policykrav

Policykrav is a term used in information governance and policy management to describe the set of requirements that a policy is intended to meet. It represents the bridge between organizational objectives, regulatory demands, and the concrete rules or standards that policies impose on systems, processes, or personnel. While not universally standardized, policykrav is used in some governance methodologies to ensure that policy design is testable, auditable, and aligned with business risk tolerance.

Core components of policykrav typically include the policy objective, the scope and applicability, stated constraints and assumptions, explicit compliance obligations (laws, regulations, and standards), measurable criteria or success indicators, roles and responsibilities, and traceability to higher-level policies and business objectives. Policykrav are often written to be verifiable, with acceptance criteria and verification methods to determine whether a policy is enforceable and effective.

Process and lifecycle: policykrav are elicited from risk assessments, stakeholder interviews, and regulatory analysis; documented in policy governance tools; reviewed and approved by policy owners; implemented through controls and processes; monitored via audits, metrics, and incident data; and revised as objectives or regulations change.

Examples: a data privacy policy may embed policykrav such as data minimization, a lawful basis for processing, encryption in transit and at rest, access control based on least privilege, robust audit logging, and defined retention schedules. A software development policy might require secure coding standards, primary code reviews, vulnerability management, and change controls, with policykrav linked to security posture targets and regulatory requirements.

See also: policy management, requirements engineering, compliance, risk management, ISO/IEC 27001, NIST SP 800-53.