# Standards, what applies and what you adopt

How the Standards page shows which standards and regulations Sted recommends for you and why, and how you select, remove and build for them.

Source: https://sted.digital/docs/product/standards · Last reviewed 17 October 2026 · Strand Product

**Standards** shows which standards, regulations and schemes Sted recommends for your organisation and why, and which ones you have adopted. Select a card to choose it or set it aside, then select **Update**, or **Update and generate framework** to build its documents straight away. A removed standard can be selected again at any time.

## What this is

A standard here is anything you can work to: a certifiable standard such as ISO 27001, a regulation such as UK GDPR, or a scheme such as Cyber Essentials. Sted's catalogue holds 85 of them across eight assurance areas. Sted recommends the ones that apply to you or would help, from what it learnt about your organisation, and explains why for each. [How Sted decides what applies to you](/docs/product/classification-and-applicability) covers that reasoning.

Adopting a standard is the decision that drives everything after it: the documents Sted writes, the requirements in them and your audit readiness.

## Where to find it

Open your organisation's name in the sidebar, then **Standards**. Standards opens once onboarding is finished. On a phone, select **Menu** at the top of the screen first.

## How it works

### Read the recommendations

The page opens on **Show recommended**: your recommended and adopted standards as cards, grouped by assurance area. Each card shows the standard's legal status, how it is attained (certifiable, attestable or self-declared) and its basis, such as a legal or customer requirement. **Why this is recommended** lists the rules that led to it. **How does Sted build recommendations?** under the page title explains the method.

**Show all** lists the whole catalogue, including standards Sted does not recommend for you.

### Select and update

1. Select a card to select it, or select a selected card to remove it.
2. Repeat for every standard you want to change.
3. Select **Update and generate framework**, or **Update** when generation is not available to you.
4. Confirm in the dialog that opens.

Nothing changes until you update; until then your selection is a draft. Removing a standard asks you to confirm, and the dialog reminds you that you can select it again. **Update and generate framework** saves your standards and then writes the documents for every adopted one, as described in [generating your framework](/docs/product/generating-your-framework).

### What you save, and what you could

Above the cards, a panel estimates the founder time, consultant time and cost Sted saves against doing the work the traditional way. **Saved already** counts the standards whose documents Sted has drafted; **Save with Sted** shows what adopting the remaining recommended standards would add.

### The decision task

After onboarding, a task asks you to decide on your recommended standards. It closes once every recommended standard has been selected or removed.

## Permissions

| Action | Administrator | Policy and Process Owner | Reviewer | Personnel |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| See standards and which are adopted | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| See the reasons and the savings estimate | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Select or remove standards | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| See each standard's readiness on its card | Yes | No | No | No |

Everyone can see the standards and which ones are adopted, but only administrators and Policy and Process Owners can change them. Below them, the page shows the cards without reasons, savings or update controls. Audit readiness is visible to administrators only for now.

## Limits and plan features

The savings are estimates against Sted's own baselines, not a quote. On Preview, **Update and generate framework** uses your one free generation of your whole framework; after that, Preview keeps the plain **Update**.

## Related guides

- [How Sted decides what applies to you](/docs/product/classification-and-applicability): where the recommendations come from.
- [ISO 27001](/docs/standards/iso-27001): what adopting the most common certifiable standard involves.
- [Cyber Essentials](/docs/standards/cyber-essentials): the UK scheme many first contracts ask for.
- [Applicability](/docs/glossary/applicability): what it means for a standard to apply to you.
- [Audit readiness](/docs/product/audit-readiness): how adopted standards turn into a readiness score.

## Frequently asked questions

Q: Which compliance standards do I need?
A: The ones Sted recommends on Standards are its answer for your organisation, each with the reasons behind it. They come from what you told Steward during onboarding, so if your answers change, the recommendations can change too.

Q: What happens if I remove a standard?
A: Your organisation stops pursuing it, and nothing else is deleted. The standard stays in the list, still marked Recommended if Sted recommends it, and you can select it again at any time.

Q: Are the savings figures a quote?
A: No. They are estimates against Sted's own baselines for doing the work the traditional way, rounded to whole numbers. Saved already counts standards whose documents Sted has drafted; Save with Sted shows what adopting the rest would add.

Q: Can I adopt a standard Sted didn't recommend?
A: Yes. Select Show all to see Sted's whole catalogue, select the standard and update. Its documents are written the next time you generate your framework.