5 Steps to Success
This article entitled 5 Steps to Success for Spreadsheet Compliance
by Jefferson Wells and Prodiance outlines 5 pragmatic steps organizations can take to improve spreadsheet compliance, including:
1. Inventory all spreadsheets
2. Assess spreadsheet risk
3. Perform mathmatical verification
4. Establish a controlled environment
5. Establish a corporate policy on spreadsheet control
You can download the article here from the Compliance Week web site.
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Eric Perry
This is a fantastic resource – keep up the good work!
How much of this can be accomlished by simply storing files in SharePoint?
Hi Mark – Thanks for your comment. Microsoft SharePoint is a very innovative technology platform that is quickly gaining momentum across many corporations. For spreadsheet and EUC control, it provides several key controls recommended by auditors, including workflow and file level audit trails, versioning, archival and role based security for segregation of duties. That said, it is a great foundation for spreadsheet and EUC control, but does not address all of the requirements.
For example, before you can determine which files to control in a SharePoint system, you first have to perform a discovery, create an inventory and perform a risk assessment to determine which files are in scope. In addition, cell level auditing, diagnostic and error chcking, and exception based reporting are critical for maintaining a controlled environment. By itself, SharePoint does not offer these features, so vendors like Prodiance, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, have addressed these needs with integrated software modules that complement SharePoint to make it a complete solution.
Hi Eric,
I see the additional functionality you are talking about. I agree that Sharepoint does not address all of the above concerns.