Mandatory documents

The question is : in a small digital agency (up to 20 employees, including management), which documentation and policies / procedures are required and which ones are an overkill for such a small organization like my company?

Answer:

First it is important to note that some documents and records are mandatory to fulfill clauses from the main sections of the standard (sections 4 to 10), and these are:
- Scope of the ISMS (clause 4.3)
- Information security policy and objectives (clauses 5.2 and 6.2)
- Risk assessment and risk treatment methodology (clause 6.1.2)
- Statement of Applicability (clause 6.1.3 d)
- Risk treatment plan (clauses 6.1.3 e and 6.2)
- Risk assessment report (clause 8.2)
- Records of training, skills, experience and qualifications (clause 7.2)
- Monitoring and measurement results (clause 9.1)
- Internal audit program (clause 9.2)
- Results of internal audits (clause 9.2)
- Results of the management review (clause 9.3)
- Results of corrective actions (clause 10.1)

Another situation is that some documents are required to fulfill controls that are mandatory if at least one of these situations happen:
- There are unacceptable risks that justify the application of the control
- There are legal requirements (e.g., laws or contract clauses) to which the organization must comply with that demands the application of the control
- There is a top management decision to implement the control, by considering it as good practice.

If none of the above conditions happen, there is no need to implement a document related to that control. Examples of such documents are:
- Inventory of assets (to implement control A.8.1.1)
- Acceptable use of assets (to implement control A.8.1.3)

Considering that, besides the documents to fulfill clauses from the main sections, without a detailed evaluation of an organization, it is not possible to define how many documents an organization would have, and which ones would be an overkill.

These articles will provide you further explanation about ISO 27001 documents and selection of controls:
- List of mandatory documents required by ISO 27001 (2013 revision) https://advisera.com/27001academy/knowledgebase/list-of-mandatory-documents-required-by-iso-27001-2013-revision/
- The basic logic of ISO 27001: How does information security work? https://advisera.com/27001academy/knowledgebase/the-basic-logic-of-iso-27001-how-does-information-security-work/
- 8 criteria to decide which ISO 27001 policies and procedures to write https://advisera.com/27001academy/blog/2014/07/28/8-criteria-to-decide-which-iso-27001-policies-and-procedures-to-write/