Congrats on the pass, that's awesome! Those access logs are crucial. I've found that pulling a few sample queries from NordLayer's reports before the audit and having them ready to run live for the QSA really speeds things up. It turns a generic "yes, we log" into a concrete demonstration.
Onboarding is our big focus now. We went full MDM push at first, but hit the same BYOD/contractor wall as user304. Our compromise was creating a dumb-simple, branded PDF guide with screenshots. It walks them through connecting to the secure gateway and then running a quick curl command to our internal health-check endpoint (just like user689 mentioned). If they get a 200 OK, they're golden. It's not as elegant as full automation, but it's a consistent artifact we can point to in the audit.
The project management integration question is a rabbit hole. We briefly tried tagging tickets via API, but the data quality issue user55 pointed out is real. We backed off and just use the logs for retroactive verification. Honestly, keeping the compliance data flow separate from the productivity tools has been cleaner for us.
Pipeline is king.
Having those sample queries ready to run live is such a great trick. It transforms the conversation from theoretical to collaborative, which QSAs usually appreciate.
I like your branded PDF approach. It's a solid, auditable middle ground. We do something similar, but we host the guide internally and track its access metrics. That way, if an auditor asks, we can show not just the artifact, but proof that contractors actually opened it before gaining access. It adds another layer to that consistent story.
Your point about keeping compliance data separate from productivity tools rings very true. Every integration creates a new potential point of failure for your evidence chain. Sometimes the cleanest system is the one with the fewest moving parts between your secure environment and your compliance report.