Input Validation and Intake Reconciliation for SOC 2

What this control should accomplish

Critical intake points accept expected records, reject or quarantine invalid records, and expose missing, duplicate, late, partial, or unauthorized inputs for resolution.

How to implement Input Validation and Intake Reconciliation

1. 1

   Inventory intake points

   Identify the APIs, uploads, queues, integrations, and manual entry paths used by each critical flow.

   You should end up with: Critical input-point inventory

2. 2

   Define acceptance rules

   Record the expected source, required fields, data types, allowed values, uniqueness rules, sequence expectations, and timing tolerance.

   You should end up with: Input specification and validation rules

3. 3

   Enforce validation

   Apply the rules before downstream processing and record whether each input was accepted, rejected, or quarantined.

   You should end up with: Configured validation at each intake point

4. 4

   Resolve exceptions

   Route invalid or questionable input to an owner who can correct, re-submit, reject, or escalate it with a recorded reason.

   You should end up with: Owned input-exception workflow

5. 5

   Reconcile intake

   Compare received, accepted, rejected, duplicate, and unresolved counts so records do not silently disappear between intake and processing.

   You should end up with: Periodic input reconciliation

Evidence to keep, and what it should prove

Build the evidence set in three layers: what defines the control, who approved or reviewed it, and what proves it operated. Collect operating records when the work happens so they remain dated, attributable, correctly scoped, and traceable to the underlying activity.

Before sharing, remove unrelated personal or customer data, never expose passwords, tokens, or secret values, preserve enough source context to authenticate the record, and use the secure exchange approved for the engagement.

Which records should you prepare for the audit?

How an auditor may test this control

Use this checklist to prepare for procedures an auditor may perform. The exact steps and sample selection depend on your engagement scope and the service auditor's professional judgment.

• Confirm the intended control outcome

  Determine whether the control is designed to achieve this result: Critical intake points accept expected records, reject or quarantine invalid records, and expose missing, duplicate, late, partial, or unauthorized inputs for resolution.

• Confirm ownership and operating cadence

  Compare the documented owner with the intended role (Application Engineering / Data Operations), then compare dated records with the stated cadence: Continuous or per intake; exceptions reviewed at least weekly.

• Establish the complete audit record set

  For each covered intake point, reconcile received totals to accepted, rejected, quarantined, duplicate, and unresolved totals, then match every exception ID to its recorded disposition.

• Prepare the as-of-date evidence for a Type 1 engagement

  The current input specification, active validation configuration, and recent accepted and rejected examples showing the intake workflow in use at the review date.

• Prepare period evidence for a Type 2 engagement

  The complete population of rejected, quarantined, duplicate, late, or manually corrected input events and every scheduled intake reconciliation during the period, supported by system-produced accepted-input counts.

• Inspect the policy / design artifacts

  Documents that define the control, its scope, ownership, and expected way of working.

  • Inspect Processing integrity policy or procedure

    For each selected record, confirm it demonstrates The shared process requires defined input rules, attributable exception resolution, and reconciliation for critical intake points.

    • Input-control expectations
    • Responsible roles
    • Exception workflow
    • Reconciliation requirement
    • Review cadence

  • Inspect Input specification and validation design

    For each selected record, confirm it demonstrates Critical entry points have an approved design for source, structure, required values, duplicates, sequence, timing, and failure handling before those rules are configured.

    • Input point
    • Source
    • Required fields
    • Validation rules
    • Failure action
    • Design version and owner

• Inspect the approval / review evidence

  Records showing that an accountable person reviewed, approved, challenged, or accepted the work.

  • Inspect Policy approval and version record

    For each selected record, confirm it demonstrates The input-control requirements are covered by a currently effective and authorized procedure.

    • Document name
    • Version
    • Approver
    • Approval date
    • Effective date

• Inspect the operating / technical evidence

  Dated proof that the control actually ran, such as tickets, logs, settings, exports, reports, and test results.

  • Inspect Active input-validation configuration export

    For each selected record, confirm it demonstrates The live intake path implements the designed validation rules and rejection or quarantine behavior in the identified environment.

    • Input point and environment
    • Configured rule or schema version
    • Enabled validation checks
    • Failure route
    • Export or capture time
    • Source system

  • Inspect Input validation log or export

    For each selected record, confirm it demonstrates The intake control actually evaluated records and retained their source, time, validation result, and stable identifier.

    • Input ID
    • Source
    • Received time
    • Validation result
    • Rule or reason
    • Environment

  • Inspect Input exception and reconciliation record

    For each selected record, confirm it demonstrates Rejected, duplicate, late, partial, and manually corrected inputs were accounted for and unresolved differences received an owner and disposition.

    • Covered period
    • Received count
    • Accepted count
    • Exception count
    • Exception ID and owner
    • Resolution or remaining difference

• Trace the control from design to operation

  Use the categories that apply to this control: connect any policy or design artifact to its approval or review record, then trace a selected operating record through execution, result, and any exception or remediation.

Common implementation and evidence gaps

• Validation checks format but not source authorization, duplicates, sequence, or timing.
• The written input specification has changed, but the active validation configuration still uses older rules.
• Rejected records are dropped without a durable exception record.
• Manual corrections overwrite the original value or reason.
• The team retains examples but cannot produce the complete exception population.
• Customer responsibility for supplying valid and timely input is undocumented.

Before you call this control ready

• Does every critical intake point have written and configured acceptance rules?
• Can the active configuration be compared directly with the approved input specification?
• Can the system identify missing, duplicate, late, partial, and invalid input?
• Can one rejected record be traced through correction or closure?
• Do received totals reconcile to every final intake status?
• Can the team export the full exception population for the review period?

Trust Services Criteria references

These identifiers help you navigate related Trust Services Criteria. They do not reproduce the criteria or prove that this control fully addresses them in your environment.

• PI1.2

Confirm final scope, mappings, and testing expectations with your service auditor. SOC 2® is an AICPA trademark; GreenHat Security is not affiliated with or endorsed by AICPA.

Related controls to review next