GPRC for Assurance – From Policing the Past to Assuring the Mission
Every great mission eventually faces the same question: How do we know we are truly on course?
On the bridge of a starship like the U.S.S. Enterprise, the crew does not rely on hope, intuition, or good intentions to answer that question. They rely on sensors, diagnostics, verification systems, and independent confirmation that the ship is operating as intended. Engines are checked. Shields are tested. Navigation systems are validated. Not because something has already gone wrong — but because mission integrity depends on knowing the truth before failure reveals it.
This is the role assurance should play in the modern enterprise.
And yet, in many organizations, assurance — particularly internal audit — is still perceived as a backward-looking function. A checker of boxes. A reviewer of controls. A necessary but inconvenient activity that arrives after decisions have been made and outcomes have already occurred.
That model is no longer sufficient.
In a world defined by complexity, velocity, regulation, and systemic risk, assurance cannot remain an observer of history. It must become a continuous source of confidence that governance, performance, risk, and compliance are working together as intended. It must evolve from inspection to mission assurance.
This is where GPRC fundamentally changes the role of assurance . . .
[The rest of this blog can be read on the Corporater blog, where GRC 20/20’s Michael Rasmussen is a Guest Blogger]