Rethinking Compliance Management at Scale: Universal Checklist Initiative

In the highly diverse enterprise landscape these days, where organizations manage extensive fleets of devices across diverse platforms, operating system versions, and regulatory requirements, ensuring endpoint compliance has become increasingly complex and critically important. Robust internal controls are essential to prevent fraud and inaccuracies, and to ensure compliance across all levels of the organization.

With HCL BigFix, we have been helping organizations secure their endpoints and ensure compliance with the latest benchmarks for decades. But as new operating systems emerge more frequently, and frameworks like PCI DSS, HIPAA, NIST, and DORA grow more nuanced, each update, new OS release, or policy change adds another layer of regulation to coordinate. Adhering to rigorous security standards is crucial for protecting sensitive data and meeting legal requirements.

To simplify this growing complexity, we reimagined compliance through the Universal Checklist Initiative. This approach underscores the organization's commitment to maintaining operational standards and compliance with internal policies and regulatory requirements.

Introducing the Universal Checklist Initiative

The Universal Checklist is a bold reimagination of how security and compliance content is structured, deployed, and evaluated in HCL BigFix Compliance. Rather than creating and managing separate checklists for every OS version and framework, Universal Checklists offer a single, intelligent, version-aware checklist per platform, such as Windows Workstations, Windows Servers, Linux variants, and more. 

Why Traditional Compliance Feels Broken by Regulatory Requirements

Traditionally, compliance teams face multiple operational hurdles, which  result in:

• Fragmented reporting: Each OS version (Windows 10, 11, Server 2019, Server 2022, etc.) produces separate reports, making it hard to view overall compliance posture across the enterprise
• Redundant scans: Each framework (CIS, DISA STIG, PCI-DSS, NIS2, HIPAA compliance) requires a separate evaluation, resulting in identical checks (fixlets) being downloaded.
• Performance strain: Endpoints process identical checks multiple times, causing higher CPU/memory usage.
• Delayed visibility: Compliance data lags behind new OS or patch rollouts.

For large enterprises, these inefficiencies scale exponentially, consuming resources and delaying remediation. This leaves organizations exposed to risks they could easily avoid.

Unify Compliance Evaluation with the Universal Checklist in HCL BigFix

The Universal Checklist streamlines endpoint compliance without compromising precision or audit readiness. It also supports continuous compliance by enabling ongoing adherence to industry standards and regulations.

1. One checklist, many versions

Instead of managing multiple checklists, you can now deploy one platform-specific checklist. Internally, this checklist includes logic to adapt to OS versions, ensuring only applicable checks are evaluated.
Result: Less manual work, fewer errors, and faster reporting cycles.

2. Shared logic across frameworks

Most compliance checks overlap across standards like CIS, DISA, PCI DSS, and HIPAA compliance. The Universal Checklist maps these relationships using metadata, allowing a single scan to deliver compliance results for multiple frameworks.
Result: Broader coverage with fewer scans and faster audit readiness.

3. Ready for New OS Versions, Instantly

As new OS versions are rolled out, traditional compliance often lags. The Universal Checklist can assess them early, even before official benchmarks are published.
Result: Faster time-to-compliance for new releases.

4. Lighter on Resources

Each Fixlet runs once per scan rather than being repeated for every framework. That means less CPU load, faster evaluations, and happier IT teams. These improvements increase user productivity and enhance operational efficiency by streamlining processes and reducing resource consumption.
Result: Optimized vulnerability management and improved endpoint performance.

The First Rollout: Windows Server (Beta)

The Universal Checklist rollout begins with Windows Server (Beta), featuring a unified checklist that covers Windows Server 2016, 2019, 2022, and 2025.

It consolidates CIS and DISA content into one framework, while allowing organizations to:

• Create custom checklists
• Assign device groups
• Import results into BigFix SCA

The experience feels familiar to existing HCL BigFix users but with considerably better speed, consistency, and efficiency.

What’s Next for Continuous Compliance Management with the Universal Checklist

When this model expands across platforms like Windows Workstations, macOS, RHEL, and Ubuntu, compliance management becomes continuous, unified, and low-friction.

Future phases will add:

• Multi-framework reporting for PCI DSS, HIPAA, CIS, DISA, and others via metadata mapping
• Windows Workstation, MacOS, and Linux (RHEL, Ubuntu, etc.)
• Drill-down dashboards by Framework, Device group, Device, Checklist, and Checks.
• Benchmark-specific exportable audit reports and extended compliance reporting

This evolution represents more than efficiency. It’s the foundation for autonomous compliance where compliance becomes continuous, unified, and low-friction, regardless of your OS mix or regulatory landscape.

A New Chapter in Endpoint Compliance

The Universal Checklist Initiative is designed to consolidate fragmented processes into a single, streamlined system that evolves with your enterprise.

By consolidating frameworks, automating evaluations, and delivering near real-time visibility, HCL BigFix is redefining compliance management, making it proactive, intelligent, and sustainable.

Ready to experience unified compliance?

• Subscribe to the new checklist site [Universal Checklist for Windows Server]
• Create a custom site and include the Universal Checklist.
• Assign it to your Windows Server devices.
• Import results via BigFix SCA and share your feedback!