Compliance Compliance Priorities

---
name: compliance-compliance-priorities
description: Prioritize the applicable regulations by business impact, deadline urgency and effort into three tiers, with quick wins and certification dependencies. Use when the user has a list of regulations or certifications and asks which ones to tackle first or which customers will demand soonest.
metadata:
  argument-hint: "[project] [--skip-checks]"
  workflow: compliance
  phase: 0
  artifact: 00-scope.md
---

# Compliance Priorities

Prioritize the applicable regulations for "$ARGUMENTS" by business impact, enforcement deadlines, and customer demand to determine the optimal compliance sequence.

**Arguments.** `$ARGUMENTS` may contain the project name and optional flags. Take the first token as `<project>` and treat `--skip-checks` as a flag; never include flags in file paths. All paths below use `<project>`. If `--skip-checks` is present, skip the prerequisite check and, **before writing any artifact**, append one line to `.singularskills/log.jsonl`: `{"ts":"<ISO timestamp>","skill":"compliance-compliance-priorities","workflow":"compliance","phase":0,"project":"<project>","event":"skipped","artifact":"00-scope.md","note":"<reason or \"none given\">"}`.

## Prerequisites

**Part of a workflow.** This skill is phase 0 (Scope) of the GRC Lifecycle workflow (`compliance`); cross-domain workflows run it too. First check `.singularskills/log.jsonl` for an open run for this project: a `run-started` line with `"project":"<project>"` and no later `run-finished` line for the same `workflow` and `project`. If one exists, the conductor is running you: continue here. Otherwise, if the user asked to start, run, continue or resume a process or workflow rather than this one step, do not continue here: invoke the `workflow` skill with the workflow the user asked for, or `compliance` when they named none, followed by `<project>`; it runs this phase in order, asks before it writes and records the run. Otherwise, unless the user named this skill, ask one question, since this is the first phase of its workflow: "Just this step, or the whole GRC Lifecycle workflow?" End your turn and wait; on the whole workflow, hand off the same way; on just this step, continue here.

**Recall.** Before you ask the user anything, look for what this repository already holds about `<project>`: if a tool is available whose description says it searches or maps this repository (a memory or repo-map server such as `repo_map` or `entities`), query it for `<project>` and this phase's subject and read what it returns, keeping only results from this repository; in every case also list `.singularskills/*/<project>/` and read the **Decisions** and **Open questions** of any artifact there, and the lines of `.singularskills/log.jsonl` whose `project` is `<project>`. After your section's italic line, add a `### Recalled` subsection of at most ten lines naming what you found and where (path or tool), or the single line `Nothing recalled: no earlier artifacts, log lines or memory results for <project>.` Ask the user only what this did not answer. The trail's shape is described in `references/memory/trail.md`, bundled with this skill.

Before you start work, append this line to `.singularskills/log.jsonl` (create the folder and file if missing): `{"ts":"<ISO timestamp>","skill":"compliance-compliance-priorities","workflow":"compliance","phase":0,"project":"<project>","event":"started","artifact":"00-scope.md","note":""}`.

None — this is a Phase 0 (Scope) skill.

## Process

1. **Read context files:**
   - Read `references/grc-lifecycle-guide.md` for GRC methodology reference
   - Read `.singularskills/compliance/<project>/00-scope.md` for the regulation inventory

2. **Business impact scoring:**
   - For each applicable regulation, score revenue at risk without certification (0-10)
   - Assess deal-blocking potential — how often is this certification requested in sales cycles?
   - Estimate market access impact — does non-compliance lock out entire markets or verticals?

3. **Urgency scoring:**
   - Score enforcement deadline proximity (0-10) — active enforcement vs. upcoming vs. future
   - Score customer deadline pressure (0-10) — immediate customer requirements vs. nice-to-have
   - Flag any regulations with imminent deadlines or recent enforcement actions

4. **Effort scoring:**
   - Score implementation complexity (0-10) — scope of changes needed
   - Estimate time to certification (months)
   - Assess internal capability gaps — can this be done in-house or requires external help?

5. **Priority ranking:**
   - Calculate weighted priority score (business impact 40%, urgency 35%, inverse effort 25%)
   - Rank regulations from highest to lowest priority
   - Identify quick wins (high impact, low effort) vs. strategic investments (high impact, high effort)
   - Group into tiers: Tier 1 (immediate), Tier 2 (next 6 months), Tier 3 (12+ months)

6. **Write the artifact** — append to `.singularskills/compliance/<project>/00-scope.md` under a `## Compliance Priorities` section. Create the file with a `# Scope — <project>` heading if it does not exist; if a `## Compliance Priorities` section already exists, replace only that section. The section contains:
   - **Scoring Matrix** — table with impact, urgency, effort, and weighted scores per regulation
   - **Priority Tiers** — Tier 1/2/3 groupings with rationale
   - **Quick Wins** — low-effort, high-impact regulations to tackle first
   - **Strategic Investments** — high-effort certifications that unlock major business value
   - **Dependencies** — regulations that build on each other (e.g., ISO 27001 before CSA STAR)

## Output

The priority analysis appended to `.singularskills/compliance/<project>/00-scope.md`. Present a summary to the user highlighting:
- Top 3 priority regulations and why
- Identified quick wins
- Key dependencies between certifications
- Recommended next step: run `/compliance-control-framework <project>`

**Record the run.** After you have written your section, append this line to `.singularskills/log.jsonl` (the `started` line of Prerequisites, with `"event":"finished"`): `{"ts":"<ISO timestamp>","skill":"compliance-compliance-priorities","workflow":"compliance","phase":0,"project":"<project>","event":"finished","artifact":"00-scope.md","note":""}`.

This artifact is shared by every skill of phase 0 (Scope). The frontmatter is written once, by whoever creates the file: if you create it, open it with the block below (`skill` is the phase title, `started` the time of that first write; `gate` is `none`, as this phase has no gate); if it already exists, leave the block alone except to update `finished`.

```yaml
---
skill: Scope
workflow: compliance
phase: 0
project: <project>
started: <ISO timestamp>
finished: <ISO timestamp>
agent: <the agent you run in, or "unknown">
gate: none
---
```

Open your `## Compliance Priorities` section with one italic line, `*<skill name> · <ISO timestamp> · gate: none*` (your skill name is `compliance-compliance-priorities`).

End your section with `### Decisions` and `### Open questions` (one level under your `## Compliance Priorities` heading, so the section stays one block), in this shape:

```markdown
### Decisions
- <what was chosen> — <why> — <what was rejected>

### Open questions
- <what the next phase or a reviewer must settle>
```

End the artifact with this paragraph, verbatim:

> **Not legal or audit advice.** This artifact supports preparation for compliance work; certification, attestation and regulatory conclusions require a qualified auditor or counsel.