Audit preparation does not have to be a six week scramble. With SOC 2 continuous compliance in place, evidence flows from your systems every day, access reviews happen on a predictable cadence, vendor proofs stay current, and auditors can see progress in real time. In this article I will show you how to put SOC 2 on autopilot using integrations, automated evidence workflows, scheduled reviews, and real time compliance dashboards that keep teams and auditors aligned without late night screenshot marathons.
Why continuous beats the annual scramble
Many teams still treat SOC 2 as an annual rush. The result is duplicate work, frantic requests to engineering, and a mountain of screenshots and spreadsheets that do not age well. Continuous monitoring flips that model. Instead of collecting evidence at the end, you set up streams of evidence as events happen, map those artifacts to SOC 2 controls, and review status on a live dashboard. Vendors in this space describe a single system that pulls data from your stack and maps it to controls, which removes much of the manual effort and makes status visible to leaders and auditors. For a good overview of this model, review how platforms automate evidence collection with integrations (Drata).
There is also the Type II reporting reality. During a Type II period, auditors look for operating effectiveness across the period, not just at a single point in time. That means you need evidence of recurring activities, such as access reviews, incident response testing, and change approvals, distributed across the period. Continuous collection is a natural fit for that requirement. Customers in public case stories report large time savings when they replace manual collection with automation. One example shows how automation saved hundreds of hours in a SOC 2 program. See this case study: automation saved hundreds of hours (Tines/Drata).
What SOC 2 on autopilot looks like
Think of SOC 2 on autopilot as a set of always running workflows across evidence, reviews, and reporting. First, integrate your identity, cloud, code, ticketing, HR, and endpoint tools. These integrations pull logs, configuration snapshots, training completions, and ticket data on a schedule. A good reference is Drata’s overview of continuous monitoring and control mapping. See how they automate evidence collection with integrations (Drata).
Second, use a real time compliance dashboard that shows control health and coverage at a glance. The dashboard should surface what is passing, what needs attention, and which owners are on point. This view is helpful to executives and becomes a trusted source for auditors during fieldwork.
Third, schedule access reviews for a quarterly cadence and send automatic reminders to reviewers. Several platforms include native task scheduling and reminders for quarterly reviews, which is key to avoiding end of period rush. See how to schedule quarterly access reviews (Secureframe) and why many programs perform access reviews quarterly (Vanta).
Finally, track vendor proofs in one place, including SOC reports, AOCs, ISO certs, and security questionnaires. Add expirations, automated reminders, and if your platform supports it, summarize long reports into a short risk view for stakeholders. Drata’s help center shows how AI can summarize responses and reports, which can save time for risk owners. Review AI summaries for questionnaires and SOC reports for an example.
Automate evidence collection
Automated evidence collection is the core of SOC 2 continuous compliance. The goal is to prove that controls operated during the period without asking people to take screenshots. Start with these sources and patterns.
Identity providers such as Okta, Microsoft Entra ID, and Google Workspace: ingest user lists, group memberships, MFA status, and recent login activity. These feed controls for logical access, MFA enforcement, and deprovisioning.
Cloud platforms such as AWS, GCP, and Azure: ingest configuration snapshots for encryption, logging, network restrictions, and backup settings. Pull CloudTrail or equivalent logs to show detective controls running. Link these artifacts to system components in scope.
Code repositories and CI systems: pull branch protection settings, review requirements, and pipeline logs to support change management controls. Show that every production change was approved and linked to an issue or ticket.
Ticketing and incident tooling such as Jira, Linear, or ServiceNow: pull incident tickets, change tickets, and problem records with timestamps and links to postmortems.
HRIS and training: ingest onboarding and termination events, and training completions for security awareness and secure coding.
Endpoint and MDM: ingest device enrollment, disk encryption, and agent status to support device security controls.
Most compliance platforms include prebuilt integrations for the sources above and map artifacts to controls automatically. For examples of these integrations and how they flow into a control library and dashboard, see automate evidence collection with integrations (Drata).
For systems without a native integration, you still have good options. Many tools support no code connectors, low code workflows, or simple scripts to push evidence into an evidence library on a schedule. Drata’s help guides show several ways to automate submissions via no code tools, scripts, and cloud functions so evidence continues to flow. Review automated evidence workflows (Drata Help Center) for patterns you can reuse.
Whatever ingestion route you choose, make sure your evidence library timestamps, versions, and maps each artifact to a specific control. Auditors look for traceable, unaltered records that can be sampled. The best systems give you an artifact history with uploader details, collection date, and related controls. See the Evidence Library overview for a model of how a library should work.
Automate evidence collection from your stack. No more last minute screenshots. Source
Quarterly access reviews without the pain
Access reviews are a top driver of end of period stress. With the right setup they can run quietly in the background. The goal is clear scope, the right reviewers, and simple reviewer actions. Many programs choose quarterly for high value systems because it balances risk and effort, and vendors like Vanta recommend at least quarterly for sensitive systems. See guidance on how to perform access reviews quarterly (Vanta).
Start by defining the set of systems in scope for reviews. Identity platforms, cloud accounts, production databases, and code repos are common. Assign each system to a business owner and a technical owner. In your platform, set a schedule for each system. Quarterly works for most production systems. Semiannual can work for lower risk tools if your auditor agrees. Platforms like Secureframe highlight built in scheduling and reminder features that keep reviews moving without manual nudges. Learn how to schedule quarterly access reviews (Secureframe).
Reviewer experience matters. Present a clear table of users, roles, and last login with a simple approve or revoke action and a comment box for exceptions. Collect an attestation from the reviewer with a timestamp. Store that attestation and the review results as evidence for the period. Your dashboard should show review status by system with a progress bar and an overdue list. When reviewers stall, automatic reminders should go out to the reviewer, then to the system owner, and finally to the compliance owner if needed.
Use role based templates that flag sensitive roles first. For example, in a database review, surface admin and superuser roles at the top of the list. In a code platform review, surface production deploy permissions. Always show last login and employment status so reviewers can quickly spot dormant accounts and terminated users that missed deprovisioning.
Vendor proof tracking that scales
Third party risk often slows audits. A simple vendor proof tracker prevents that. Create a vendor record for each critical supplier with fields for service name, owner, data classification, and renewal date. For proofs, attach the latest SOC 2 report, AOC, ISO cert, penetration test report, and security questionnaire answers. Add expiry dates and renewal reminders at 60 and 30 days prior to expiry. When the reminder triggers, send a friendly request to the vendor along with a secure upload link.
To reduce review time for long reports, some platforms can summarize SOC reports and questionnaire answers. Summaries highlight exceptions, carve outs, and complementary user entity controls so your risk owners can act quickly. See this helper on AI summaries for questionnaire responses and SOC reports.
For recurring follow ups, consider an automation that checks for upcoming expirations weekly and sends reminders to vendor owners. A workflow tool can post into a compliance channel and open a task for the owner with a due date. This pattern keeps vendor risk fresh without messy spreadsheets.
Real time dashboards that matter
A good dashboard reduces meetings and clarifies priorities. It should answer three questions for leaders. Are we on track for audit readiness today. What is at risk this week. Who is unblocked and who needs help. For auditors, it should give a read only window into evidence, control status, and review history.
Core widgets that work well include control health, evidence freshness, overdue tasks, access review status, vendor proof status, and policy acknowledgments. Control health rolls up passing and failing checks by Trust Services Criteria and by system. Evidence freshness shows when each control last received new artifacts. Overdue tasks lists owners and due dates for a short punch list. Access review status shows the current cycle, percent complete, and overdue systems. Vendor proof status shows which vendors have proofs within the current period and which are expiring soon.
When auditors arrive, give them a read only view tied to the audit period that shows current control status, evidence for sampled controls, and exports for any artifacts they must retain in their workpapers. Many platforms offer time bound auditor access and exports. Drata and other tools explain how this works in their compliance pages and help centers. Review the compliance overview at Drata and the Evidence Library overview for examples.
How to set this up in 30, 60, 90 days
You can move from manual collection to SOC 2 continuous compliance in a quarter with a focused plan. The outline below is a practical path many teams follow.
First 30 days
- Define scope. List in scope systems, vendors, and the Trust Services Criteria you plan to cover. Identify owners for each system and each control domain.
- Connect integrations for identity, cloud, code, ticketing, HR, and endpoint security. Target the top ten systems that support most of your controls. See how integrations automate evidence collection with integrations (Drata).
- Stand up an evidence library and map artifacts to controls. Confirm timestamping, versioning, and export options meet auditor needs. Review the Evidence Library overview for a model.
- Create your first real time dashboard with control health, evidence freshness, and overdue tasks.
By day 60
- Enable automated checks for encryption, logging, MFA, and device security. Close gaps or create accepted risk records with owners and dates.
- Configure your first round of quarterly access reviews for identity, cloud, and production databases. Confirm reminders are working and that reviewers can attest in one click. Learn how to schedule quarterly access reviews (Secureframe) and why teams perform access reviews quarterly (Vanta).
- Import vendor records for your most critical suppliers. Upload current SOC reports and set renewal reminders. Use summaries for long reports where supported. See AI summaries for questionnaires and SOC reports.
- Pilot a custom ingestion pipeline for a system without a native connector using a no code workflow or a simple script. Follow patterns from automated evidence workflows (Drata Help Center).
By day 90
- Expand integrations to any remaining in scope systems and mark manual controls that still need work.
- Run a mock auditor walkthrough using your real time compliance dashboards. Invite your external auditor or a readiness partner to give feedback on control mapping and evidence sufficiency.
- Publish a monthly compliance report for executives. Include control health trends, access review progress, and vendor proof status.
- Document your operating cadence so the program continues after you pass the first audit period. That includes who triages failing checks, who reviews dashboards weekly, and how findings are tracked to closure.
Example control to evidence mapping
Connecting controls to artifacts is the heart of SOC 2 continuous compliance. Here are practical examples that work well in a live program.
Logical access control. Pull a daily export of active users from your identity provider along with group memberships and MFA status. Map those artifacts to access control objectives. Run a quarterly access review for admin groups and production systems. Store the reviewer attestation and the system state at the time of review.
Change management. Require pull requests for all changes to protected branches. Ingest repository settings, reviewer requirements, and links between changes and tickets. For each sampled change, show a ticket link, approval history, and CI logs. That set proves peer review and approved deployment processes.
Security training. Pull completion evidence from your learning platform for security awareness and secure coding. Map to training controls and keep an on screen completion percentage by department.
Backup and disaster recovery. Pull backup job logs and configuration snapshots for production databases and file stores. Store drill evidence with timestamps, including start and end times and success indicators. Create a small runbook that links to the artifacts. Map those to availability controls.
Encryption and logging. Ingest cloud configuration snapshots that show encryption at rest on storage and databases. Pull logging configuration and show that logs are collected centrally. Map to confidentiality and monitoring controls. For evidence showing operation, include snippets that demonstrate recent events in the log system.
These mappings feed your dashboard, reduce human review time, and help auditors sample any item with full context. For how platforms map artifacts to controls in a single view, see automate evidence collection with integrations (Drata).
What auditors want to see
Auditors look for completeness, consistency, and a clear trail from control to evidence. Evidence must be timestamped and tied to the period under review. They also look for independence, which usually means the system that collects evidence enforces integrity and versioning so data cannot be silently altered. That is why evidence libraries with version history and export logs work well. Review the Evidence Library overview for a reference model.
Sampling is another point to plan for. When auditors sample items, your system should provide an easy way to filter by date and retrieve all artifacts linked to that item, such as the change ticket, code review, deployment logs, and approvals for a specific change. The easier you make sampling, the smaller your audit disruption will be.
Finally, auditors appreciate a live dashboard during fieldwork. A read only, time bound view with control status, access review history, and vendor proofs removes back and forth email and keeps everyone aligned. See Drata’s continuous compliance overview for context on real time status and auditor access patterns.
Common pitfalls and how to avoid them
Evidence gaps from missed integrations. Avoid relying on screenshots or one time exports. Connect every in scope system to your evidence library. If a native connector is missing, build a simple no code or scripted ingestion. The automated evidence workflows guide shows options.
Stale access reviews. Do not let reviews pile up. Set a quarterly schedule with automatic reminders and an escalation path for overdue items. The ability to schedule quarterly access reviews matters more than any fancy report.
Vendor proofs expiring quietly. Build a vendor roster with expiration fields and reminders. Use periodic checks that notify owners before expiry. Summarize long reports for faster action with tools like the AI summaries for questionnaires and SOC reports helper.
Custom systems with no trace. For homegrown tools, create a small evidence export job that runs weekly and pushes data to your library. Drata’s help docs show how to set this up using scripts and cloud functions to keep artifacts fresh. See automated evidence workflows.
Dashboards without owners. A dashboard is only useful if someone reviews it consistently. Assign a weekly review meeting with clear owners for red items. Tie tasks to tickets with due dates.
FAQs
Can SOC 2 be continuous?
Yes. Modern platforms continuously monitor controls through integrations and collect evidence such as logs, configuration snapshots, and training attestations. Control status stays current instead of relying on end of period collection. See how vendors frame this on Drata and Secureframe.
How often should access reviews run?
Best practice is at least quarterly for sensitive systems. Tooling support for scheduling and reminders makes this cadence practical. See guidance to perform access reviews quarterly (Vanta) and task scheduling in Secureframe.
Do auditors accept evidence from automation platforms?
Yes, when evidence is timestamped, versioned, mapped to controls, and exportable. Many platforms provide auditor friendly libraries and read only access during fieldwork. See Drata’s Evidence Library for how this is structured.
How should we track vendor SOC reports and expiring certificates?
Use a central vendor tracker with proofs attached, expirations set, and automated reminders before expiry. Summarize long documents where possible. Drata’s help docs show AI summaries for questionnaires and SOC reports.
What results should we expect after automating?
Teams report large time savings and less disruption during audits, especially when evidence flows continuously. A public story that combines Tines with a compliance platform shows how automation saved hundreds of hours. Review the case study: automation saved hundreds of hours.
Real time dashboard widget ideas
If you are building your own dashboard or configuring one from a vendor, these widgets deliver strong signal without noise.
- Control health by Trust Services Criteria with a filter by system and owner
- Evidence freshness timeline that flags artifacts older than your defined window
- Open tasks by owner with due dates and a weekly trend line
- Access review cycle status with percent complete and overdue systems
- Vendor proof status showing current, expiring soon, and missing proofs
- Policy acknowledgments by department with a link to the latest policy version
These panels work because they map directly to audit questions. What controls are working. What is at risk. Where are we behind. A live view reduces the need for status decks and gives auditors confidence that control operations are part of daily work, not a one time event.
Implementation notes for engineering and IT
Set a cadence for integration health checks. Connections break when credentials rotate or scopes change. Add a weekly check that confirms collection jobs are running and artifacts are arriving with expected fields and sizes.
Name evidence in a way that helps sampling. Include system, control ID, and date in the file or object name. That practice speeds reviews and exports. Ensure every artifact links to a control and a system owner.
For custom integrations, wrap your scripts with a small retry and alert on failure. Store logs in a central place. Ship metrics like run time and artifact counts to your observability stack so you notice regressions early. The automated evidence workflows guide has examples of ingestion routes you can adapt.
Agree on evidence retention and access control for the library. Limit who can delete artifacts and require approvals for removal. Auditors will ask about retention and user access when they test your program.
From firefighting to a steady heartbeat
SOC 2 continuous compliance is a shift from project to program. Integrations collect artifacts daily. Real time compliance dashboards surface risk in minutes. Quarterly access reviews close without reminders from a human. Vendor proofs renew before they expire. Auditors see the same system your team uses every week, with timestamped evidence that maps directly to controls. That steady heartbeat is what turns audits from a scramble to a predictable part of operating a secure business.
Map evidence to controls so auditors see exactly what they need, when they need it. Source
Work with us
If you want help standing up SOC 2 continuous compliance with real time compliance dashboards, we build automations and integrations that fit your stack. We can set up evidence flows, design your access review cadence, and wire vendor tracking so your team can focus on higher value work.
Request a demo or email us at hello@eveningskysoftware.com to get a SOC 2 readiness audit or to grab our 30, 60, 90 day checklist as a PDF.