Tailored Solutions and Continuous Controls Monitoring

Magsys has developed an extensive library of Controls Tests across a wide range of ERP systems ( Eg. Ellipse, SAP, Finance One, Great Plains, Oracle Financials, Maximo and Peoplesoft ) also, additional systems such as Purchasing Card ( Eg. iCMS and Peoplesoft ) Procurement Systems ( Eg. Ariba ) and Asset Management ( Eg. Maximo & Ellipse ) are covered.
Tests have been developed across the full range of ERP module processes ( Eg. AP, AR, GL, HR/Payroll, Asset Management and ERP Application Security ) and OS Security ( Eg. Unix and IBM RACF ).

This extensive, modular library of Tests and other ACL™ based extended reporting applications are all designed to fit into the Magsys standard framework to implement automated “Continuous” processing

We work with the client to identify and analyse the requirements, then map them to our library of modular, extensible solutions. We prefer to incorporate a prototyping approach as much as possible since this is the optimal way to show the client what can be done and to clarify that it actually meets the client’s needs.

Magsys Continuous Controls Monitoring (CCM) framework - features

Having reviewed a number of existing CCM applications and listened to feedback from users, Magsys has derived many key criteria for an optimal CCM design, and incorporated them in the Magsys CCM solution.

  • Controls Testing programming ( Use audit oriented ACL™ as the programming framework underpinning the data extraction, testing and report generation ).
  • Always extract the source data ( The data should be extracted from the source production database, not a partially processed Data Warehouse or Cube )
  • Minimise the call on ICT Resources ( design the CCM framework to be as independant of ICT resources as possible )
  • Keep the level of complexity down ( host the CCM application on a high spec Windows workstation )
  • Aggregate the extracted host data on the workstation ( extract, normalise and accumulate the various data on the workstation )
  • Perform simple readonly table extracts from the production host ERP systems ( Simple Select criteria, minimise joins - do the complex joins and processing on the workstation with ACL™ )
  • Ability to extract and combine data from very diverse sources ( can leverage ACL's abilility in importing data from just about anywhere )
  • Secure accumulation of historical data not retained by ERP host systems ( the business may identify instances of important historical data not being retained in the host system )
  • Empower the Business User ( the workstation resident data repository is a valuable resource and ACL™ has an easy to learn user interface and a powerful set of commands. The business user can perform sophisticated data mining, analysis and reporting from the repository. This facility may not be readily accessible by other means. )
  • Tests Design Philosophy ( Magsys has concluded that an ideal profile of a Controls test is to perform the data crunching with ACL™ and create a series of results as spreadsheets containing summary and detail level data. An Excel Test Report Template combines these results as worksheets in one spreadsheet and the extensive use of Excel filters enables the business user to zero in on real exceptions. )
  • Tests Execution ( the Magsys CCM framework utilises a "Job" concept, typically, each job nominates a target host system and a set of controls tests, each of which maps to an ACL™ script and an Excel results report template spreadsheet. The frequency of the job's running is determined by its parameters in the Windows scheduler Eg. overnight, weekly etc. )
  • Tests Results Presentation ( Where relevant, a test cycle attribute is used to suppress repeat reporting of exceptions. Eg. Duplicate invoices - a duplicate set/pair reported in a cycle will not be reported in successive cycles unless another invoice joins the set. Since the cycle number is an Excel filterable field, duplicate invoices for the last 3 cycles can be included in the worksheet. )
  • Tests Results Notification ( Each Test Result spreadsheet contains a Summary worksheet which is aggregated into a single Job notification email and emailed as the final step in the Job execution. The Test result spreadsheets are saved to a network folder. )
  • Regular automated backups of the workstation database to a network server ( can zip the entire application and save it )
  • Enable the user to maintain / incorporate some additional data into the CCM ( because the ACL™ analysis programs and the data are resident on the workstation, user maintained data is available to the programs. This is not so easy if the analysis programs and data are resident on a Unix host for example. )
  • The design and implementation of the CCM should be very modular and parameter driven ( the addition of new host systems, jobs, analysis programs and reports and other objects should be facilitated )
  • Magsys specialises in working with the business analysts to develop genuinly useful tests ( Generic tests should be the starting point, the best tests are built by tailoring a generic test to address the particular business practices of the organization. )
  • Value for money ( the cost of the Magsys CCM solution is inexpensive compared to most other offerings, and the quality of the CCM Application, Service, Training and Support is excellent. )