# ISO/IEC 27001:2022 A.5.37 — Documented operating procedures

- Source: https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022/a-5-37-documented-operating-procedures
- Section: [Compliance](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance) › [ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A Controls](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022) › Organizational controls
- Last updated: 2026-06-05
- Publisher: iCompaas, Inc. (https://www.icompaas.com)

**ISO/IEC 27001:2022**·Annex A `A.5.37`·medium·Component: **Organizational controls**

## What this control requires

> Operating procedures for information processing facilities shall be documented and made available to personnel who need them.
> 
> — ISO/IEC 27001:2022, Annex A A.5.37

### In plain English

Operating procedures for information processing facilities shall be documented and made available to personnel who need them. In practice, this means you can prove you policy information-level controls on a defined cadence.

## Why it matters

ISO 27001 certification depends on showing each Annex A control is either implemented or explicitly justified for exclusion in the Statement of Applicability (SoA). Certification bodies sample controls during surveillance audits, and a missing SoA entry — or implementation that doesn't match the SoA wording — is a finding.

## What an auditor looks for

An ISO 27001 lead auditor looks for: (1) an SoA entry covering the control with justification, (2) a documented procedure or policy implementing it, (3) records that prove the procedure runs (logs, tickets, training records) and (4) management-review evidence that effectiveness is monitored.

Within **Organizational controls**, the assessor will trace your implementation back to the catalogue reference (Annex A A.5.37) and look for objective evidence on the latest two assessment cycles.

## How to implement

#### Policy Management

**Docs.** Keep each policy in version-controlled Markdown alongside the code that implements it; ship a signed PDF snapshot at each annual review and link the SHA into the SoA.

### Operational checklist

-   **Policy.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Information.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Management.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Scope:** information, management.

## Evidence to collect

-   **Policy Document.** A signed and version-controlled policy / standard / procedure document.

Signed policy or standard documents the safeguard. Focus: Documented operating procedures.

## Common pitfalls

-   Policies that no engineer has read; the version in Confluence drifts from the version that's actually being enforced.

## How it maps to other frameworks

Computed from shared tags, control component and key-operation subjects — handy when you are reconciling controls across an audit.

-   [**SOC 2 (2017 TSC) C1.2** — Confidential Information Disposal](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/soc-2-trust-services-criteria/c1-2-confidential-information-disposal)
-   [**ISO/IEC 42001:2023 A.2.2** — Policies for the responsible development or use of AI systems](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-42001-2023/a-2-2-policies-for-the-responsible-development-or-use-of-ai-systems)
-   [**HIPAA (45 CFR Part 164) 164.308(a)(5)(i)** — Security Awareness and Training](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa/164-308-a-5-i-security-awareness-and-training)
-   [**GDPR Article 8** — Conditions applicable to child's consent in relation to information society services](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/gdpr/article-8-conditions-applicable-to-child-s-consent-in-relation-to-information-society)
-   [**NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 3 3.13.15** — Session Authenticity](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-171-rev-3/3-13-15-session-authenticity)

## Related controls in ISO/IEC 27001:2022

-   [**Annex A A.5.13** — Labelling of information](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022/a-5-13-labelling-of-information)
-   [**Annex A A.5.1** — Policies for information security](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022/a-5-1-policies-for-information-security)
-   [**Annex A A.5.4** — Management responsibilities](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022/a-5-4-management-responsibilities)
-   [**Annex A A.5.10** — Acceptable use of information and other associated assets](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022/a-5-10-acceptable-use-of-information-and-other-associated-assets)
-   [**Annex A A.5.12** — Classification of information](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022/a-5-12-classification-of-information)
-   [**Annex A A.5.14** — Information transfer](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022/a-5-14-information-transfer)

## References

-   [ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 27 — ISO/IEC 27001:2022](https://www.iso.org/standard/27001)
-   Catalogue identifier: `Annex A A.5.37`

Topics: governance riskpolicy management

## Related compliance guidance

- [ISO/IEC 27001:2022 compliance: a practical implementation guide](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022): Start with the full ISO 27001 implementation guide — scope, roadmap, evidence and how the assessment runs.
- [SOC 2 compliance: a practical implementation guide for cloud-native SaaS teams](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/soc-2-trust-services-criteria): Most companies that hold ISO 27001 also need a SOC 2 report for North American customers, and the two share most of their technical controls.