Control Catalog

A control catalog is a structured, organized list of controls that an organization uses to manage risk, security, quality, or compliance across its operations and supporting systems. Each entry in the catalog typically describes a specific control objective or requirement, such as access control, change management, data integrity, or equipment calibration, along with implementation guidance and references.

In industrial and manufacturing environments, a control catalog commonly brings together controls that apply to OT and IT systems, production processes, quality management, and regulatory requirements. It can cover topics such as cybersecurity for plant networks, MES and ERP data integrity, document control, traceability, training, and incident response.

Typical contents of a control catalog

A control catalog usually includes, for each control item:

• A unique identifier or code
• A short name and description of the control
• The control objective or risk addressed
• Guidance on implementation and operation
• Mappings to standards or regulations (for example, NIST 800-53, ISO 27001, ISO 9001, or internal policies)
• Ownership and responsibility (such as IT, OT, quality, or engineering)

Organizations may maintain separate control catalogs for different domains (cybersecurity, product quality, safety) or a single enterprise-wide catalog that unifies all control requirements.

Operational use in manufacturing

In practice, a control catalog is used to:

• Design and document internal control frameworks for plants, labs, and supporting systems
• Align MES, ERP, SCADA, and QMS configurations with defined control requirements
• Support audits by showing which controls exist and where they are implemented
• Map regulatory and customer requirements to specific, testable controls
• Assess gaps and plan remediation when new standards or contractual requirements arise

For example, a control catalog may define controls for user access and authorization in a MES, change control on work instructions and recipes, audit trail retention, or segregation of duties between planning and execution roles.

Relation to standards and frameworks

In cybersecurity and regulated environments, control catalogs are often influenced by or mapped to established frameworks. For instance, organizations may build a catalog by selecting controls from NIST 800-53, NIST 800-171, or similar sources and tailoring them to their manufacturing context. In quality management, control catalogs can mirror the structure of ISO-based requirements or customer-specific quality clauses, but expressed as internal controls.

What a control catalog is not

• It is not a risk register, which records specific risks and their status, although the two may be linked.
• It is not a procedures manual, although procedures may be referenced as the method of implementing a control.
• It is not a system configuration file, but it can drive and document configuration decisions.

Common confusion

Control catalog vs. control framework: A control framework is a higher-level structure or model that organizes how controls relate to policies, risks, and processes. A control catalog is the detailed, itemized list of specific controls that live within that framework.

Control catalog vs. checklist: A checklist is usually a simplified tool for verification or inspection. A control catalog is more comprehensive and is used to define the organization’s complete set of control requirements, not just to verify a single activity or project.