Industry Descriptor: A State-Level Department of Revenue and Tax Authority
The Challenge
As the primary tax-collecting agency for a major state government, this department manages vast amounts of sensitive financial and personal data. The agency faced the complex challenge of maintaining rigorous compliance with IRS Publication 1075 requirements across a federated IT landscape. Their existing processes for managing risk, vulnerabilities, and regulatory reporting were largely manual, relying on disconnected spreadsheets that made real-time visibility and audit readiness difficult to sustain.
The Solution
The agency executed a strategic implementation of ServiceNow IRM and Vulnerability Response (VR) using a prescriptive SmartStart methodology. This provided a structured foundation for automated governance and security operations.
Key project elements included:
- IRS 1075 Compliance Architecture: Configured the platform specifically to support the strict safeguarding requirements and reporting mandates of IRS 1075.
- Unified Risk & Vulnerability Management: Integrated core Policy & Compliance with Vulnerability Response to create a single system of record for security findings.
- Automated Exception Handling: Implemented a standardized Exception Management module to track and govern deviations from security policy with full, immutable audit trails.
- Future-Ready Roadmap: Established the architectural groundwork for upcoming expansions into Business Continuity Management (BCM) and Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM).
The Impact
- Continuous Audit Readiness: Transitioned from manual tracking to a “system of action,” ensuring that the agency is continuously prepared for rigorous federal and state audits.
- Demonstrable Process Maturity: Achieved a significant shift in GRC maturity, moving the agency toward automated, real-time risk visibility and away from reactive reporting.
- Reduced Administrative Burden: Replaced spreadsheet-based workflows with automated collection and reporting, freeing up staff to focus on high-priority security remediation.
- Ongoing Managed Excellence: The partnership evolved into a long-term SmartOps managed service engagement to ensure continuous platform optimization and roadmap execution.
