A3.2.1 Quarterly and change-driven scope documentation and validation
PCI DSS scope must be documented and checked as accurate every three months at a minimum, and again whenever the in-scope environment changes significantly. As a minimum the scoping validation must: identify every data flow across payment stages (such as authorization, capture and settlement, plus refunds and chargebacks) and every acceptance channel (for example e-commerce, card-present and card-not-present); bring every data-flow diagram up to date under Requirement 1.2.4; locate everywhere account data is held, processed or sent, including 1) locations outside the defined CDE, 2) applications handling CHD, 3) transmissions between networks and systems, and 4) backup files; for account data found outside the CDE, the entity must 1) delete it securely, 2) relocate it into the CDE, or 3) extend the CDE so that it is covered; identify every system component in, connected to, or able to affect the security of the CDE; identify all segmentation controls and the environments segmented from the CDE, with justification for out-of-scope environments; identify all third-party connections with CDE access; and confirm all identified flows, data, components, segmentation controls and third-party connections are in scope. Linked to the PCI DSS scoping section, Requirement 12. Applies only to designated entities. Objective under the customized approach: not eligible for the customized approach; only the defined approach can be used.
Source: PCI DSS v4.0.1, A3.2.1. 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 PCI DSS v4.0.1 in the compliance library.
Version 4.0.1 is the active version; 4.0 has been retired. Appendix A1 applies only to multi-tenant service providers, A2 only to card-present POS POI terminals that still use SSL or early TLS, and A3 only when a payment brand or acquirer requires it. Which requirements apply to you follows your validation type.
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
- Account data location register (data stores, CHD elements, protection method, logging) · Identity provider / directory
periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review
- Four most recent quarterly scope validation reports · Policy repository / GRC workspace
- Records of disposition of account data found outside the CDE · Identity provider / directory
governing documentDocuments that govern the control
- Current data-flow diagrams by payment stage and channel · Document repository
- Segmentation inventory with out-of-scope justifications · Policy repository / GRC workspace
- Third-party connection register · Vendor register / contract repository
First move
Common gaps auditors find
- Scope reviewed only once a year at assessment time
- Backups and chargeback or refund flows missing from the data-flow diagrams
- Third-party support connections not listed in the scope review
- Data found outside the CDE noted but no deletion, migration or scope expansion decision recorded
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 sheetA3.1.4 Annual PCI DSS training for compliance personnel · A3.2.2 Scope impact of every system or network change