Glossary · ISO and management systems
Where an ISMS guards information in general, a PIMS adds the duties owed to people whose data you hold.
A management system for privacy: the roles, risk work, controls and reviews an organisation uses to handle personal data, as described in ISO/IEC 27701.
Back to the glossary01 · In plain words
In plain words
A management system for privacy: the roles, risk work, controls and reviews an organisation uses to handle personal data, as described in ISO/IEC 27701.
A PIMS takes the habits of a security management system and points them at personal data. Beyond keeping data safe, it asks whether you should hold it, for what purpose, for how long, and how you answer the people it is about. ISO/IEC 27701 is the standard that describes this kind of system.
Spelled out: Privacy Information Management System.
02 · Why it matters
Why it matters
Who cares about this, and what depends on it.
Privacy laws such as the GDPR and India's DPDP Act tell you what to achieve, but not how to run it day to day. A PIMS gives that work an owner, a register of privacy risks and a review cycle, which is what a regulator or enterprise buyer looks for when asking whether privacy is managed or improvised. Companies that already hold ISO 27001 often find a PIMS the shortest route to showing privacy discipline, because much of the machinery is shared. It is a management framework, not a legal safe harbour: following ISO 27701 does not by itself prove compliance with any law.
03 · Where you meet it
Where you will meet it
The documents, meetings and reports where it appears.
- ISO/IEC 27701
- The standard describing a PIMS, with separate control sets for organisations that decide on processing and those that process for others.
- Certification scope documents
- First published as an extension to ISO 27001, so earlier certificates pair the two; check the current edition for how it now stands.
- Enterprise privacy questionnaires
- Questions about a privacy programme, a privacy officer and processing records are probing for a PIMS.
- Processor agreements
- Customers may ask for evidence of a PIMS before signing a data processing agreement.
04 · An example
A worked example
An illustration, not a real client.
Illustrative: a payroll SaaS serving employers in India and the EU
The company already runs an ISMS. Its clients now ask how it handles employee data, not just how it secures it. It extends the system: a privacy risk register beside the security one, a record of what each payroll field is used for, retention rules per country, a process for employee access requests passed on by clients, and contract clauses for sub-processors. Leadership reviews privacy metrics in the same meeting as security. The result is one programme with two lenses, which serves the GDPR and DPDP questions it hears from clients.
05 · Easy to mix up
Easy to mix up with
Neighbouring terms that mean something different.
- ISMS
- An ISMS protects the confidentiality, integrity and availability of all information. A PIMS adds privacy questions such as purpose, retention and individuals' rights.
- A privacy policy
- The public notice on your website is one output. A PIMS is the system that keeps that notice true.
06 · What to do
What to do with it
Practical steps, and the guides that go deeper.
- Map where personal data lives and why, before writing any privacy control.
- Decide, per activity, whether you act as a controller or fiduciary, or as a processor.
- Add privacy risks and owners to your existing risk process rather than starting a second one.
- Check the current edition of ISO/IEC 27701 before planning any certification.
- GuideGDPR vs ISO 27001 & 27701A law vs a certifiable standard, and how they work together.
- GuideISO 27001 and the DPDP ActHow the ISMS carries the Act's security safeguards duty.
Sources: ISO/IEC 27701 title and stated purpose (not quoted); Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR); Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.
Questions about PIMS
Does a PIMS make us GDPR or DPDP compliant?
No. It helps you organise the work.
A PIMS is a way of managing privacy, not a legal test. It helps you meet duties under the GDPR or the DPDP Act and keep evidence, but each law has its own requirements that counsel should confirm against your activities.
Can we get a PIMS certified?
Yes, through an accredited certification body.
Accredited certification bodies certify against ISO/IEC 27701. Auditify can help design and assess the system ahead of that audit; the certificate itself comes from the certification body.
Want this applied to your own systems?
Our team can walk through where this term touches your scope, your contracts and your evidence.