Federal Agencies Streamline Processes with

Plan of Action & Milestones (POA&M) Management Software

Yes. The workflow in Onspring’s POA&M software includes the full POA&M management lifecycle from identifying a weakness to analyzing the risk level, accepting risks and instigating corrective action plans, to estimating costs and completion dates, and documenting progress and results.

While the process workflow is ready-made in Onspring, you can easily adjust any step to accommodate variances specific to your agency.

Yes. Dashboards in Onspring bring all relevant POA&M tracking information into a centralized view. This means you’ll have real-time, consolidated reporting of all known issues and can drill directly into details to understand remediation efforts, including timing, milestones, and costs.

To see all the visualized data in reports and dashboards, request a demo.

Yes. Onspring dashboards provide a consolidated view into all issues, which include reports to segment risks by level so your team can take a risk-based approach to issues triaging and prioritization.

Automated triggers in Onspring can also be used to notify team members when high-risk weaknesses are logged. This functionality provides immediate visibility to escalate issues for remediation.

Onspring POA&M software can manage issues generated by audit, A&A, and configuration management processes. Issues can be logged directly in Onspring by a user, or automation can ingest issues from other software, email sends, and even Slack instant messages.

On average, customers experience 40%-time savings when using Onspring and prevent hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and costs from security deficiencies.

• Always-on live reporting eliminates time spent aggregating and formatting data for reports.
• Automated project management eliminates time spent assigning tasks, following up with owners, and keeping all stakeholders updated with costs, timelines, and open risks.
• Relational data connects weaknesses to controls, policies, and frameworks so you know every element of your agency that is impacted.

Both NIST and FedRAMP offer documents to guide your POA&M process.

• NIST 800-18 Guide for Developing Security Plans
• NIST 800-171 CUI POA&M Template
• FedRAMP POA&M Completion Guide
• FedRAMP POA&M Template

Onspring admin services can help you every step of the way with configuration of your POA&M mangement, from implementation to ongoing admin services or special builds.

The use of software, per se, to manage POA&M is not a mandate. However, businesses working under DoD contracts are required to comply with DFARS rule 252.204-7012 to protect controlled unclassified information. Ultimately, that compliance means a business must implement the cybersecurity requirements outlined in the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST) 800-171 standard.

Within this standard, a business is required to systematically assess its cybersecurity risk, namely the risks associated with incomplete 800-171 compliance. Additionally, the business is also required to instill a Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&M), identifying steps that the business will carry out to mitigate those incomplete 800-171 risks.

Due to the complexities, timelines and budget, automating your POA&M management with Onspring software is often the most efficient way to streamline workflows, reporting and documentation.