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Data Inventory

What is Data Inventory?

A comprehensive catalog of all personal data collected, processed, and stored by an organization, including data categories, purposes, retention periods, and sharing practices.

Privacy and Data Protection

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

What the standards actually require on data inventory

Requirements naming data inventory across 6 standards, quoted from the control text.

Capture in a data inventory, for each dataset, the purpose, data owner, data type (personal or business), data fields, dataset and location/system; keep the inventory updated as new data types are collected.

ADMF-3.2 · Maintain a data inventory
CIS Controls v82 controls

Establish and maintain a data inventory, based on the enterprise’s data management process. Inventory sensitive data, at a minimum. Review and update inventory annually, at a minimum, with a priority on sensitive data.

CIS-3.2 · Establish and Maintain a Data Inventory

Discover and classify data across structured and unstructured stores, updating continuously.

ZTMM-DAT-1 · Data Inventory and Classification

Establish and maintain a data inventory based on the enterprise data management process. Inventory sensitive data at minimum. Review and update annually.

3.2 · Establish and Maintain a Data Inventory

Maintain an inventory of data holdings covering at least all sensitive and personal data.

CCM-DSP-03 · Data Inventory

Establish and maintain a data inventory based on the enterprise data management process. Inventory sensitive data at minimum. Review and update annually.

3.2 · Establish and Maintain a Data Inventory

Questions people ask about data inventory

What is Data Inventory?
A comprehensive catalog of all personal data collected, processed, and stored by an organization, including data categories, purposes, retention periods, and sharing practices.
Why is Data Inventory important for compliance?
Data Inventory is a key concept in Privacy and Data Protection. Understanding data inventory 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 Data Inventory?
Data Inventory appears in the requirement text of ASEAN Data Management Framework, CIS Controls v8, CISA Zero Trust Maturity Model, BRCGS Global Standard for Food Safety Issue 9, Cloud Security Alliance Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM) v4.0.1. Across these standards we have identified 9 controls that name it directly, each linked to the control text on the compliance platform.
Where can I learn more about Data Inventory?
Explore our compliance framework pages to see how data inventory 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 Data Inventory 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.