Frequently Asked Questions

All templates are delivered in editable Microsoft Office formats — primarily Word (.docx) for policies, procedures, and plans, and Excel (.xlsx) for registers, matrices, and checklists. No proprietary software is required. You can open, edit, and save them using Microsoft Office, Google Workspace, or LibreOffice.

Each template is a professionally written document ready for customization. Depending on the product, you'll receive structured content including purpose statements, scope definitions, roles and responsibilities, detailed procedures, compliance mapping tables, and revision history sections. Product pages include page counts and a table of contents preview so you know exactly what you're getting before you buy.

Absolutely. Every template is designed to be edited. Replace the placeholder company name, adjust the scope to your environment, add or remove sections based on your needs, and apply your corporate branding. The documents are structured so you can tailor them without losing the compliance alignment that makes them valuable.

Yes. Each product page includes a detailed description, a table of contents outline, the frameworks it maps to, and in many cases a sample page preview. This gives you full visibility into the structure and quality before you commit.

This is one of the most common questions in compliance. A policy states what the organization will do and why (e.g., "All systems must be patched within 30 days of a critical vulnerability"). A procedure describes how to do it step-by-step (e.g., the patch testing and deployment workflow). A plan is a broader document covering strategy, objectives, and implementation timelines (e.g., an Incident Response Plan). GRCadia offers all three types, and our product descriptions clearly label each one.

After completing your payment, you'll receive an email with a secure download link. Templates are also available for immediate download from your account dashboard under "My Downloads." There's no waiting period — you can start customizing within minutes of purchase.

We accept all major credit and debit cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express) processed securely through Stripe. All transactions are encrypted and PCI DSS compliant. For enterprise or bulk orders requiring invoicing or purchase orders, please contact us at support@grcadia.com.

All sales are final once digital products are delivered. Due to the nature of instant digital downloads, we are unable to offer refunds for change of mind, misread product descriptions, or unmet customization expectations. If you receive a corrupted or unreadable file, contact us at support@grcadia.com and we will send a replacement promptly. We encourage you to review the product description, table of contents, and preview materials carefully before purchasing. See our full Refund Policy at /refunds for complete details.

Yes. If your organization needs templates across multiple frameworks or you're purchasing for multiple business units, contact us at support@grcadia.com for a custom quote. We also accommodate purchase order (PO) and invoice-based payment for qualified enterprise buyers.

Yes. Each purchase is licensed for unlimited use within a single legal entity. You can deploy the template across all departments, offices, and subsidiaries of the purchasing organization without additional fees.

Each purchase is licensed for a single organization. If you're a consultant or managed service provider working with multiple clients, each client organization requires its own license. Contact us at support@grcadia.com for multi-client licensing options and volume discounts — we work with consultants regularly and can offer competitive pricing.

Individual templates are perfect when you need a specific document — for example, just an Incident Response Plan or a Risk Assessment Template. Bundles package related templates together at a significant discount and are ideal when you're building out an entire compliance program. If you're not sure which approach fits your situation, start with a single template to evaluate the quality, then upgrade to a bundle when you're ready to scale.

When major frameworks are updated (e.g., NIST CSF 2.0, ISO 27001:2022), we release updated versions of affected templates. Customers who purchased the original template will be notified by email about available updates and any applicable upgrade pricing. Our goal is to keep your documentation current without requiring you to start from scratch.

Our templates are designed to address the documentation requirements of the frameworks they map to. However, templates alone don't guarantee certification or audit success. Certification auditors verify that your organization has implemented the processes described in your documentation — not just that the documents exist. Our templates give you a professionally written foundation that covers the required documentation structure, which is typically the most time-consuming part of the process. You still need to tailor them to your environment and actually follow the procedures they describe.

Writing compliance documentation from scratch requires deep expertise in both the regulatory framework and technical writing. Most organizations underestimate the effort — a comprehensive ISO 27001 documentation set can take 200-400+ hours to develop internally. Free templates found online are typically generic, incomplete, and often don't map to specific framework controls. GRCadia templates are written by cybersecurity professionals with real-world audit and implementation experience. They're structured to address specific compliance requirements, saving you hundreds of hours and significantly reducing the risk of gaps that auditors will flag. At our price points, even a single template pays for itself in the first few hours it saves you.

Three reasons. First, affordability — our competitors often force you into expensive toolkits ($400-$800+) or annual subscriptions before you can evaluate quality. GRCadia lets you start with a single template at an accessible price point and scale up only when you're ready. Second, simplicity — we sell editable documents, not SaaS platforms that require onboarding. Download, customize, implement. Third, focused expertise — every template is written for the North American compliance market with practical, implementable language that auditors expect to see.

It depends on your compliance obligations. For US government contracts (DoD), start with NIST 800-171 / CMMC templates. For enterprise clients asking for security assurance, choose SOC 2 or ISO 27001. For healthcare data, go with HIPAA Security Rule templates. For payment card processing, PCI DSS templates. For EU customers or data subjects, GDPR templates. If you need a general cybersecurity program, NIST CSF is the most versatile starting point. Not sure? Contact us at support@grcadia.com with a brief description of your business and compliance requirements, and we'll recommend the right starting point.

Most individual templates can be customized in 2-8 hours depending on your organization's complexity and your familiarity with the framework. A full compliance documentation set (e.g., an ISO 27001 ISMS package) typically takes 2-4 weeks of part-time effort. Compare that to the 3-6 months it typically takes to write everything from scratch — our templates compress the timeline dramatically.

GRCadia is a Canadian company and we're well aware of the Canadian compliance landscape. Our templates are written to address international frameworks (ISO 27001, NIST, SOC 2) that apply equally in Canada and the US. For Canada-specific requirements such as PIPEDA, OSFI, or provincial privacy laws, check our product catalog for dedicated templates or contact us for guidance on which frameworks best address your Canadian compliance obligations.

Email us at support@grcadia.com or use our Contact page. We typically respond within one business day. Whether you need help choosing the right template, have a licensing question, or want to discuss a custom documentation project, we're here to help.