For IT Consultants ·
What you'll accomplish
A client's cyber insurance renewal lands with a ten-page questionnaire, and someone has to turn those section headings into answers the owner can actually sign. This guide builds a reusable Gemini Gem that takes any questionnaire's section headings and returns a structured template: one row per control, a place to note how it's verified, and a status flag. You still fill in every answer yourself after checking the client's real environment. The Gem only builds the scaffolding, once, and reuses it for every client after that.
What you'll need
Go to gemini.google.com and sign in. Click "Gems" in the left sidebar to open the Gem Manager. Then click "New Gem."
What you should see: A builder screen with fields for Name, Description, and Instructions, plus an option to attach Knowledge files.
Troubleshooting: If you don't see "Gems" in the sidebar, look under a "More" or "Explore" menu. Google has moved sidebar items between updates.
Give it a clear name like "Questionnaire Structuring Assistant" and a one-line description. Keep the scope narrow on purpose: this Gem organizes forms. It does not answer them.
What you should see: A Name field and Description field, both now filled in.
In the Instructions field, tell the Gem exactly what it's allowed to do and what it must refuse to do. Be explicit about the refusal, since a general-purpose model will otherwise try to be helpful and guess at an answer if you let it.
Example instructions to paste:
You help an IT consultant structure cyber insurance questionnaires for
their clients. When given a list of section headings, produce a table
with one row per control mentioned in that section. Each row needs three
columns: Control (the specific requirement, e.g. "MFA on all admin
accounts"), Verification Method (how someone would confirm this is true,
e.g. "check Azure AD conditional access policies"), and Status (leave
blank for the consultant to fill in: Verified, Not in Place, or Needs
Check).
Never suggest or guess whether a control is actually in place at any
client. Never fill in the Status column. If asked to answer the
questionnaire rather than structure it, refuse and explain that answers
must come from the consultant after checking the client's actual
environment.
There's a wand or "Magic Pencil" icon next to the Instructions field that can expand a rough draft into fuller wording if you'd rather start from a short version.
You can attach reference PDFs to a Gem's Knowledge section, but don't upload a real client's questionnaire or past answers here. Knowledge files persist inside the Gem and could resurface for a different client by accident. Leave this section empty for this use case.
What you should see: An empty Knowledge section, which is correct.
Click "Save." Your new Gem appears in "My Gems" and in the Gem strip in the sidebar. Open it and paste in a generic list of section headings (not a real client's form) to confirm it behaves as instructed.
What you should see: A table with Control, Verification Method, and Status columns, Status left blank in every row.
Troubleshooting: If the Gem tries to fill in answers anyway, return to Step 3, make the refusal instruction more explicit, and save again.
Once the Gem behaves correctly, copy the section headings (not the client's prior answers) from the real questionnaire and paste them in.
What you should see: A structured table specific to that questionnaire's sections, ready for you to fill in after checking each control yourself.
For each row, confirm the control actually exists (MFA enabled, backups tested, a written incident response plan on file) before marking it Verified. Never mark something Verified because it sounds like something most clients probably have.
What you should see: A completed table where every Verified status reflects something you personally checked, not something the Gem or you assumed.
New questionnaire from headings:
Structure a response template for these section headings: [paste
headings only, no answers]. Same three-column format as before.
Adding a section mid-way:
Add a fourth section, Vendor Management, to the table you just built,
following the same Control/Verification Method/Status format.
Simplifying for a smaller client:
This client is a 6-person office. Trim the Access Controls section
to just the controls realistically relevant at that size.
What you should see: Your instructions saved in the field, ready to test.
Cross-checking against last year:
Here's last year's completed questionnaire structure (control names
only, no answers). Compare it to this year's section headings and
flag anything new.