NIST CSF tables

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated August 10, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of NIST CSF tables

    The NIST CSF tables in ServiceNow's Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) application are designed to support the implementation and management of the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF). These tables facilitate tracking of cybersecurity activities, gaps, non-compliance, risks, issues, action plans, failed indicators, and related control objectives. They enable comprehensive reporting and detailed analysis relevant to cybersecurity controls and risk management aligned with NIST CSF.

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    Key Tables and Their Purposes

    • Target [sngrctarget]: Serves as a central entity to track attributes specific to use-case content packs. It ensures unique referencing of entities across records.
    • NIST CSF Activity [snirmnistcsfnistcsfactivity]: Tracks cybersecurity activities for targets, supporting gap analysis to identify gaps, non-compliant controls, risks, issues, failed indicators, and action plans.
    • Gaps [snirmnistcsfm2mpolicystatenistcsfact]: Records control objectives not yet implemented, facilitating reporting and drill-down. It associates gaps to targets in a many-to-many relationship.
    • Non-compliant Control [snirmnistcsfm2mcxontrolsnistcsfact]: Tracks controls identified as non-compliant within implemented cybersecurity control objectives. Supports detailed reporting and links controls to targets.
    • Risk [snirmnistcsfm2mrisksnistcsfactivities]: Captures risks associated with implemented cybersecurity controls, enabling risk tracking and analysis tied to targets.
    • Issue [snirmnistcsfm2missuesnistcsfact]: Tracks issues related to implemented controls and associated risks, supporting comprehensive issue management linked to targets.
    • Action Plan [snirmnistcsfm2mremediationnistcsfact]: Manages action plans or remediation tasks for identified issues, facilitating follow-up and resolution activities.
    • Failed Indicators [snirmnistcsfm2mindicatorsnistcsfact]: Tracks failed indicators related to targets, controls, or risks for monitoring and reporting purposes.
    • Related Control Objectives [sncompliancem2mpolicystmtpolicystmt]: Enables association between control objectives at the same level, complementing parent-child relationships in control objective hierarchy.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    Using these NIST CSF tables, customers can efficiently manage cybersecurity activities aligned with the NIST framework. The tables support detailed tracking of compliance status, risk identification, and remediation efforts. Their many-to-many relationships enable flexible associations between targets and various cybersecurity elements, enhancing reporting, analysis, and governance. This structure helps organizations identify gaps, manage non-compliance, monitor risks and issues, and track remediation progress, ultimately improving cybersecurity posture and compliance management within ServiceNow GRC.

    A few tables are impacted by the NIST CSF guidance.

    Table Purpose
    Target [sn_grc_target] Target is a core table of design to be shared component among the ServiceNow GRC application and GRC use-case content packs.Target is like entity in its purpose, but is used to track any attributes specific to use-case content packs. No two target records can reference the same entity at any time.
    NIST CSF Activity [sn_irm_nist_csf_nist_csf_activity] NIST CSF Activity table is used to track cybersecurity activity relevant for a target. The activity also helps in performing gap analysis that identifies the gaps, non-complaint controls, risks, issues, failed indicators and action plans for a cybersecurity activity.
    Gaps [sn_irm_nist_csf_m2m_policy_state_nist_csf_act] Gaps table in NIST CSF is used to track control objectives that aren’t yet implemented as gaps. This table comes handy for reporting and drill down purposes. It's an m2m table that associates Gaps to Targets.
    Non-compliant Control [sn_irm_nist_csf_m2m_cxontrols_nist_csf_act] Non-compliant Control table in NIST CSF is used to track controls that are identified as non-compliant. Only cybersecurity control objectives as defined by the framework core which are implemented as controls and non-compliant are tracked. This table comes handy for reporting and drill down purposes. It's an m2m table that associates Non-compliant Controls to Targets.
    Risk [sn_irm_nist_csf_m2m_risks_nist_csf_activities] Risk table in NIST CSF is used to track risks that are associated with controls that have been implemented for cybersecurity control objectives as defined by the framework core. This table comes handy for reporting and drill down purposes. It's an m2m table that associates Risks to Targets.
    Issue [sn_irm_nist_csf_m2m_issues_nist_csf_act] Issue table in NIST CSF is used to track issues that are associated with controls that have been implemented for cybersecurity control objectives as defined by the framework core. Issues of risks associated with these controls are also included in the metric. This table comes handy for reporting and drill down purposes. It's an m2m table that associates Issues to Targets.
    Action Plan [sn_irm_nist_csf_m2m_remediation_nist_csf_act] Action Plan table in NIST CSF is used to track the action plans that are identified for the issues. This table comes handy for reporting and drill down purposes. It's an m2m table that associates Action Plans (remediation tasks) to Targets.
    Failed Indicators [sn_irm_nist_csf_m2m_indicators_nist_csf_act] Failed indicators table in NIST CSF is used to track the failed indicators of the target and the control or risk. This table comes handy for reporting and drill down purposes. It's an m2m table that associates Failed Indicators to Targets.
    Related Control Objectives [sn_compliance_m2m_policy_stmt_policy_stmt] Related Control Objectives table in NIST CSF is used to track the associations between control objectives. In base implementation, parent and child control objectives are supported, but this table introduces a concept to relate the control objectives at the same level.