How to Build Policies That Reflect Real Life

Building compliance policies that match practice starts long before you open a Word document. It’s a process of listening, mapping, and translating—so your policy becomes a mirror, not a mask.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Start with how things actually work

Before drafting or updating a policy, sit down with the people doing the work. If it’s an access control policy, that means IT and HR. If it’s an incident response policy, talk to your security and communications leads.

Ask:

• How do you currently handle this process?
• What’s working? What’s not?
• What’s documented, and what’s tribal knowledge?

This gives you a real baseline—because a policy built on assumptions will fail an audit every time.

2. Align with framework requirements (without overcomplicating)

Once you understand how things work, map them against the framework you’re targeting: FedRAMP, SOC 2, ISO 27001, etc. Identify where your current practices already meet the control and where they fall short.

Don’t add complexity for the sake of compliance. Auditors appreciate clarity and consistency far more than buzzwords or borrowed language from NIST SP 800-53.

3. Write in plain language

Policies are only useful if people can actually follow them. Write as if you’re explaining to someone new on the job, not to a panel of lawyers.

For example:
❌ “All personnel shall adhere to organizational protocols for credential lifecycle management in accordance with NIST SP 800-63-3.”
✅ “All employees must use unique passwords and change them every 90 days. The IT team manages and reviews user accounts monthly.”

Plain language keeps everyone on the same page—and makes audits smoother because assessors can see what you mean without deciphering jargon.

4. Assign clear ownership

Every policy should include who owns it, who enforces it, and who updates it. Without that, even the best-written policies lose traction.

Example:

• Policy Owner: Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)
• Reviewed By: Compliance Manager
• Last Reviewed: March 2025

That clarity turns a static document into a living, accountable process.

5. Review and update regularly

Systems change, tools evolve, and staff turns over. A policy written three years ago might be completely irrelevant today. Schedule an annual (or semiannual) review of every compliance policy and note the version history in the document.

This tells auditors you’re not just compliant, you’re continuously improving.

What Auditors Look For

When auditors evaluate your compliance policies, they’re not just checking for existence. They’re checking for alignment. Specifically, they look for:

1. Consistency across documents. If your policy says one thing and your SSP, procedures, or controls say another, that’s a red flag.
2. Evidence of implementation. Policies are promises; auditors look for proof those promises are kept.
3. Version control and ownership. They want to see who’s responsible, when it was last reviewed, and whether it’s up to date.
4. Accessibility. Can staff easily find and reference the policies that apply to them?
5. Clarity. Ambiguous or overly complex language can cause findings simply because auditors can’t confirm intent.

In short, auditors want to see that your policies are more than shelfware. They should be clear, actionable, and actually practiced.