Training module
ISMS Scope & Statement of Applicability
Define clear ISO/IEC 27001 ISMS scope and boundaries and maintain a defensible Statement of Applicability (SoA)
Define the frame that makes ISMS decisions defensible
Build practical judgement for ISO/IEC 27001 scope and Statement of Applicability work: services, boundaries, interfaces, outsourced processes, shared responsibilities, control applicability, evidence reality and review triggers.
Overview
What this module is about
ISMS scope and Statement of Applicability decisions often look tidy on paper while the real organisation remains messier: shared platforms, regional teams, suppliers, cloud services, outsourced processes, customer responsibilities and changing service models do not fit neatly into a certificate sentence.
This module uses the evolving Northstar case to practise defining a defensible ISMS scope, making boundary and interface decisions visible, and building SoA rationale that can support risk work, customer assurance and management review. The focus is practical management-system judgement, not a generic ISO/IEC 27001 overview or a control-by-control Annex A walkthrough.
Audience
Who it is for
Management system implementers and coordinators
Executives and department heads accountable for management system performance
Those responsible for processes, policies, assets, risks and controls
Auditors seeking insight into management-side practice, not audit technique
Consultants working on management system design, governance or improvement
Decision supportIs this module for you?
It is a good fit if you…
work with ISMS implementation, scope definition, SoA maintenance or customer assurance.
need to connect ISO/IEC 27001 scope to real services, processes, information assets and obligations.
see unclear boundaries across shared platforms, suppliers, outsourced processes or regional teams.
want control applicability and exclusion rationale that can survive review, audit and management questions.
are preparing to strengthen an ISMS before certification, recertification, customer assurance or major change.
It may not be the best fit if you…
want only a short overview of ISO/IEC 27001 clauses.
are mainly looking for technical hardening, tool configuration or penetration testing.
want a full information security risk assessment or residual-risk acceptance course.
expect a control-by-control Annex A interpretation workshop.
already have a clearly owned, maintained and evidence-backed ISMS scope and SoA that works in practice.
What to bring
No formal prerequisites. The module is designed as a stand-alone entry point for defining ISMS scope and maintaining a defensible SoA.
Helpful background includes:
General familiarity with information security, ISO/IEC 27001 or management-system work
Practical exposure to services, processes, suppliers or information assets
Comfort reasoning about context, interested parties, interfaces and outsourced processes
Experience with customer assurance or evidence questions is useful, but not required
Agenda
What is taught
6 parts01ISMS scope as decision frame
Read scope wording before trusting it
Use context, interested parties and obligations at the level needed for ISMS decisions
Define what scope must support for risk, controls, assurance and management review
02Services, processes and information assets
Start from customer-facing services and management-system outcomes
Connect services and processes to primary and supporting information assets
Repair scope wording so coverage, exclusions and assumptions are clear
03Boundaries, interfaces and retained responsibility
Map organisational, technical, supplier and customer boundaries
Clarify outsourced processes, supplier-operated controls and shared platforms
Assign internal ownership for interfaces, evidence and escalation
04Applicability rationale and exclusions
Decide whether selected controls are applicable, not applicable or partly applicable
Test exclusion rationale against scope, obligations, risk inputs and retained responsibility
Use AI-assisted review to challenge weak rationale without outsourcing judgement
05SoA structure, status and traceability
Separate applicability, rationale, implementation status, references and ownership
Find gaps between documented status and evidence reality
Identify handoffs to risk management, supplier management and operational control
06Maintenance, assurance and management review
Use service, supplier, platform, incident and AI workflow changes as review triggers
Prepare customer-safe assurance wording without overclaiming coverage
Turn scope and SoA status into concise management-review input
Outcomes
Learning outcomes
01
Define an ISO/IEC 27001 ISMS scope that explains services, boundaries, exclusions, interfaces and assumptions
02
Clarify retained responsibility across shared platforms, suppliers, outsourced processes and customer interfaces
03
Build SoA applicability rationale that links scope, risk inputs, control status, evidence and review triggers
Connect ISMS scope to services, processes, information assets, obligations and assurance needs
Distinguish applicability, exclusion rationale, implementation status and operational evidence
Use supplier, platform, service and AI workflow changes as scope and SoA review triggers
Prepare customer-safe scope and SoA assurance wording for management review
Use AI support to compare artefacts and challenge weak rationale without replacing accountability
Materials
The content and the assessment
Written module
The full content in writing, complete in itself. Videos are recorded for parts of it as an alternative way through, and the written module always carries everything.
Exercises
Graded work on the case organisation's own registers: structured answers checked against the encoded case, written answers scored against a rubric traced to it, with a trainer holding the final word on every assessed item.
On completion
The assessed exercises must be passed before the certificate is issued.
Scheduling
No public run of ISMS Scope & Statement of Applicability is scheduled at the moment. Tell us you are interested and we will let you know when the next one opens, or discuss running it in-house.
Module facts
- Module ID
- HAM-IS-S-01
- Discipline
- Information Security
- Domains
- Controls · Governance · Risk
- Part of tracks
- Management System Manager
Case organisation
All modules share one company
Each module enters the company at a particular point in its history and finds it as that history has left it.
Northstar Integrated Services AG is a group headquartered in Zurich, operating in six European countries, with about 1,350 employees at the end of 2025. It provides digital operations platforms and managed operational services to regulated organisations in healthcare, the public sector and industrial services. Founded in 2008 as a field-operations firm serving business customers, it had about twenty-five employees when its first regulated customer, a hospital group, required documented decisions, named accountability and evidence on request. It moved into the platform business in 2016 and in 2024 acquired an operating business in Poland and the Czech Republic, whose legal entity continues inside the group.
Linked registers
Organisation and people, roles, risks, objectives, policies, documents and records, communications, findings, audits and reviews, interested parties, processes
Records, not summaries
The evidence sits in the registers and documents where a real organisation would keep it.
A history
The company has a timeline from 2008, so a structure can be examined before and after it changed.
More than one legal entity
A Swiss parent company and an acquired subsidiary in Poland and the Czech Republic, with customers in several jurisdictions
Why it matters
Judgement develops on material that is incomplete and partly contradictory, as it is in practice. Northstar is built that way on purpose. Because modules enter its history at different points, a governance structure can be seen while it is built, when it is outgrown and when it is rebuilt.
Delivery & dates
How this module reaches you
Delivered live online, combining conceptual framing, discussion, case work and direct interaction with the trainer. In-house and contextualised delivery is available on request.
No public run is scheduled at the moment. Most modules run on request as well as on the public calendar, so tell us the timing you need.
Want this module scheduled?
We will tell you when the next run is scheduled, or run this module in-house with your own case material.
Not sure it is the right module?
Describe your context in a short message and we will tell you honestly.