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OpenPages FCM allows a company
to automate the quarterly test and review of internal controls to
lower the costs associated with quarter over quarter compliance.
With user-specific home pages, email integration, easy-to-use navigation
and interactive reporting capabilities, OpenPages FCM creates a highly
productive compliance environment with five key areas of functionality
– project management, documentation, compliance automation,
issues management and monitoring.
Project Management
In most companies, a cross-functional project team drawn from different
operational areas of the business is set up to document internal
controls under the leadership of a project manager, who is usually
a CFO delegate. OpenPages FCM assists the project manager by starting
new controls documentation “projects” and capturing
information about the project (for example, project name, reporting
period, start date, due date, assigned team members, etc.). Project
plans can be developed with milestones and user task assignments.
Users can define specific attributes for each task (such as name,
description, owner, assignee, business unit/location, start date,
due date, percent complete, completion date, notes, preceding task,
related documents, etc.).
OpenPages FCM controls access to project
information. The project manager has unrestricted access to all
information at all times, while individual team members have a
read-only view of the entire project, and write access to items
assigned to them. Additionally, OpenPages FCM monitors the progress
of a controls documentation project. Project plans are dynamically
updated with the latest information (such as percent complete
for each task, comments added by task assignees, etc.)
Documentation
OpenPages FCM enables members of the project team to document
details of their internal controls by adding information about
business entities, accounts, processes, risks, controls, tests
and test results. Entities can be used to model business units
such as divisions, plants, locations, etc. and can nest within
other entities to create a hierarchy of business units. OpenPages FCM
provides support for automatic import of account information from
external general ledger and other systems. Project team members
can attach related documents (e.g. policy manuals, pre-existing
corporate guidelines, etc.) to all accounts, processes, risks,
controls, tests and test results. Additionally, they can select
only those documents relevant to the business at hand, using a
pre-loaded, custom library of controls and a guided-action interface.
The library can be customized to support specific industries,
such as retail, healthcare, telecommunications and financial services.
Compliance Automation
OpenPages FCM provides mechanisms for intelligent task management
and routing between project team members. For example, upon logging
into the system, a team member sees her “My Tasks”
list on her home page, which is a personalized list of all of
the tasks in the project plan that are assigned to her. (Typical
examples of tasks on the My Task list are “document control
X” or “test control Y.”) At any time, the team
member can update information about a task (such as percent complete
or comments), which then updates the underlying project plan.
Team members can apply various criteria to filter and sort their
individual tasks, while the project manager can do the same for
all of the tasks related to the project. Team members can take
advantage of ad-hoc workflow to forward tasks to other users for
further action, such as submitting a documentation task to a reviewer
for review and approval.
In order to enforce the standardization of formerly ad hoc or
informally documented processes, OpenPages FCM provides business
process integration that enables users to automate such key processes
as effectiveness reviews, approvals and tests. The system provides
custom workflows for each internal control document type to intelligently
route tasks based on status or other data associated with internal
controls. Assigned tasks are indicated on each user’s Home
Page. Task details provide each user with links to work that must
be performed and actions they must take to complete their tasks.
Issues Management
As controls are documented, exceptions can occur and issues
will arise. OpenPages FCM provides a way for the project team to
resolve these issues efficiently. Issues can be created as standalone
items or within the context of specific entities, accounts, processes,
risks, controls and tests. Issues can have multiple attributes
(such as name, description, status and/or severity) and can be
viewed with selectable filter criteria (such as status and severity).
Action Plans can also be developed in the context of an issue,
such as, Please update this document. These plans can be delegated
to other team members to complete. Issues are thus resolved collaboratively.
Interactive and Dynamic Monitoring
OpenPages FCM provides facilities for compliance monitoring. Interactive
and dynamic reports enhance management’s access to critical
decision points, enabling issue identification and resolution
in real time. The following reports are available in online dashboard
and printable formats:
- Report of all accounts
- Report of all processes
- Report of all risks
- Report of all controls, including ineffective controls
- Report of incomplete documentation
- Reports on poor segregation of responsibilities
- Reports on at-risk action items in project plans
- Reports on issues
- Custom reports can be created using the OpenPages FCM reporting
framework
Interactive and dynamic report templates are parameterized and
new reports based on different criteria are easily created via
dashboard support and via links to the control repository. A graphical
report template builder facilitates generation of new report types
that may then be deployed to authorized users.
In addition, OpenPages is integrated with leading third-party
reporting applications, such as those from Cognos, Hyperion and
Business Objects, to provide customers with additional reporting
options that leverage their existing technology investments.
Request Information
For questions or for more information on OpenPages FCM
or OpenPages' suite of Governance, Risk and Compliance Management
solutions, please click here or call us at 781.693.5999.
About OpenPages
OpenPages is the leading provider of Governance, Compliance and Risk
Management solutions
for Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance, Financial Controls Management, General
Compliance Management, Operational
Risk Management and IT
Governance.
The company’s solutions provide the visibility, decision support and
control to improve accountability, better manage risk, achieve compliance
with numerous regulations, improve operational performance and align strategies
to ensure better results.
Market-leading corporations in financial services, manufacturing, telecommunications,
media/entertainment, retail/consumer, energy, high technology, health services
and life sciences rely on OpenPages to help them achieve sustainable governance,
risk and compliance management -- enabling them to become well-governed businesses.
Founded in 1996, the company is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, with
regional offices throughout North America and international offices in London, Munich, Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong.
For more information on OpenPages' suite of business governance software solutions
or to register for an online demonstration, please call 781-693-5999 or visit
www.openpages.com.
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