Explore

The Explore view is the default mode when you open a board. It presents each loaded artefact as an expandable tree on an interactive canvas — the structure of the regulatory document made spatially navigable.

[Screenshot needed] PLACEHOLDER IMAGE: The Explore view showing a regulatory artefact as an expanded tree on the canvas, with domain colour indicator chips visible on several nodes, and the Explore button active in the header

Navigating the tree

Each artefact is displayed as a hierarchy of nodes. Click any node to expand it and reveal its children. A chapter expands to show its articles; an article expands to reveal individual requirements and sub-provisions.

Collapse nodes to simplify the view. Your expansion state is saved per board, so when you return, the tree is exactly where you left it.

Leaf nodes

At the deepest level of the tree are the leaf nodes — the individual clauses and requirements that can be mapped to controls. These are the expectation nodes: the unit of crosswalk mapping. They are displayed more tightly than parent nodes to make dense documents navigable without scrolling.

Domain colour indicators

Nodes that have mappings to governance controls display domain colour chips. Each colour corresponds to one of Balcony's twelve governance domains.

• A node with a single chip maps to controls in one domain.
• A node with multiple chips maps to controls across several domains — that requirement touches multiple governance territories.
• A node with no chips has not yet been mapped.

This gives an immediate visual read of coverage: which parts of the framework have been engaged with, and which are still open. At a glance, you can see where the mapping work is concentrated and where there are gaps.

Opening a node's detail view

Click any node to open its detail view in a side panel. The detail view shows:

• The node's original text — the clause or requirement as it appears in the source document.
• Existing mappings to controls, with their lifecycle stage (Draft, Reviewing, Live, Deprecated).
• The expectation type (Obligation, Requirement, Practice, Commitment, or Informative).
• Options to create a new mapping or modify existing ones.

From the detail view, you can map the node to a control by selecting the appropriate topic and control from the unified framework.

Filtering the canvas

Several filters are available in the header to focus on a subset of the canvas:

Domain filter

Click the domain legend (the coloured domain chips in the header) to filter the canvas. Selecting a domain highlights only the nodes that have mappings to controls in that domain — and dims everything else. This is most useful when you want to audit a specific governance territory across all loaded artefacts.

Expectation type filter

Filter nodes by their type (Obligation, Requirement, Practice, Commitment, Informative). Useful when you want to focus on hard obligations before dealing with recommended practices.

Mapping stage filter

Filter by the lifecycle stage of existing mappings: Draft, Reviewing, Live, Deprecated. Use this to find which mappings are still under review, or to audit which ones have been confirmed as live.

Tag filter

If you have applied custom tags to nodes, you can filter by those tags.

Search

The search bar (magnifying glass icon in the header) lets you search across all loaded artefact nodes by keyword.

The Nexus assistant

The wand icon in the header opens the Nexus assistant, an AI-powered tool that can suggest mappings for an artefact based on the unified control framework. The assistant works with the artefacts loaded on your current board.

Treat assistant suggestions as a starting point. Each suggestion reflects a plausible interpretation but should be reviewed and confirmed by a practitioner who understands both the source document and the governance context.

What next?

• Crosswalk — switch to the table view to see coverage states (Gap, Covered, Implemented) for your mapped controls.
• Domains & Topics — understand the colour system and the governance territories each domain covers.