Understanding Policy and Compliance Management in ServiceNow GRC: Concepts, Lifecycle, and Real-Time

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Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) is more than just audits or checklists — it’s about ensuring your organization follows rules, manages risks, and meets regulatory obligations in a structured way.

Within ServiceNow GRC, Policy and Compliance Management bridges the gap between organizational expectations (policies) and evidence of adherence (controls and compliance).

This post explains the core concepts, lifecycle, and real-world examples to help you understand how it works in practice.

 

1. Policies: Defining Organizational Rules

A policy is a high-level statement that defines what must be done within the organization. Policies provide guidance, set expectations, and create accountability.

Examples of policies in real organizations:

• Information Security Policy

• Access Control Policy

• Data Retention Policy

• Vendor Risk Policy

Real-Time Scenario:
In a finance company, an Access Control Policy ensures all system access requests go through manager approval and quarterly review. Without a formal policy, auditors would have no single source of truth during compliance checks.

 

2. Policy Statements: Making Policies Actionable

A policy statement is a specific requirement within a policy. It is measurable, enforceable, and testable.

Example Policy Statement:

“All users must enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) for remote access.”

Real-Time Scenario:
A company rolling out MFA across multiple applications uses policy statements to track which systems comply and which need remediation. This makes reporting to management and auditors simple and consistent.

 

3. Policy Lifecycle: From Draft to Retired

Policies in ServiceNow have a structured lifecycle, ensuring accountability and continuous governance.

Stage                        Description                                                            Real-Time Scenario

Draft	Policy is created	Security team drafts Data Retention Policy
Review	Stakeholders provide input	IT, Legal, and Compliance teams review and provide comments
Approval	Policy is formally approved	CISO approves the Information Security Policy
Published	Policy is active and visible	Employees are notified to acknowledge (attestation)
Retired	Policy is no longer applicable	Old vendor risk policy is retired after process update

Lifecycle workflows in ServiceNow help track progress, approvals, and versioning, ensuring policies are always current and auditable.

 

4. Compliance: Aligning Policies to Standards

Compliance ensures that your organization meets laws, regulations, industry standards, and internal policies.

Examples:

• ISO 27001

• GDPR

• SOX

Real-Time Scenario:
A healthcare company maps its Data Protection Policy to GDPR requirements. Each policy statement links to specific GDPR articles, making it easy to see which parts of the organization are compliant and where gaps exist.

Authority Documents in ServiceNow act as the source of compliance requirements, which are then linked to policies, controls, and audits.

 

5. Controls: Enforcing Policies

A control is an activity or process that ensures a policy is followed and compliance requirements are met.

Types of Controls:

• Manual – Human-performed actions (e.g., quarterly access review)

• Automated – System-enforced actions (e.g., password complexity rules)

• Hybrid – Combination of manual and automated

Control Objectives explain why a control exists.

Real-Time Scenario:
An organization maps its Access Control Policy to controls such as:

• User Access Approval (manual)

• Periodic Access Review (manual)

• Automated De-provisioning (automated)

Mapping controls to policies and regulations provides traceability, making audits more straightforward.

 

Entity Scoping: The “Where” and “Who” of Controls

Entity Scoping defines where and to whom a control applies. ServiceNow uses Entity Types, Entities, and Entity Filters to scope controls accurately.

1. Entity Type: The category of objects a control applies to.

   • Examples: User, Group, Department, Business Application, Location

2. Entity: The specific object the control applies to.

   • Examples: HR Payroll System (Business Application), Finance Department (Department), John Doe (User)

3. Entity Filter: Criteria to dynamically select entities based on attributes or status.

   • Examples: All active users, employees in Finance, critical business applications

Real-Time Scenario:
For ISO 27001 Access Control compliance:

Component                                     Example

Policy	Access Control Policy
Control Objective	Ensure only authorized users have access to sensitive systems
Entity Type	Business Application
Entity	HR Payroll System
Entity Filter	All active users in HR department
Control	Quarterly access review + automated de-provisioning

Proper Entity Scoping ensures controls are applied accurately, dynamically, and audit-ready.

 

6. Policy Exceptions: Handling Real-World Constraints

Sometimes a policy cannot be fully implemented due to operational or technical constraints. This is handled via policy exceptions.

Real-Time Scenario:
A legacy application cannot support MFA. A policy exception is logged in ServiceNow, with:

• Justification for the exception

• Compensating controls (e.g., enhanced monitoring)

• Expiration date for review

Exceptions make risks visible and ensure they are not ignored.

 

7. Policy Attestation: Confirming Awareness

Attestation is the process of ensuring employees acknowledge and understand published policies.

Real-Time Scenario:
After publishing the Information Security Policy, all employees receive attestation tasks in ServiceNow. The compliance team can see who has acknowledged and follow up on non-responses. This streamlines audit readiness.

 

8. Issue and Remediation Management

When a control fails or a compliance gap is identified, ServiceNow can:

• Automatically create issues

• Assign remediation tasks

• Track progress and verify closure

Real-Time Scenario:
During a quarterly access review, a control failure is detected (a user still has access after leaving). ServiceNow automatically generates an issue, assigns it to IT, and tracks closure.

 

9. End-to-End Example: Access Control Compliance

Scenario: ISO 27001 Access Control Compliance

1. Authority Document: ISO 27001 uploaded, access control requirements defined

2. Policy Creation: Access Control Policy created; policy statements defined and published

3. Control Definition: Manual and automated controls created with Control Objectives

4. Entity Scoping: Entity Types, Entities, and Entity Filters defined to target the correct users and systems

5. Mapping: Controls linked to policy statements and ISO requirements

6. Testing: Quarterly access review performed, evidence collected

7. Reporting: Compliance dashboard shows % of compliant controls, failed tests, and open issues

This workflow connects policies, statements, controls, objectives, entities, and compliance, making it traceable, auditable, and actionable.

 

Conclusion

ServiceNow GRC’s Policy and Compliance Management is more than a checklist — it is a framework that turns policies into enforceable, measurable actions and links them directly to compliance requirements.

By understanding the lifecycle of a policy, mapping policy statements to controls, handling exceptions, and using attestation and issue management, organizations can:

• Improve visibility into compliance across teams

• Reduce audit preparation time

• Ensure accountability and continuous governance

In short, integrating policies, compliance, and controls in a workflow-driven platform helps organizations move from reactive compliance to proactive, audit-ready governance.