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Acceptance Criteria

What is Acceptance Criteria?

Predefined conditions that a risk, control, or deliverable must meet to be formally accepted, serving as a benchmark for risk-based decision-making.

Risk Management

Each of these is named in at least one of the same controls as acceptance criteria. The number is how many controls name both.

What the standards actually require on acceptance criteria

Requirements naming acceptance criteria across 6 standards, quoted from the control text.

Requirement defined in ISO 27005:2022, clause 6.4.2 (Risk acceptance criteria). See licensed source for normative text. Implementation focus is to demonstrate conformity with the obligations of this clause through the artefacts listed in evidence_requirements.

iso-27005-2022::6.4.2 · Risk acceptance criteria
IEEE 70002 controls

Clauses 7 + 7.1 establish ethical requirements definition and traceability. Per public IEEE 7000-2021 abstract + Wikipedia + academic literature (full IEEE text NOT reproduced): translate prioritised ethical values + stakeholder concerns into system requiremen...

IEEE7000-EthicalRequirements-ValueBased-Traceability-DesignIntegration · IEEE 7000 Clauses 7 + 7.1 - Ethical Requirements Definition + Value-Based Requirements + Traceability + System Engineering Design Integration + AI Validation

Control the release of products to customers, ensuring released items meet acceptance criteria with traceability to underlying baselines.

SPL.2 · Product Release
C5 (Germany)1 control

Document, communicate and make available a risk management procedure that covers identification of confidentiality, integrity, availability and authenticity risks with named risk owners, likelihood and impact analysis, evaluation against defined acceptance cri...

C5-OIS-06 · Risk Management Policy

Test applications for security before release against defined acceptance criteria covering new systems, upgrades and versions, automating the testing where the delivery pipeline allows.

CCM-AIS-05 · Automated Application Security Testing

Deliver the software and conduct acceptance, including the Test Readiness Review (TRR) and the Acceptance Review (AR), against the agreed acceptance criteria.

ECSS-40C-5.7 · Software delivery and acceptance process

Questions people ask about acceptance criteria

What is Acceptance Criteria?
Predefined conditions that a risk, control, or deliverable must meet to be formally accepted, serving as a benchmark for risk-based decision-making.
Why is Acceptance Criteria important for compliance?
Acceptance Criteria is a key concept in Risk Management. Understanding acceptance criteria helps organizations meet regulatory requirements, reduce risk, and demonstrate due diligence during audits. Our compliance platform maps 686 frameworks with 311K cross-framework control mappings.
Which compliance frameworks address Acceptance Criteria?
Acceptance Criteria appears in the requirement text of ISO 27005:2022, IEEE 7000, Automotive SPICE (ASPICE) v4.0 - Process Assessment Model, C5 (Germany), Cloud Security Alliance Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM) v4.0.1. Across these standards we have identified 7 controls that name it directly, each linked to the control text on the compliance platform.
Where can I learn more about Acceptance Criteria?
Explore our compliance framework pages to see how acceptance criteria applies across different standards and regulations. Our implementation guides provide step-by-step guidance, and the compliance platform offers AI-powered analysis of how this concept maps across 686 frameworks.

See how Acceptance Criteria applies across compliance frameworks

Our platform maps 686 frameworks with 311K cross-framework control mappings. Explore how this concept is addressed across standards.

Written and maintained by Gerard Blokdyk, The Art of Service.