ISO 27001 Document and Record Control Procedure Template

Introduction

In today’s digital world, information security is not just a technical necessity but also one of the core business needs. Organisations, no matter how small or large, are noticing increasing requirements for the proper handling of sensitive, confidential  information, adherence to regulations, and building trust with customers and partners. This creates the rise in need for the implementation and execution of one of the popular international standards for information security is ISO 27001. Document and Record Control Procedure-the most critical and most frequently ignored document, as far as ISO 27001 policies set is concerned. No matter how well-built your security controls are, they become insufficient without an established and long sustainable control process for managing your documents and records. Here we provide all the necessary information about the ISO 27001 Document and Record Control Procedure Template, including its purpose, structure, best practices, and key elements for successful implementation. Thus, whether you're preparing for certification or simply seeking to enhance your ISMS, this is your guide to getting it right. 

What is ISO 27001 Document and Record Control?

The core component of an effective ISMS is a document and record management system. It manages any form of information, including policies, procedures, logs, reports, and others, in ways that support security, compliance, and business continuity.

Key Definitions

• Document Control: It describes the process of managing documents in the ISMS-creation, review, approval, release, and revision.
  
  
• Record Control: The standard procedure for managing records, witness or trace evidence of an activity, decision, or event that ensures authenticity, reliability, and easy retrieval when needed.

Importance of Document and Record Control in ISO 27001 Compliance

• Compliance: ISO 27001 requires documented information management in such a way that it is accessible and appropriate for use and adequately protected.
  
  
• Consistency: A standard and effective control avoids the use of outdated or incorrect information, thus decreasing errors and miscommunication.
  
  
• Traceability: A well-managed system allows tracking changes, approvals, and access, which could be fit for audits and investigations.
  
  
• Business Continuity: Secured archiving and backup of records, where healthy organizations stash an emergency cache from which they may recover quickly from events or disasters.
  
  
• Risk Management: Safety of confidential documents and records minimizes the risk of breaches of data with corresponding penalties, such as regulatory fines or punishment.

Requirements As Laid Down By ISO 27001 for Documented Information

ISO 27001:2022 specifies the requirements necessary from Clause 7.5 as to the documented information. The standard compels organizations to:

• Clearly identify and describe documents and records.
  
  
• Approve documents for adequacy prior to use.
  
  
• Review and update documents as necessary.
  
  
• Ensure documents are available where and when needed.
  
  
• Protect documents from loss of confidentiality, improper use, or loss of integrity.

Components of an Effective Document and Record Control Procedure Template

A properly drafted Document Control Procedure example document should cover the following components: 

• Purpose and Scope
  • Define what the purpose of the procedure is and the scope of its applicability to types of documents and records used and maintained throughout the organization in accordance with standard and regulatory guidelines. 
    
    
• Roles and Responsibilities
  • Information on who is responsible for the creation, review, approval, distribution, and archiving of documents and records. Management of an organization has to clearly design and define the role based responsibilities to avoid conflicts in deliveries. 
    
    
• Document Creation and Approval
  • Articulate the process by which documents are drafted, reviewed, and approved before being released. This includes version control, document numbering, and classification.
    
    
• Document Distribution and Access 
  • How documents shall be made available to personnel authorized to obtain access, and an outline of how access shall be controlled has to be clearly documented and spread awareness to the employees within the specific departments.
    
    
• Document Review and Update 
  • Periodic intervals or frequencies for the review of documents, as well as the procedure with which updates or amendments shall be carried out. 
    
    
• Obsolete Documents and Records
  • The date by which outdated documents should be withdrawn from usage, and after which obsolete records should be disposed of or secured. Hence, companies are required to create, maintain and train the employees regarding “Secure Disposal Policy”. This policy should cover the types of documents under use, kind of data recorded in those policies and the measures to dispose of the data and data carriers. 
    
    
• Record Identification and Storage 
  • How the records are to be recognized, stored, and secured to ensure readability, retrievability, and security during the entire span of retention.
    
    
• Retention and Disposal
  • Retention periods for the different categories of records, as well as safe disposal procedures after the retention period ends. 
    
    
• Protection and Backup
  • The specific measures used to protect the document or record against being opened, destroyed, or lost, including backup procedures. 
    
    
• Control of External Documents 
  • Guidance on the handling of externally received documents will be added to ensure such papers are well identified and controlled.

Best Practices For Document and Record Control as per ISO 27001 Standard

To ensure the document control and records management procedure is effective and audit friendly, every organization should follow these below mentioned steps - 

• Centralized Repository: Storing all the documents, policies and records in a secure, easy accessible location is advised. As the technology is rising, and with the intervention and innovative capabilities of Artificial Intelligence, there is an exponential shift from maintaining the documents physically. 

And it is becoming impossible to record the evidence and manage the documents.

During the Auditing phase, these documents are presented as the proof of evidence which actually explains the details of the entire ISO standard implementation. Hence, if there is a practice of creating, recording and maintaining the policies, documents in a digital formats and storing them in an organized cloud database or a repository with firewall and other necessary protection measures, will ensure the information security and drastically reduces the chances of data being exposed to the cyber threats and vulnerabilities. 

• Automate Version Control: Organizations are advised to adapt to the tools or softwares that automatically track the changes, enable approvals, and provide the access to ensure only the latest versions are in use. This improves the efficiency and productivity of ISO 27001 standard implementation in the organization. 
  
  
• Naming Conventions: Using standardized naming conventions for the policies and documents, using department specific, objective oriented and using numerics if necessary could improve the document control practices and uplifts the performance and accuracy of maintaining the records. 
  
  
• Regular Reviews: Scheduling the periodic review of documents to ensure they are properly maintained according to the standard and regulatory guidelines. This is advised to the companies to avoid the last minute conflicts, confusion and errors during the auditing phase. Hence, a person or a team responsible for compliance management should ensure the accuracy and constant practice of regular documentation reviews. 
  
  
• Access Management: Access to the critical, confidential information is equal to giving the access of the treasure/vault. Hence, providing the access to the general or irrelevant people will open the ways to information theft and data leaks. Companies today, are maintaining their database on clouds, servers, and in digital formats, as a result, role based access and geo-restrictions can be a defensive measure to avoid unauthorized access to the critical information. 
  
  
• Backup and Recovery: Data backup and recovery is one of the most important strategic decisions any organization should take during their management review meetings. As the information is stored in systems, clouds, etc, taking the backup of this stored information periodically becomes the key element to be followed in the organizations. 
  
  
• Training and Awareness: Any decisions taken at a top level, will be successful only if it is properly communicated, passed on and created awareness to the employees. Because, the hierarchy of the decision matrix flows from top to bottom. Hence, employees of the organization are to be assigned with specific roles and responsibilities to help them understand the objectives, goals and mission of the organization and its impact on the comprehensive protection of the companies will ensure the successful implementation of ISO 27001 standard and maintaining the SOPs as advised by the standard to maintain global competition. 

Typical Challenges and Ways to Overcome Them

• Resistance to Change
  • Employees might resist changing processes. Involving them in the planning stage, providing training, and showcasing the value of strong document control can help overcome this barrier.
    
    
• Lack of Resources
  • Limited resources would be a point of contention for smaller organizations. Start with small-scale, straightforward solutions and work towards an automated process wherever possible.
    
    
• Complexity 
  • Avoid creating overly complicated procedures. Keep it simple yet direct and concentrate on the main essentials in writing. 
    
    
• Consistency
  • Employ templates and checklists in ensuring all documentations and record keeping are generally successful and consistent.

Selecting the Right ISO 27001 Document and Records Control Template

The right contents which can help in capturing the information needed regarding document control policy in line with ISO 27001 regulatory requirements must possess the following heads; 

• Comprehensive Coverage: It should be full fledged to accompany the complete lifecycle of the document and record.
  
  
• Customizability: The template should adapt to your organization-specific requirements.
  
  
• Clarity: Instructions and parts should be easy to understand and follow.
  
  
• Audit-Ready Format: It should allow evidence collection for easy audits.
  
  
• Digital Compatibility: Make sure it can be integrated into your document management system.

Sample Structure of Document and Record Control Procedure Template

• Introduction - This section outlines the details of the policy template. It introduces the reader with the meaning and how the document and record control procedure template is being used and maintained by an organization. 
  
  
• Purpose - The purpose section of any document is added in the key contents of a policy to state the very purpose or an objective of creating, maintaining and the importance of this document in brief. 
  
  
• Scope - Scope is one of the key parameters in every policy document. This section identifies the target audience and outlines the boundaries pertaining to who all (employees of organization)  and what all is being covered in this document. But this is still limited to the organization’s boundaries. 
  
  
• Roles and Responsibilities - Identifying roles and assigning responsibilities to the specific skilled and trained employees is very crucial for the management. As ISO 27001 is a global standard, the roles and responsibilities which are to be a part of this standard involved in execution, are to be rightly picked to avoid any sort of deviations in handling the assigned role. Hence the people who are experienced in this compliance are to be selected or to be trained accordingly. 
  
  
• Document Creation - This describes how the documents are created, drafted, reviewed and approved.
  
  
• Distribution and Access - Details about with whom the access of this document is shared and how it is shared is briefed in this section of the document. 
  
  
• Obsolete Documents or document disposal - This explains how the documents are crashed, taken down or disposed of once the objective of preparing the document is met or obtained. 
  
  
• Record Identification - Details about how the records are labelled, named and stored in an organized repository. The unique identification or method of naming the documents will help in easy access when needed and sort out based on the categories and purpose. 
  
  
• Retention and Disposal - Provides the timeframe for the documents by describing how long the document to be used and methods of disposing it once the need is over or the expiry of given time. 
  
  
• Protection and Backup - Explains the document security and protection measures for the policies created in the organization. And provides the details on backup frequency and methods and ways of restoring the backed data. This helps in proper data management from end-to-end points. 
  
  
• Control of External Documents - This section of a document outlines the guidance for handling the documents from third parties. Ex: How to receive, whom to receive, which folder the document to be stored and provided access with etc. 

Conclusion

A very strong ISO 27001 Document and Record Control Procedure Template is needed by an organization that hopes to be or remain certified in ISO 27001. The implementation of best practices and the use of automations along with the building of an information security culture will also draw one closer to meeting compliance as well as building a better and healthier organization against these attacks.

And don't forget, document and record control is just a bit more than checkbox auditing-it's about protection for your company, customers, and reputation.