a question has a follow-up question if you select yes how does that work

Follow-up questions come from the same chain file

If you enter "yes" to a question, a follow-up question may then appear that asks for a more specific answer or evidence. In the system, this works just like any other question: it searches the chain file for an answer that matches the follow-up question and displays it as a suggestion. For example, if you enter "yes" to whether the business is ISO 9001-certified, a question often follows about the validity date of the certificate or the certifying body. If that detail is in the file, the system fills it in; if it is not, the follow-up question remains open until you answer it yourself or update the file.

The same pattern applies to questions about measures, such as the ten measures from Article 21(2) of the NIS2 Directive or the control measures from Annex A of ISO/IEC 27001. "Yes, we have access control" then triggers a follow-up question about the last review date or document number. If you do not have that ready, you can leave the follow-up question as "no" or "unknown" — this does not block the rest of the list. You confirm each question separately, so an unanswered follow-up question does not have to prevent the main answer from going through.

Why follow-up questions stand alone

This follows from the principle that the system makes a suggestion per question and the client confirms each answer separately. A follow-up question is technically a new question requiring its own source, not an automatic supplement to the previous answer. In sustainability lists following the EFRAG VSME basic module, you often see this with questions that switch from a general topic to a specific figure or year — each step is presented separately and confirmed separately, even if the questions are substantively linked.