What this requirement asks
Establish and maintain baseline configurations and inventories of organizational systems (including hardware, software, firmware, and documentation) throughout the respective system development life cycles.
This is a CMMC Level 2 requirement in the Configuration Management family, drawn from NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 2. An assessor evaluates it objective by objective — every objective below must be supported by evidence, not just described in a policy.
Assessment objectives (6)
- 3.4.1[a] — a baseline configuration is established
- 3.4.1[b] — the baseline configuration includes hardware, software, firmware, and documentation
- 3.4.1[c] — the baseline configuration is maintained (reviewed and updated) throughout the system development life cycle
- 3.4.1[d] — a system inventory is established
- 3.4.1[e] — the system inventory includes hardware, software, firmware, and documentation
- 3.4.1[f] — the inventory is maintained (reviewed and updated) throughout the system development life cycle
What an assessor examines
Examine:
- Configuration management policy
- procedures addressing the baseline configuration of the system
- procedures addressing system inventory
- system security plan
- configuration management plan
- system inventory records
- inventory review and update records
- enterprise architecture documentation
- system design documentation
- system architecture and configuration documentation
- system configuration settings and associated documentation
- change control records
- system component installation records
- system component removal records
- other relevant documents or records
Interview:
- Personnel with configuration management responsibilities
- personnel with responsibilities for establishing the system inventory
- personnel with responsibilities for updating the system inventory
- personnel with information security responsibilities
- system or network administrators
Test:
- Organizational processes for managing baseline configurations
- mechanisms supporting configuration control of the baseline configuration
- organizational processes for developing and documenting an inventory of system components
- organizational processes for updating inventory of system components
- mechanisms supporting or implementing the system inventory
- mechanisms implementing updating of the system inventory
Evidence that defends it
Upload baseline definitions and compliance check results
Check your readiness
Score this requirement against your own environment with the Level 2 self-assessment checklist, or estimate your SPRS score with the free CMMC compliance tool. Self-reported answers are planning signals only — they do not establish a verified or assessor-accepted result.