EvidenceSheet
NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 · PT - PII Processing and Transparency

PT-3 Personally Identifiable Information Processing Purposes

a. Identify and document the organization-defined purpose(s) for processing personally identifiable information; b. Describe the purpose(s) in the public privacy notices and policies of the organization; c. Restrict the organization-defined processing of personally identifiable information to only that which is compatible with the identified purpose(s); and d. Monitor changes in processing personally identifiable information and implement organization-defined mechanisms to ensure that any changes are made in accordance with organization-defined requirements.

Source: NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5, PT-3. 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 NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 in the compliance library.

Base controls and their enhancements. Which apply follows the baseline you are assessed against (for example FedRAMP Moderate or High, or the low, moderate and high baselines of SP 800-53B). Text in square brackets is a parameter your organisation sets.

10
artefacts
0
held by a system
1
at each review
hard
to go live
Policy repository / GRC workspace
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

none for this control

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

  • Test of Organizational processes for authorizing the processing of personally identifiable information; mechanisms supporting and/or implementing the management of authorized personally identifiable information processing; organizational processes for monitoring changes in processing personally identifiable · SIEM / log platform

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

  • Personally identifiable information processing and transparency policy and procedures · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • Configuration management plan · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • Organizational privacy notices · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • Organizational policies · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • Privacy Act statements · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • Computer matching notices · Document repository
  • Applicable Federal Register notices · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • Documented requirements for enforcing and monitoring the processing of personally identifiable information · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • Privacy plan · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

No system holds this evidence for you: it is people and documents. Reminders and routing to the owner still save time. Put the document under version control with an owner and review date, and log each review as a record with reviewer and date.

Common gaps auditors find

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.

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PT-2(2) Authority to Process Personally Identifiable Information | Automation · PT-3(1) Personally Identifiable Information Processing Purposes | Data Tagging