Answer SIG and CAIQ without retyping the template.
A SIG or CAIQ lands in your inbox as a spreadsheet, not a conversation. Govarna finds the question column, drafts every answer with its source cited, and — on the paid workspace — writes the file back in the exact layout your buyer sent.
Free · no signup · human review required before use
This tests the matching engine on pasted text. Need the actual file round-tripped? Start a 14-day trial to upload the original XLSX or DOCX.
The format is the problem, not just the questions.
SIG Lite alone runs to a few hundred rows. Full SIG Core spans multiple tabs and well over a thousand questions across nearly every control domain. CAIQ ties each answer to a specific Cloud Controls Matrix reference. None of that structure survives a copy-paste into a chat window — someone still has to reformat the output back into the buyer's columns, row by row, or the file comes back looking wrong before a reviewer even reads the content.
The actual job is narrower than “answer these questions.” It's: find where each question lives in the file, draft a supported answer without disturbing anything else in that row, and hand back a document that looks like the one you were sent.
From a spreadsheet you received to a spreadsheet you can send back.
- 1Upload the original file
The paid workspace reads the SIG, SIG-Lite, or CAIQ file directly and locates the question column and row for every item — no manual reformatting first.
- 2Get confidence-scored drafts
Each question is matched against your approved answer library and labeled strong, likely, partial, or needs review, so a weak match never looks like a confident answer.
- 3Export in the original layout
Approved answers write back into the same cells the questions came from. Every other column — reference numbers, control IDs, buyer notes — stays untouched.
SIG and CAIQ, briefly.
The Standardized Information Gathering questionnaire is published by Shared Assessments. SIG Core is a full-depth assessment covering most third-party risk domains; SIG Lite is a shorter subset used for lower-risk vendors or faster reviews. Both arrive as a spreadsheet with one question per row, often across several tabs by domain.
The Consensus Assessments Initiative Questionnaire is part of the CSA STAR program and maps directly to the Cloud Controls Matrix. Each question ties to a specific control reference, and answers are typically Yes / No / N/A with a comments column for detail.
Both formats have started carrying AI-specific questions in the sections buyers customize — model training on customer data, human oversight, and sub-processor disclosure among them. Treat that as buyer-added content layered on the standard template, not a new format to learn. For the full breakdown of how buyers structure these AI addenda, see our guide to answering AI security questionnaires. Getting a bespoke DDQ instead of SIG or CAIQ? See how Govarna handles any buyer's custom format.
What the paid workspace adds on top of the free matcher.
Upload the SIG, SIG-Lite, or CAIQ spreadsheet directly. Govarna locates the question column deterministically — no LLM guessing at layout.
Answers are grounded in your policies, evidence, AI inventory, and previously approved responses, with the source shown on each one.
Strong, likely, partial, and needs-review labels carry through the whole file, so your reviewer knows exactly where to spend time.
A response approved on this quarter’s CAIQ is available for the next SIG, and vice versa — the library isn’t format-specific.
Questions teams ask before they try it.
What are SIG and CAIQ, exactly?
SIG (Standardized Information Gathering) is a vendor risk questionnaire published by Shared Assessments, available as the full SIG Core (a deep assessment spanning most control domains) or the shorter SIG Lite. CAIQ (Consensus Assessments Initiative Questionnaire) is published by the Cloud Security Alliance as part of its STAR program and maps to the Cloud Controls Matrix. Both ship as spreadsheets with one question per row.
Does Govarna have a built-in SIG or CAIQ template?
No, and we would rather tell you that than oversell it. Govarna does not ship a bespoke SIG Core, SIG Lite, or CAIQ template. Instead, it detects the question column in any spreadsheet-formatted questionnaire — which is what makes SIG, SIG-Lite, and CAIQ work without a purpose-built integration. The tradeoff is that any other spreadsheet-shaped assessment your buyers send works the same way, not just the two named formats.
Will it work on the full SIG Core, not just SIG Lite?
The same column-detection approach applies to SIG Core since it uses the same tabular format. SIG Core runs to well over a thousand questions across multiple tabs, so review time scales with the size of the file — plan for a longer session than a SIG-Lite response.
What happens to the columns I don’t use, like a CAIQ consensus assessment ID or a SIG reference number?
They’re left untouched. The paid workspace writes answers back into the original file at the locations it extracted questions from, so every other column, row, and tab stays exactly as the buyer sent it.
Is the free tool the same as uploading my SIG or CAIQ file?
No. The free tool below accepts pasted question text, up to 20 questions, so you can see how the matching and confidence scoring work. Uploading the actual XLSX or DOCX and getting it back in its original layout is part of the paid workspace.
How does it avoid guessing on questions it doesn’t know?
Every match gets a confidence label — strong, likely, partial, or needs review — based on how closely it matches your approved answer library. Weak or partial matches are shown as drafts that need attention, not confident answers. Nothing is silently auto-filled.
Is this legal or compliance advice?
No. Govarna is software; drafted content is informational and your team reviews and approves every answer before it goes back to the buyer.
The SIG or CAIQ on your desk isn't going to fill itself in.
Test the matching engine free, or start a trial to upload the actual file and get it back in its original layout.