Should SaaS Companies Include the Processing Integrity TSC in Their SOC 2 Report?
This article explores whether SaaS companies—especially startups and scale-ups—should include the optional Processing Integrity Trust Services Category (TSC) in their SOC 2 report. It outlines the benefits, challenges, and key decision factors, using practical examples to help businesses align compliance efforts with customer expectations and operational needs
As a SaaS company working toward SOC 2 compliance, you likely know that Security is the only required TSC for every SOC 2 audit. The other four categories (Availability, Confidentiality, Processing Integrity, and Privacy) are optional – you choose to include them based on your services and stakeholder needs. Deciding whether to add Processing Integrity to your SOC 2 report is not trivial; it can significantly impact your audit scope, internal processes, and the message you send to customers about your trustworthiness. So, should your SaaS include the Processing Integrity TSC in your first SOC 2 report? Let’s break it down.
Understanding the Processing Integrity TSC
Processing Integrity in SOC 2 refers to the assurance that systems process data completely, accurately, timely, and with proper authorization. In other words, your platform’s transactions and data manipulations should occur without errors or unintended alterations. This criterion is especially relevant if your SaaS product performs critical data processing on behalf of customers – for example, financial computations, transaction processing, or complex data transformations.
In fact, Processing Integrity is considered ideal for organizations handling high-volume transactional data, such as payment processors, fintech platforms, or any service where customers rely on the correctness of processed data. If your system must “execute every transaction with precision, completeness, and timeliness,” then this TSC speaks directly to your operations.
Key Considerations for Including the Processing Integrity TSC
1. Nature of Your Service and Data Processing
Start by evaluating what your SaaS product actually does. Does your platform perform critical transactions or complex data processing on behalf of customers? If so, including Processing Integrity can be very beneficial. SaaS products in fintech, payments, e-commerce, or data analytics often fall into this category.
For instance, if you run an online payments service or an automated accounting platform, clients will care deeply that every transaction is processed completely and accurately. Industry experts advise including Processing Integrity if your company executes critical customer operations such as financial processing.
2. Customer Expectations and Requirements
Another major factor is what your customers, prospects, or regulators expect from your SOC 2 report. Are you already hearing questions about the accuracy or reliability of your service’s outputs during sales discussions or security questionnaires? Some enterprise clients (especially in finance or healthcare) might explicitly look for the Processing Integrity category in a vendor’s SOC 2 report if they rely on your service for mission-critical data processing. If you’ve received such signals – or if your target market is known to demand the highest assurance – then including Processing Integrity could help meet those expectations upfront.
Conversely, if none of your customers have shown concern beyond the basic security of your system, you might gain little immediate value by adding this extra criterion. After all, choosing criteria that don’t fit your company’s actual risks or client needs can waste time and money. It’s wise to poll your key customers or review your service commitments.
3. Operational Readiness and Resources
Including the Processing Integrity TSC will expand the scope of your audit and the burden on your team. Remember that each additional trust category means more controls to implement and evidence to provide. For Processing Integrity, you’ll need to have in place things like data input validations, processing logs or audit trails, reconciliation processes, and regular testing of output accuracy. You may also need to prepare documentation such as data flow diagrams showing how information moves through your system (in fact, such diagrams are often required for the Processing Integrity principle) and how you handle errors or exceptions. All of this can be a significant undertaking for a small or early-stage company. If you’re already struggling to formalize security policies and basic controls, adding another layer of criteria could overburden your team.
Assess your organization’s maturity: do you currently have the bandwidth to implement and maintain the rigorous processes that Processing Integrity requires? If you do decide to include it, you might find that the preparation strengthens your operations – writing those procedures and instituting checks can improve your overall product quality over time.
It’s a trade-off between short-term effort and long-term benefits.
4. Competitive and Market Factors
Consider the market landscape and your positioning. In some industries, having a broader SOC 2 scope can serve as a marketing advantage. If your close competitors or bigger players in your domain are advertising comprehensive SOC 2 reports (including categories like Processing Integrity), you may risk looking less mature or thorough if your report only covers the basics. In that case, being proactive and including Processing Integrity could differentiate you as a company that goes the extra mile for trust and quality. Prospective customers might see it as a sign of a more mature security and compliance program, which could tip the scales in your favor during vendor evaluations.
Market perception is a double-edged sword: you don’t want to lag behind if expectations are rising, but you also don’t want to over-engineer compliance that doesn’t resonate as a selling point. Keep an eye on industry trends (for example, are SOC 2 reports increasingly including more categories over time?) and listen to your sales team’s feedback on what prospects care about.
Benefits of Including the Processing Integrity TSC
If you determine that Processing Integrity aligns with your business and customer needs, there are several potential upsides to including it in your SOC 2 audit:
Enhanced Customer Trust and Transparency:
Adding the Processing Integrity criterion signals to clients that you’re not just checking the minimum boxes, but truly committed to delivering a reliable service. It demonstrates a more comprehensive commitment to security and quality, which can significantly boost trust with customers and partners. Instead of simply saying “we secure your data,” you’re also saying “we ensure your data and transactions are handled correctly.” This proactive stance can reassure current and prospective customers that you take the integrity of their data seriously. In an era of high-profile data mishaps, that extra assurance can go a long way in building credibility.
Improved Process Quality and Error Reduction:
Preparing for the Processing Integrity TSC can have the side effect of strengthening your internal processes. To comply, you’ll need to implement controls like input validation, logic checks, monitoring of processing outcomes, and regular testing to verify data accuracy. These controls are good practices in their own right. By instituting them, you may catch data issues or bugs that could have otherwise slipped through. In essence, including Processing Integrity forces a discipline of “measure twice, cut once” in your operations. It helps ensure that if something goes wrong in a transaction or data job, you have mechanisms to detect it and correct it quickly. Over time, this can lead to fewer mistakes in your service delivery, higher quality outputs, and a reputation for reliability. In this way, the audit criteria dovetail with operational excellence – you end up with a sturdier product. Especially for SaaS products where errors in processing (even if not security-related) could harm customers, this focus on quality can be a big value-add.
Final thoughts
By weighing these factors, you can make a reasoned decision rather than an emotional or purely marketing-driven one. In some cases, the answer might be “not yet” – and that’s okay. Remember that SOC 2 is an annual (or regular) endeavor; you can always choose to add Processing Integrity in your next audit cycle if you initially scope it out. Many companies start with Security (and perhaps one other criterion like Confidentiality or Availability) and then expand the scope in later years as they mature or as customer requirements evolve.
The best approach is an informed one. Consider consulting with a SOC 2 expert or auditor who can help evaluate your specific scenario. An experienced third-party assessor can provide insight into what similar companies are doing and what might be expected in your industry, helping you avoid both over-scoping and under-scoping. The goal is to ensure your SOC 2 report truly adds value to your organization’s trust story. Including Processing Integrity should not be about getting a gold star for its own sake – it should serve to reinforce trust with your customers and reflect how your business operates.