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If you order a martini from a bar, the bartender will likely make it the standard way: gin, bitters, vermouth, and a twist of lemon. If you go to a different spot, the mixologist might make it with vodka instead of gin and garnish with an olive. Maybe one time, you request it shaken not stirred. No matter which way you order, you have final say on how you address your need for a martini.

Think about those a la carte sushi restaurants—the very cool ones with the circulating conveyor belts that let you select different dishes as they suit your fancy. Maybe your go-to is always California rolls, but you spot some delicious-looking Rainbow Rolls so you grab those one time. Or maybe you’re craving a Spicy Tuna roll, so you add that to your plate. Even if sushi is not quite your taste, you’d probably agree that SOC 2 audits are even less appetizing. Aside from the actual, in-depth audit process, they also require you to make a lot of decisions first, and it’s just added stress. That’s why you want to ensure that you take the audit path most helpful to you, and that includes the right criteria. SOC 2 functions a lot like that sushi conveyor belt—you have a lot of potential options. And we don’t just mean the SOC 2 Trust Services Categories (TSCs) that you have to select from to form the basis of your examination. We mean adding what is technically known as additional “subject matter.” For simplicity’s sake, we’ll just refer to it as “additional criteria.”