The Statement of Applicability (SOA) | Statement of Applicability Excel Template
What is the Statement of Applicability?
The Statement of Applicability (SOA) is a document that provides information for determining if an organization needs to comply with the Privacy Act. This act governs how personal data can be collected, used, and disclosed by governments. For example, if your business collects any personal data from Canadians or residents of other countries who visit our website, you may need to comply with this act.
The SOA Excel Template outlines the criteria that are used to determine whether an organization is subject. In addition, it includes information about how personal data is collected, not shared without the consent of individuals and what retention periods must be followed.
Why Is It Useful?
The Statement of Applicability is required for some environmental permits. It documents the specific land disturbance activities that will be subject to this permit and the duration of those activities and site restoration requirements after they are completed. The SOA can also include any other relevant information that may impact natural resources or human health, including minimizing adverse impacts on public health, safety, and welfare caused by these activities.
Why Is the Statement of Applicability Template So Important?
The Statement of Applicability Template is important for several reasons.
- It helps the patent examiner to determine what the invention does and how it solves problems.
- The statement also defines an inventive concept, which helps in determining if your invention is novel or not.
- Finally, the Statement of Applicability Excel Template spells out what you are claiming as your invention, which can help narrow down specific claims that may interfere with other patents or applications.
How To Develop Your Statement of Applicability
The SOA Excel Template is a document that describes the nature of your project and why you should be funded.
Six steps to developing your statement of applicability:
- Identify and analyze risks:
- Consider which stakeholders were involved in producing the SOA- Your analysis could include input from various stakeholders, including management, marketing teams, engineers, etc.
- If there are many stakeholders involved, you might identify each one’s knowledge or role in producing the SOA and how they contributed to risk identification so that you can analyze their input.
- Select Controls to Treat Risks:
Select Controls to Treat Risks should be used at key phases throughout the System Integration Methodology (SIM).
These include:
When validating gaps between current security controls and those required by any risk treatment strategy;
During design, when analyzing potential risks within your information system or network environment for inclusion in a Statement of Applicability;
At development time, when planning mitigation strategies for identified risks that are included in the SIEM; and
Before deployment during an operational readiness review (ORR), where you can ensure new components will not introduce additional risks.
- Plan your risk treatment in the statement of applicability:
- How to Implement Controls:
A statement of acceptability (SOA) Excel Template is an important document that outlines the acceptance criteria for a product or process. An SOA must be written before you can have any control actions in place, but it is also an opportunity to implement controls using key performance indicators and other metrics.
To create a successful SOA, you need to follow these five steps:
- Define the scope.
- Identify key performance indicators and objectives.
- Determine acceptable levels of risk based on those KPIs and objectives.
- Implement at least one control action from each category-monitoring/auditing, inspection/sampling, corrective action/preventative maintenance, and verification.
- And finally, most importantly-implement a system of continuous improvement to monitor those KPIs. The first three steps are typically used as part of the risk analysis process; however, you must continually assess your organization’s risks and make any necessary changes or updates to your SOA. You can also use this process for audits such as ISO 14001 (Environmental) Audits.
- Maintain the Statement of Applicability:
- Ensure that the document is kept up to date.
- Update as necessary, keeping in mind all information it contains.
- Benefits of the Statement of Applicability:
The following are six reasons why this is a vital document to have in your arsenal:
- It helps establish eligibility requirements.
- It provides an overview of crucial information related to the applicant’s qualifications.
- It assists with determining whether the applicant meets all necessary criteria.
- It documents any exceptional circumstances such as disability-related accommodations.
- The SOA will be referenced throughout the application process and may at times serve as proof of documentation (i.e., transcripts).
- Finally, it can serve as a basis for an “official” letter of good standing, which some institutions require.
