The most important thing in brief:
The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) is moving the European financial sector forward: Since January 17, 2025, it has required banks, insurance companies, payment service providers and their IT service providers to improve their digital resilience and comprehensively manage cyber risks. The most important key points, backgrounds and requirements can be found in our articles ”DORA regulation: Requirements for financial companies in the EU“ as well as ”Digital Operational Resilience Act - Everything about the EU regulation“.
What is DORA compliance?
DORA Compliance means compliance with the EU regulation, which sets uniform requirements for IT risk management, ICT operational continuity, reporting and cybersecurity. In future, companies will have to prove that their IT infrastructure is digitally resilient - including all service providers in the supply chain.
Support from DORA compliance software
DORA compliance software helps to document, monitor and regularly review all relevant IT systems. Without automated solutions, it is hardly possible to efficiently meet the high requirements — particularly with regard to reporting obligations and the ongoing review of IT assets.
DORA Compliance - checklist for companies
The following steps help to implement compliance requirements in a targeted manner:
✅ 1. Create complete IT documentation
Capture all systems, network components, applications and their dependencies.
✅ 2. Carry out a risk analysis
Evaluate cyber risks, failure probabilities, and potential impact on business operations.
✅ 3. Set up protection and response plans
Define technical and organizational measures - including emergency plans.
✅ 4. Establish review and reporting processes
Set up a system that registers, reports, and regularly evaluates incidents.
✅ 5. Integrate service providers
Check whether external providers can also demonstrate DORA-compliant processes.
✅ 6. Conduct regular tests & audits
Penetration tests, restart tests and audits ensure that protective measures are effective.
✅ 7. Continuously update documentation
All information must be up-to-date and verifiably available at all times: “Document or die! ”
How Docusnap helps with DORA compliance
Docusnap is a proven IT documentation software that pragmatically supports you in implementing DORA compliance - especially in everyday IT life:
- Automated IT inventory: Agentless capture of your entire infrastructure.
- transparents IT documentation: Network and emergency plans, operating manuals, roles & rights — available with just a few clicks.
- Reporting & auditability: Changes in the system are logged in a comprehensible manner - ideal for audits & reporting requirements.
- Supplier management: Integrate external IT service providers into your documentation.
- Compliance Cockpit: Keep an eye on the status of your DORA compliance checklist at all times.
Successful implementation of compliance: DORA and Docusnap - A practical example
A medium-sized financial services provider with over 350 employees was faced with the challenge of modernizing its outdated documentation with a view to DORA compliance. Thanks to Docusnap, the company was able to create complete and audit-proof documentation of its IT landscape within a few weeks. Automated inventory meant critical systems, interfaces to service providers and Restart plans available at any time - the basis for risk analyses, regular tests and audits. Result: The IT department now saves around 40% time in documentation and was able to successfully pass the first external audit in accordance with DORA guidelines.
Conclusion: The countdown is on - digitally resilient with DORA Compliance
DORA not only brings new obligations, but also the opportunity to sustainably manage cyber risks. With a structured DORA compliance checklist, appropriate software such as Docusnap and continuous documentation, companies ensure their ability to act - even in an emergency.
You can find more background information on DORA compliance and specific examples from practice in our articles on Digital Operational Resilience Act as well as to DORA regulation.
The next steps:
DORA compliance is already in force — it is now time to permanently integrate the requirements into IT operations. With Docusnap, you create the basis for audit-proof IT documentation, automated processes and maximum transparency — ideal for audits and reporting requirements as part of DORA.
Try it now for free!
