---
title: CMMC Journey
description: DIBFI's guided, phase-by-phase path from first scoping to certification — always showing your current phase and the single best next step.
navigation:
  icon: i-lucide-route
---

# CMMC Journey

CMMC certification is a long road, and it's easy to lose the plot — to polish one control while a foundational step goes undone. The **CMMC Journey** (shown in-app as **"Your Compliance Path"**) turns that road into an ordered set of **phases**, each with a clear goal and a concrete checklist, and always surfaces the **single most valuable next step** to take right now.

::note
Find it in the sidebar under your compliance path / phases view. Every member can see the journey; the checklist reflects the whole organization's progress, not just your own.
::

## Key concepts

### Phases

Your path is divided into **seven phases**, worked roughly in order. Each phase has a goal, an estimated effort, and a checklist of tasks — some **required**, some recommended.

| # | Phase | The goal |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **Foundation & Scoping** | Get your scope right before anything else |
| 2 | **Control Implementation** | Build the technical controls |
| 3 | **Documentation & Traceability** | Make everything provable |
| 4 | **Internal Validation** | Find gaps before the assessor does |
| 5 | **Pre-Assessment Readiness** | Ready to call your C3PAO |
| 6 | **During Assessment** | Execute cleanly |
| 7 | **Post-Assessment & Certification** | Close gaps and get certified |

### Phase status

At any time each phase is in one of three states:

| Status | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| :badge[Complete]{color="success"} | The phase is done (or you've advanced past it) |
| :badge[Current]{color="info"} | The phase you're working now |
| :badge[Locked]{color="neutral"} | A later phase, not yet started |

### Next Best Action

The journey always highlights **one** recommended next step — the action with the most impact on your readiness right now. It's chosen from a priority order: urgent items first (expired evidence, overdue remediation), then the guidance specific to your current phase, then upkeep like renewing soon-to-expire evidence.

::tip
When you're not sure what to do next, do the **Next Best Action**. It's the fastest way to move your score and your phase forward.
::

### Level 1 vs Level 2

If your organization is pursuing **Level 1** (protecting FCI, 17 practices) rather than **Level 2** (protecting CUI), the early phases are re-labeled to match that lighter scope. The overall journey shape is the same.

## Using the journey

### Follow your path

::steps{level="4"}

#### Open your compliance path

The journey view shows your **current phase**, your **SPRS score**, an estimate of **how long to ready**, and your **Next Best Action** front and center.

#### Work the current phase

Each phase lists its tasks with a done/not-done state and a short **assessor insight** explaining why the phase matters. Complete the required tasks to move the phase toward done.

#### Take the next best action

Follow the highlighted recommendation — it deep-links to exactly the screen you need (a system, an objective, an evidence item, or a remediation task).

#### Advance

As you complete a phase's key tasks, it turns **Complete** and the next phase becomes **Current**. Your path updates automatically.

::

### Check readiness before an assessment

Phase 5 (**Pre-Assessment Readiness**) includes a set of **readiness checks** — concrete gates such as "no open gaps," "SSP sections complete," and "no overdue remediation." Each check passes, warns, or **blocks**. Clear the blockers and you're ready to engage your C3PAO.

::warning
A readiness **blocker** means you're not yet ready to be assessed on that point — for example, an incomplete SSP or an unresolved gap. Resolve blockers before scheduling your assessment.
::

## Permissions

The journey is a read-only overview available to **every role**. Advancing phases and completing tasks follows the permissions of the underlying work (implementing controls, uploading evidence, and so on) — see each feature's own page.

## How it works

### How your current phase is determined

Your organization has one **current phase**. A phase counts as complete when you've either explicitly finished it or advanced past it; completing a phase stamps the date so your history is preserved. Each phase has a **completion threshold** — the share of its key tasks that must be done before it's considered ready to advance — so you can't skip ahead with foundational work unfinished.

### How progress is measured

For each phase, DIBFI compares the tasks you've completed against that phase's checklist to produce a completion percentage and a required-tasks-remaining count. The journey combines that with live signals from the rest of the platform — your SPRS score, open gaps, overdue and upcoming remediation, and evidence that's expired or expiring — to place you on the path and choose your Next Best Action.

### Where the journey draws from

The journey is a lens over the work you do everywhere else in DIBFI. Scoping pulls from your systems and asset inventory; implementation and documentation from your assessment objectives, evidence, and policies; readiness from your SSP completeness, gaps, and remediation. You don't maintain the journey separately — it reflects your real state as you work.

::note
The same journey is available to an approved AI assistant through the [AI Connector](/05-integrations-and-ai/ai-connector), so you can ask an assistant to walk you through your current phase and next steps.
::

## Related features

:::card-group

::card{title="Assessments" icon="i-lucide-clipboard-check" to="/01-assessment-and-scoring/assessments"}
Track objectives and status — the core work of the middle phases.
::

::card{title="SPRS Score" icon="i-lucide-gauge" to="/01-assessment-and-scoring/sprs-score"}
The score the journey helps you raise.
::

::card{title="Reviews & Readiness" icon="i-lucide-badge-check" to="/03-operations-and-risk/reviews-and-readiness"}
Formal readiness checkpoints before your assessment.
::

:::