity frameworks, including NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 2 and 800-172, include Organization-Defined Parameters (ODPs)—placeholders where your organization must define values like timeframes, frequencies, or specific technologies. But until now, those requirements often read like legal code: full of brackets and vague references.
With EasyRead, that changes.
Once you've selected your ODP values in FutureFeed, we automatically render the requirement as a readable, complete sentence—so you can consume the requirement the way it was meant to be understood, with your defined context baked in.
Why it’s better:
- Removes the confusion of bracketed placeholder text (as shown in the below image in RED text)
- Makes each requirement feel like a real, readable policy statement (as shown in the below image in BLUE text)
- Helps teams better understand what’s expected of them
- Reduces misinterpretation and rework during documentation and assessment prep
Full integrity, always: The original framework language is still available. Just hover over the EasyRead label to view the unmodified requirement text.
Pro tip: This feature is especially useful when preparing narratives for your SSP or when walking through requirements with assessors—because everyone sees the same clear, tailored version.
Assessor Role Mode
Preparing for a third-party CMMC assessment? Now there’s a better way to collaborate with your assessors—without exposing more than necessary.
The new Assessor Role Mode provides a dedicated, read-only view of your System Security Plan (SSP) and related compliance data, tailored specifically for third-party assessors and internal reviewers. This mode removes distractions, hides internal-only notes, and locks down editing to ensure your evidence is review-ready and assessment-friendly.
Why it’s better:
- Streamlines the review process by giving assessors a clean, structured view of your SSP content
- Reduces back-and-forth—assessors see only what they need, when they need it
- Improves assessor trust and clarity by separating audit evidence from internal collaboration
- Maintains data integrity—no risk of accidental edits or changes during the assessment period
How it works: Assign the Assessor role to a user, and they’ll get access to a curated dashboard and documentation view that aligns with the structure and expectations of the CMMC Assessment Process. It's a smoother experience for both sides of the table.
Pro tip: You can preview Assessor Mode yourself before inviting your assessor, ensuring everything is in place ahead of time.
Dark Mode
Yes, we heard you!
Dark Mode is finally here, giving your eyes a break during long documentation sessions and late-night compliance sprints. Whether you're navigating the Assessment Prep Center, updating your SSP, or just browsing through your dashboards, you can now switch to a sleek, high-contrast interface designed for better focus and reduced eye strain.
Why it’s better:
- Easier on the eyes in low-light environments
- Ideal for extended use—especially for night owls and power users
- Helps reduce screen glare and visual fatigue
- Adds a modern, polished aesthetic across the app
Pro tip: Your Dark Mode preference is saved per user, so you can set it once and FutureFeed will remember it each time you log in.
90-Day Lockout Settings
As part of our ongoing commitment to help you stay aligned with compliance best practices, 90-Day Lockout policies are now built into FutureFeed’s account management settings.
This update automatically enforces password expiration for user accounts that haven’t logged in within 90 days—supporting password lifecycle requirements.
Why it’s better:
- Strengthens access control across your environment
- Prevents stale or unused accounts from lingering indefinitely
- Reduces the risk of forgotten credentials becoming a threat vector
- Keeps your team aligned with key compliance controls—without the need for manual tracking
Good to know: Locked-out users can be reactivated by system admins, so you're still in control of account management while enforcing policy-driven security hygiene.
The Chocolate Release represents a major leap forward for FutureFeed—streamlining how teams prepare for assessments, track responsibilities, and navigate their compliance journey. With the launch of the Assessment Prep Center, page-level Compliance Reviews, the Critical Dates timeline, updated navigation workflows, in-app Getting Started Guides, smart Copy From / Copy To features, and expanded framework support including NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 3 and NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5, this release is packed with tools that reduce friction and increase clarity. Whether you're documenting, reviewing, or getting audit-ready, the Chocolate Release makes FutureFeed more powerful—and more usable—than ever before.
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