Use scoping sheets to automatically show or hide parts of your methodology based on a client engagement's specific requirements. Scoping sheets save you from having to manually add or delete content when scoping an engagement.

An engagement template is like a master blueprint that contains every possible requirement, procedure, and task you might ever need for a certain type of engagement (like an Internal Audit or SOC 2). This is called the methodology.

In practice, each client engagement will only need a subset of the methodology. The process of selecting the relevant parts and removing what's not needed is called scoping. Instead of doing this manually, scoping sheets help you automate that process, so you can quickly customize your engagement while preserving consistency and accuracy.

How it works

A scoping sheet is like a smart questionnaire that you fill out at the start of an engagement. Your answers tell Fieldguide exactly what content (sheets, sections, and other elements) to display.

Firm admins set scoping rules for a methodology. In the engagement template, admins build a scoping sheet with a series of questions. They use rules to define when specific parts of the engagement should be shown or hidden. A scoping sheet row can have multiple rules, and multiple rules can target the same engagement element.
Users on the engagement team answer the questions. When you start a new client engagement, open the scoping sheet and answer the questions. Content with scoping rules is hidden by default until the scoping questions are answered. Fieldguide evaluates all applicable rules together to determine what content is shown.
Your engagement is automatically scoped. Based on your answers, Fieldguide only shows the relevant sheets, sections, and other elements, and hides everything else. If a task or request is only linked to content that is hidden, it will be hidden, too.

Configure a scoping sheet

Admins can define scoping logic by creating a scoping sheet in an engagement template or by creating a scoping sheet template. Scoping sheet templates can be inserted as long as its scoping targets exist in that engagement template or workflow. Scoping sheets act like forms for an engagement's practitioners to respond to.

Add a scoping sheet to an engagement template

To add a scoping sheet to an engagement template, follow these steps:

Inside the engagement template, go to the Sheets tab.
Click ➕ to open the Create Sheet menu.
To create from scratch, fill out the sheet name and set the type to "Scoping". Or, select a scoping sheet template.

Scoping sheets appear in the engagement's Sheets menu with a clipboard icon.

Configure a scoping sheet's layout

You can create rules by adding rows to a scoping sheet. Here's how we recommend setting up a scoping sheet's rows, columns, and sections:

Add rows to represent each requirement or methodology element that you want to control with rules. You can organize rows with sheet sections.

Use a List column to represent a question (like "In scope?") and set options for the respondent to pick from.

Configure scoping sheet rules

Each row on a scoping sheet can have multiple rules. Rules are managed from the Scoping Rules column. Each rule has two parts:

Condition (If): Defines when the rule applies.
Action (Then): Defines what engagement elements to show when the condition is met.

To add or edit a scoping sheet rule, follow these steps:

In the Rules column of a row, click Add rule or use the Edit rules button.
Use the rule editor to define the rule's condition and action(s).
Repeat this process to add additional rules to the same row, if needed.

If your scoping sheet is inside an engagement template, you can use the Preview engagement with rules button to test how your rules will function and check if they're operating as intended.

Scoping rule conditions

A scoping rule's conditions define when a rule should apply. Conditions check values within the same scoping sheet row.

You can add multiple conditions to a rule using AND and OR logic:

AND means all conditions must be true.
OR means any condition can be true.

If a rule includes both AND and OR conditions, Fieldguide evaluates the AND conditions first.

Scoping rule actions

A scoping rule's actions define what engagement elements to show when the condition is met. You can:

Add multiple actions to a single rule.
Use bulk selection to select multiple sheets, sections, or rows at once.
Create multiple rules that target the same engagement element.

Fieldguide evaluates all applicable rules together to determine whether an element is shown.

To add an action:

Click ➕ Add action.
Select an element to show when this rule's condition is met. For some element types, you can use to select a more granular element, like an individual section or row.

A rule can have multiple actions. This lets you control the visibility of multiple elements based on a single condition.

Element types controllable via scoping rules

Scoping sheet rules can be used to show or hide several types of engagement elements, including sheets, workflows, and financial statements. Here are the element types that can (or can't) be controlled with rules:

Element type	Can control with scoping sheet rules
Sheets (inside the Sheets menu)	✅ Yes. It also controls the visibility of any columns the sheet shares into other sheets.
Sheets (inside the Documents menu)	✅ Yes
Sheet sections/subsections	✅ Yes
Sheet rows	✅ Yes
Sheet columns	❌ No
Sheet tasks	✅ Yes (When linked only to sheet rows controlled by rules)
Requests	✅ Yes (When linked only to sheet rows controlled by rules)
Documents	❌ No
Workflow phases	✅ Yes
Financial statements	✅ Yes
Content blocks	✅ Yes (Beta)

Scoping sheet rules can also be applied to elements inside the scoping sheet itself. This can be used to hide scoping questions that aren't applicable from the respondent. For example, this rule will show the "Lending" section of the Scoping sheet when the condition is met:

Example configuration for scoping sheets

For a scoping process that hinges on practitioners checking the applicability of various requirements, you could set up a scoping sheet that looks like this:

Create a row for each of the available requirements in this framework. You can use sections to organize.
Include a List column called "In Scope?" where respondents can answer "Yes" or "No"
Set rules that display the appropriate row(s) on the test matrix when the respondent says a requirement is in scope.

Once an admin has added a scoping sheet to an engagement template, the scoping sheet will be available for practitioners to use in any engagements created from that template.

Use a scoping sheet inside a client engagement

Firm users can scope a client engagement by filling out the scoping sheet. Client users can also fill out a scoping sheet if you enable client permissions.

Fieldguide will show or hide elements based on the rules that are configured in the scoping sheet.
If the project's scope changes, just update your answers in the scoping sheet. The content will adjust accordingly—no need to manually add or delete anything.

You can't insert new scoping sheets directly inside the Sheets tab of client engagements. To get a scoping sheet here, you need to create the engagement from an engagement template that has a scoping sheet.

You can view scoping sheet rules, conditions, and actions inside client engagements in read-only mode. To view a scoping sheet rule inside a client engagement, follow these steps:

Click the View rules button inside a row's Rules column.
The rule's condition and action(s) display inside the rule viewer menu.

You can't edit scoping sheet rules inside client engagements. You can only edit rules inside templates.