What evidence do auditors commonly ask for on PE-8 Visitor Access Records?

SSP PE-8 statement describing visitor log contents, one year retention and monthly review; Visitor register entries for sampled months and monthly review sign-off; Environmental monitoring readings for temperature, humidity, and water leak sensors; Fire suppression and UPS maintenance records; Physical security policy and facility risk assessment; Badge access system audit log and door alarm reports.

What is the most common gap auditors find on PE-8?

Server room doors propped open during cooling failures

FedRAMP Moderate (NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 baseline) · PE - Physical and Environmental Protection

`PE-8` Visitor Access Records

Maintain visitor access records for FedRAMP-defined period (1 year); review records monthly (FedRAMP).

Source: FedRAMP Moderate (NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 baseline), PE-8. The statement above is our statement of the clause, read from the published text and cited so you can check it against the official text, not the instrument verbatim. Open FedRAMP Moderate (NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 baseline) in the compliance library.

A FedRAMP baseline is a subset of NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5, enhancements included.

artefacts

held by a system

at each review

hard

to go live

Physical access / facilities

where the evidence lives

teal = a system already holds it · olive = produced at each review. To go live: easy when half or more of the artefacts are already held by a system, moderate from a quarter to a half, hard below a quarter.

These are the artefacts auditors commonly ask for on this requirement, our guidance rather than text from the standard. Your assessor decides what is sufficient in your context, and asks for samples across the period when a report covers one.

system holds itEvidence a system already holds

Environmental monitoring readings for temperature, humidity, and water leak sensors · Physical access / facilities

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

Fire suppression and UPS maintenance records · Backup / DR tooling
Physical security policy and facility risk assessment · Physical access / facilities
Badge access system audit log and door alarm reports · Physical access / facilities

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

SSP PE-8 statement describing visitor log contents, one year retention and monthly review · Policy repository / GRC workspace
Visitor register entries for sampled months and monthly review sign-off · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

Mostly documents and reviews. Pull the 1 system-held artefact from your Physical access / facilities on a schedule; put the documents under version control with an owner and review date, and log each review as a dated record with a named reviewer.

Common gaps auditors find

Server room doors propped open during cooling failures
CCTV coverage gaps at loading docks and equipment delivery areas
Tailgating observed without challenge during walkthroughs

Do this for your whole sheet

Paste the rows you run your controls from and get this mapping for every control at once, with the periodic-review ones flagged and a first move per row. No account for the first run.

Build my evidence sheet

PE-6(1) Monitoring Physical Access | Intrusion Alarms and Surveillance Equipment (PE-6(1)) · PE-9 Power Equipment and Cabling (PE-9)