A small governance group of three to five people, drawn from security, IT or platform administration, a business sponsor and a few experienced makers, should own the app registry, the approved connector list, the template library and the exception process. Keep it light and fast, or people will work around it.
What the guidance recommends
OWASP's prevention advice for Asset Management Failures (CD-SEC-09) begins with establishing a centralized governance center. It pairs that with enforced application ownership and lifecycle, tiered risk classification, mandatory version control and secure deployment, a comprehensive inventory of applications, components and users, and removal of unused dependencies and features. OWASP also frames the crossover aim of the project as collaboration between the business and security and governance.
Who sits at the table
| Role | Contribution |
|---|---|
| Security or appsec lead | Risk view, review standards |
| Platform or IT administrator | Tenant settings, exports, monitoring |
| Business sponsor | Priorities, authority to nudge owners |
| Two or three experienced makers | Realism, peer training |
| Privacy or compliance contact, as needed | Data handling questions |
What the group owns
- The registry. Format, completeness and review dates.
- Tiering. Rules for the personal, team and sensitive tiers.
- Connector list and custom connector approvals.
- Template and component library.
- Exception requests, with a published response time.
- A short monthly report to leadership.
What it should not own
- Every app. Owners own their apps. The group sets the rules and checks the sensitive tier.
- Building. The group enables work, it does not become a delivery team.
How to run it
- Meet for thirty minutes a month, plus an async channel for urgent questions.
- Review three numbers: registered apps against known apps, apps with a live owner, and open exceptions.
- Keep decisions in a short log with the reason.
- Rotate the maker seats so the group does not drift from reality.
A first ninety days
| Period | Aim |
|---|---|
| Days 1 to 30 | Name the group, list the platforms, start the registry with amnesty |
| Days 31 to 60 | Publish tiers, connector list and one-page training |
| Days 61 to 90 | Start pre-production gate for sensitive apps, first report to leadership |
Signs it is working
Makers register apps before being asked, exception requests are answered inside the promised time, and the number of apps with no owner falls each quarter. Signs it is failing: the registry is stale, people avoid the group and unknown apps keep turning up.
Where Safeguard fits
Safeguard's compliance and evidence automation can help engineering teams record the reviews and decisions that a group like this makes, and the free scan at https://gold.safeguard.sh/scan offers a quick look at repository dependency risk. Governance itself is a human process.
Quick check
Does a small company need this?
A very small one can do it with one person and a shared registry. The roles still need to exist.
How do we avoid becoming a bottleneck?
Review only the sensitive tier in depth, publish response times and let owners handle everything else.
Sources
Last reviewed: 19 October 2026.
