PCI DSS Annual Validation Readiness
Confirm PCI scope, test recurring evidence, and prepare the applicable SAQ, ROC, AOC, and supporting package for the accepting entity.
PCI DSS validation is commonly annual, but the correct route depends on merchant or service-provider status, transaction volume, payment channels, contracts, and the compliance-accepting entity. Some organizations self-assess with an SAQ; others require a Qualified Security Assessor and Report on Compliance.
What annual readiness covers
- Cardholder-data discovery, data-flow confirmation, segmentation, connected systems, people, facilities, and service providers.
- Eligibility for the intended SAQ or the scope and logistics of a ROC assessment.
- Recurring control evidence, including activities with daily, quarterly, semiannual, annual, and change-triggered frequencies.
- ASV scanning, penetration-testing inputs, targeted risk analyses, service-provider evidence, and responsibility matrices.
- Remediation records for requirements that were missed, late, or not operating as designed.
The submission package
Depending on the route, the formal package may include an SAQ or ROC, the corresponding Attestation of Compliance, ASV reports, and other material requested by the acquirer, payment brand, customer, or program manager. PCI SSC defines the AOC as the form that attests to assessment results documented in the SAQ or ROC. The accepting entity determines what must be submitted.
Only a QSA can perform work reserved to a QSA. Readiness support does not replace the required assessor or the accepting entity’s decision. Use the current materials in the PCI SSC document library.