Template
POA&M Starter
A plan of action and milestones you can actually maintain, with the fields assessors expect.
Intermediate
30 min
Free
NIST SP 800-171
CMMC
Published · v1.0.0 · 2026-08-01
Guide
What is a POA&M?
A Plan of Action and Milestones is how you honestly track gaps. Done well, it builds trust; done badly, it destroys it.
- Intended audience
- Program owners
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Estimated time
- 8 minutes
- Access
- Free
NIST SP 800-171
CMMC
FedRAMP
Government contracting
All industries
Version v1.0.0 · Last reviewed 2026-08-01 · Document owner: ComplianceAnvil Content Team
What you will be able to do
- Define a Plan of Action and Milestones and its purpose in a compliance program.
- List the required elements of a credible POA&M entry.
- Identify what reviewers look for when judging POA&M quality.
- Explain why an empty POA&M can be a red flag rather than reassurance.
- Describe what closure evidence should demonstrate.
What it is
A living list of the requirements you have not fully met, with a root cause, a plan, an owner, dates, and evidence at closure.
What reviewers look for
- Dates that are realistic and not all in the same month.
- Named owners rather than departments.
- Milestones that show movement between reviews.
- Closure evidence that actually proves the fix.
Key takeaways
- A POA&M is a living, honest record of requirements not yet fully met.
- Each entry should include a root cause, a remediation plan, a named owner, target dates, and evidence at closure.
- Reviewers favor realistic dates that are staggered rather than all clustered in a single month.
- Named individual owners are more credible than assigning items to entire departments.
- Closure evidence must actually prove the fix was made, not just that the item was marked done.
Sources
Written from these public, authoritative publications. ComplianceAnvil paraphrases and summarizes them; it does not reproduce copyrighted control text.
NIST · Revision 3
SP 800-171, Protecting Controlled Unclassified Information in Nonfederal Systems(opens in a new tab)Link last confirmed 2026-02-01
NIST · Revision 3
SP 800-171A, Assessing Security Requirements for Controlled Unclassified Information(opens in a new tab)Link last confirmed 2026-02-01
DoD Chief Information Officer
Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) Program(opens in a new tab)Link last confirmed 2026-02-01
Earn a Certificate of Training Completion
Complete every section, acknowledge, and pass the knowledge check.
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This certificate recognizes completion of educational training material only. It is not a professional certification, accreditation, license, compliance assessment, audit result, or attestation of compliance with any law, regulation, or contract requirement. ComplianceAnvil is not a certification authority, accreditation body, assessor, or law firm.
How this was written and reviewed
Published
- Author
- ComplianceAnvil Editorial Team
- Technical reviewer
- ComplianceAnvil Technical Review Board
- Jurisdiction
- United States (federal)
- First published
- 2026-08-01
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-01
- Next review due
- 2027-08-01
Version v1.0.0 · Document owner: ComplianceAnvil Content Team
Important
This resource is educational readiness material. ComplianceAnvil is not a certification authority, assessor, or law firm, and this content is not legal advice or a compliance assessment.
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Put this into practice
Resources tell you what good looks like. A Program Pack does the work with you — generated documentation, tracked controls, training, and evidence in one workspace.