We are in an age where productivity gains are increasingly dependant upon speeding up the flow of sensitive data throughout the enterprise. As more key and proprietary data is managed with the ERP system, companies are all the more sensitive to careless or malicious data tampering. As we have seen with regulations like Sarbanes-Oxley, companies are being held accountable for the data that is produced from their ERP system, and thus are looking for tools to make sure that the data is managed in the right way by the right person.

We see this not as simply preventing unauthorized data manipulation (risk management), but in the context of a data management plan that includes process improvement. This includes:

User accountability for one's actions

Managing ancillary attached data (such as Excel or Word attachments) through an approval, lockdown and version control process

Managing efficiency of electronic document handling, and being able to answer questions such as:

• Who are all of the people who touched this document and how long were they working on it?
• What reason did they provide for making additions, deletions, modifications?
• Did a supervisor approve the changes?
• How can I be sure that the user didn't walk away from his computer, and someone else made the changes?
• Who was the last person that changed this data field for this item?
• How much did this sales order cost me in processing time?

Advanced Auditing and Security enables companies to model their business rules and implement an audit policy that fits. AAS enhances the existing MAS 500 user and group level security with features such as:

Ability to differentiate between insert, update, view only and delete permissions

Storing of electronic signatures with audit records

Supervisor credential override for key tasks

Track document revision notes and roles

Password complexity, expiration and re-use parameter enforcement with SQL authentication

Task idle timeouts

Credential overrides without re-logging into MAS 500

Automated workflow for batch posting approvals, with custom approval rules

Easily view audit changes directly from the audited task

For most businesses, ERP interaction is a "black hole". Can your ERP system tell you the total processing time spent on a particular document (ie, the cost of processing)? Can your ERP help analyze your process value streams by telling you the touch points and error corrections for a particular process? Can your ERP tell you who is efficient / inefficient at their jobs so that you can manage your processing costs effectively? These are the types of questions that we can help you answer by implementing the Advanced Auditing and Security module for MAS 500. This is why we talk not just about security and risk mitigation, but data management and process improvement.

For more information about Advanced Security for MAS 500, or to register for an online presentation, email us: solutions@evs-sw.com.