Financial Services Firm Achieves SOC 2 Compliance

Project Overview

A leading investment management firm with $50B in assets under management needed to achieve SOC 2 Type II certification for their document management systems while improving operational efficiency.

The Challenge

The firm faced significant compliance and operational challenges:

- Regulatory Pressure: SOC 2 certification required by institutional clients

• Audit Trail Gaps: Existing systems lacked comprehensive audit logging
• Document Chaos: Inconsistent filing and retention practices
• Access Control: Inadequate permission management for sensitive documents
• eDiscovery Risk: Inability to quickly locate documents for legal requests

  Our Solution

  SharePoint Support designed and implemented a comprehensive governance framework:

  Governance Framework Design

• Information classification taxonomy aligned with SOC 2 requirements
• Document lifecycle management policies
• Role-based access control matrix
• Audit logging and monitoring procedures

  Technical Implementation

• SharePoint Online configuration with premium compliance features
• Microsoft Purview for information protection and governance
• Custom retention labels and policies
• Automated sensitivity labeling using AI
• Power Automate workflows for approval processes

  Audit Capabilities

• Comprehensive audit log retention
• Real-time compliance dashboards
• Automated anomaly detection
• eDiscovery search configuration

  Training & Adoption

• Staff training on new procedures
• Compliance officer dashboard training
• Ongoing support and guidance

  Results Achieved

  The implementation delivered exceptional compliance outcomes:

  - SOC 2 Type II certified on first audit attempt

• 100% audit compliance with all control requirements
• 60% faster document retrieval through improved organization
• Reduced risk exposure with automated compliance controls
• Zero audit findings related to document management

  Key Features Delivered

  Information Protection

• Automatic classification of sensitive documents
• Encryption for documents at rest and in transit
• Data Loss Prevention preventing unauthorized sharing

  Retention Management

• Automated retention based on document type
• Legal hold capabilities for litigation
• Defensible deletion procedures

  Access Governance

• Quarterly access reviews automated
• Privileged access monitoring
• External sharing controls and logging

  Compliance Benefits

  The firm now benefits from:

  - Streamlined annual SOC 2 audits

• Client confidence in data protection
• Reduced compliance staff burden
• Proactive risk identification
• Regulatory examination readiness