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V0.1 CONCEPT NOTE

The Subprocessor Drift Map

Version 0.1 concept note on vendor and third-party risk governance.

All concept notesFramework library
Concept Note5 topicsVendor Governance

Topics in this research area

01
The Vendor Reassessment Lifecycle
The phases and triggers that should force a vendor review before an audit does.
→02
The Subprocessor Drift Map
Surfacing what changed beneath a vendor since the original assessment.
→03
The Fourth-Party Disposition Protocol
The decision path from detected drift to a formal disposition.
→04
The Vendor Authorization Record
Named owner, authorized scope, review date, and triggers, in one document.
→05
The Organizational Vendor-Governance Maturity Model
A diagnostic for actual vendor reassessment discipline versus stated policy.
→

v0.1 concept note. Full framework treatment forthcoming.

Disambiguation

Distinct from a subprocessor list, which is a static disclosure. A drift map is a comparison over time, this relationship's current dependency chain against the one your original risk assessment actually evaluated.

A method for surfacing what has changed beneath a vendor relationship since the original assessment, specifically the subprocessors, fourth parties, and fifth parties added, removed, or replaced without a corresponding review of what that changes about your organization's exposure.

Published August 2, 2026.

Published under CC BY 4.0. Free to reproduce, adapt, translate, and use commercially, including inside your own governance program, with attribution to Sougata Roy and a link to this page. Attribution is a condition of the license. Claiming authorship is not attribution. Full terms at sougataroy.com/rights

Cite this framework

Sougata Roy, "The Subprocessor Drift Map", Version 0.1, August 2, 2026, https://sougataroy.com/frameworks/vendor-governance/subprocessor-drift-map