I'm working with small SMEs and trying to find a reasonable way to manage Information Security Management System (ISMS) documentation without breaking the bank on enterprise solutions. We want to move away from Excel since we prefer a cloud-based tool that's easier to collaborate on. I'm considering Notion to manage various components like:
- asset inventory
- vulnerability tracking (imported from Nessus for medium+ vulnerabilities)
- access and Identity Access Management (IAM) register
- risk treatment logs
- policy distribution and acknowledgments
My objective is to create linked databases for assets, vulnerabilities, and remediation tasks, while also using it as an evidence repository for ISO 27001 audits or possible NIS2 inspections. Has anyone tried this? Does it work well in practice, or does it get disorganized over time? Would Airtable be a better fit for this? Or are most people still resorting to tools like Jira, DefectDojo, or just using advanced Excel sheets? Our context is small companies with about 20 to 50 employees, outsourced IT, and no internal security operations center, so I can't suggest tools that are over €500 a month.
4 Answers
Are you focusing on ISO 27001 certification or just preparing for NIS2? The compliance requirements can differ significantly between the two, which impacts how effective Notion might be for your needs.
For organizations your size, I’d suggest looking into M365 Business Premium. With Defender and Sentinel, you can leverage Purview Compliance Manager to create custom templates that can help bridge the gaps for the ISO 27001 assessments.
I think using Notion can definitely work for your ISMS if you focus on making sure your evidence is stored in a manner that tracks version history and ownership. The main issue with Notion is usually demonstrating change control and ensuring reviews or policy acknowledgments are recorded accurately because it can get messy if you're just using Notion pages. I recommend using Notion as a workflow and control register and keeping your actual evidence in SharePoint or somewhere with strong retention and versioning capabilities. Once you get into needing to provide auditor-friendly evidence, a setup that's reliant solely on Notion may not hold up well.
I think a hybrid approach is the way to go! Use Notion for tracking assets, vulnerabilities, risks, and owners, while keeping formal evidence stored separately where versioning and retention are solid. This combo could work great for small clients and is probably more manageable than spreadsheets or a big GRC tool.
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