# NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 PM-5 — System Inventory - Source: https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/pm-5-system-inventory - Section: [Compliance](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance) › [NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 Controls](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5) › PM — Program Management - Last updated: 2026-06-05 - Publisher: iCompaas, Inc. (https://www.icompaas.com) **NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5**·Control `PM-5`·high·Component: **Program Management** ## What this control requires > Develop and update an inventory of organizational systems at a defined frequency, in accordance with OMB A-130 guidelines, ensuring comprehensive documentation and reporting of systems across the organization. This control supports the System Inventory Management capability within the Program Management family. > > — NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5, Control PM-5 ### In plain English Develop and update an inventory of organizational systems at a defined frequency, in accordance with OMB A-130 guidelines, ensuring comprehensive documentation and reporting of systems across the organization. In practice, this means you can prove you policy management-level controls on a defined cadence. ## Why it matters SP 800-53 is the catalogue every U.S. federal authorisation (FedRAMP, FISMA, CMMC) and most regulated industries point at. A missing control surfaces as a Plan of Action & Milestones (POA&M) item that an Authorizing Official must approve before the Authority To Operate is granted or renewed. This control is rated **high**. Auditors expect a named owner, a remediation SLA, and a tooling artefact that evidences continuous operation. ## What an auditor looks for A 3PAO (FedRAMP) or Independent Assessor (NIST RMF) tests against NIST SP 800-53A assessment procedures. For each control they expect a documented implementation that addresses every assessment objective (Examine, Interview, Test) and an implementation summary in the System Security Plan. Within **Program Management**, the assessor will trace your implementation back to the catalogue reference (Control PM-5) 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. #### Asset Inventory **AWS.** AWS Config Aggregator across every account + region gives a real-time inventory; ship the daily snapshot to S3 and surface drift in Security Hub. **Azure.** Azure Resource Graph plus Defender for Cloud's inventory blade enumerates every subscription; export to Log Analytics for retention and Workbooks for reporting. **GCP.** Cloud Asset Inventory exports a daily feed of every resource and IAM binding; query via BigQuery and alert on appearance/disappearance. **Endpoints.** Pipe MDM telemetry (Intune / Jamf / Workspace ONE) into your CMDB so laptops and phones are inventoried with the same rigour as cloud resources. ### Operational checklist - **Policy.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **System.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Control.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Documentation.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Inventory.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Scope:** management, organization, system, capability, systems, policy, inventory, documentation. ## Evidence to collect - **Policy Document.** A signed and version-controlled policy / standard / procedure document. Signed policy or standard documents the safeguard. Focus: System Inventory. ## Common pitfalls - Policies that no engineer has read; the version in Confluence drifts from the version that's actually being enforced. - Inventories that exclude SaaS, shadow IT and ephemeral cloud resources (Lambda, Cloud Run, K8s pods) miss the assets where most modern incidents start. ## 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. - [**CIS Controls v8 3.2** — Establish and Maintain a Data Inventory](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/cis-controls-v8/3-2-establish-and-maintain-a-data-inventory) - [**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) - [**BSI C5:2020 AM-01** — Asset Inventory](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/bsi-c5-2020/am-01-asset-inventory) ## Related controls in NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 - [**Control SA-4(4)** — Assignment Of Components To Systems](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/sa-4-4-assignment-of-components-to-systems) - [**Control CA-6(2)** — Joint Authorization -- Inter-Organization](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/ca-6-2-joint-authorization-inter-organization) - [**Control CM-8** — System Component Inventory](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/cm-8-system-component-inventory) - [**Control CM-8(6)** — Assessed Configurations And Approved Deviations](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/cm-8-6-assessed-configurations-and-approved-deviations) - [**Control MA-6(3)** — Automated Support For Predictive Maintenance](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/ma-6-3-automated-support-for-predictive-maintenance) - [**Control PE-21** — Electromagnetic Pulse Protection](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/pe-21-electromagnetic-pulse-protection) ## References - [NIST Computer Security Resource Center — NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5](https://csrc.nist.gov/Projects/risk-management/sp800-53-controls) - Catalogue identifier: `Control PM-5` Topics: governance riskpolicy managementasset inventorypatch management ## Related compliance guidance - [NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5: a practical implementation guide for cloud teams](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5): Start with the full NIST SP 800-53 implementation guide — scope, roadmap, evidence and how the assessment runs. - [NIST SP 800-171 and CMMC: a practical guide to protecting CUI in the cloud](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-171-rev-3): If your obligation is protecting CUI in your own systems for a federal or defence contract, this derived subset — not the full catalogue — is the requirement. - [SOC 2 compliance: a practical implementation guide for cloud-native SaaS teams](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/soc-2-trust-services-criteria): Most commercial SaaS already hold a SOC 2 Type 2, and FedRAMP 20x Class A is designed for providers that have one.