Abstract:
A method of providing True Continuous Control Monitoring (CCM) of business processes for audit purposes is provided herein. The method includes the following steps: consolidating data from multiple sources, in case the transactional data is located in more than one source, to a single self contained and comprehensive source; identifying, in the single data source, data elements that are required for detection and reporting for each audit rule; translating and streaming, in case required, the transactions data into events, so that every change in a transaction is immediately reflected and identifiable; eliminating duplicate events for the same single transaction; applying the event processing engine to the events, based on event audit patterns derived from audit rules, possibly entered by non-programmers; and generating alert data in audit-style notation, to be reported back to the system, based on alert notifications derived from the event processing engine.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     1. Technical Field 
     The present invention relates to continuous control monitoring using a complex event processing environment. 
     2. Discussion of the Related Art 
     In modern enterprise Information Technology (IT) structure, the management and the shareholders receive relatively limited value from traditional audit processes for the following reasons: First, historical, rather than current data is used to assess the level of unmitigated risk in the business processes. Controls deficiencies that are identified have typically occurred in the past and remained unaddressed and therefore seriously undermine the processes control health. Clearly, the more current the data for determining unmitigated risk, the greater the value to management and shareholders due to reduced potential for loss, waste, and mismanagement. Second, traditional auditors are significantly hampered in their detection of serious and pervasive risk, including fraud. Many businesses operate in an environment where data for various business processes are processed using disparate applications. Without appropriate technology, auditors lack the ability and time to efficiently extract the relevant data, and then effectively compile and analyze it for risk relationships otherwise unidentified. This limitation creates additional exposures to management and shareholders that loss, waste, and mismanagement can occur and remain undetected for extended periods of time. Traditional audits are generally cyclical with significant time gaps between engagements, which exacerbate the amount of time that risks can occur and not be corrected. 
     One emerging solution is continuous control monitoring (CCM). This approach aims to provide the following three objectives: (1) continuous monitoring in the sense that real time data delivered as soon as a transaction is carried out; (2) exhaustive monitoring in the sense that all data sources are monitored simultaneously; and (3) a high level of responsiveness to certain changes tracked, such as audit violation. 
     Several attempts have been made so far to provide CCM capabilities for audit systems. However, none of the solutions are capable of delivering all of the aforementioned three objectives which are the essential conditions for implementing a so-called “True” CCM. Thus, currently available audit systems which lack real-time monitoring, do not have access to 100% of the data, or do not allow responding as soon as an audit violation is tracked, do not address the specific issues involved in CCM as applied to the audit domain. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY 
     One aspect of the invention provides a method of providing so-called “true” Continuous Control Monitoring (CCM) of business processes for audit purposes. “True” CCM is real-time monitoring of 100% of the data which further provide a high level of responsiveness to audit violations. The method includes the following steps: consolidating data from multiple sources, if data is located in more than one source, into a single self contained and comprehensive source; identifying, in the single data source data elements that are required for detection and reporting based on each user-defined audit rule; translating and streaming, in case required, the transactions data into events, so that every change in a transaction is immediately reflected and is further identifiable by an event processing engine; eliminating duplicate events for the same single transaction that may occur in the translating step; applying the event processing engine to the events, based on event audit patterns derived from audit rules; and generating alert data to be reported back to the system, based on alert notifications derived from the event processing engine, such that the audit reports are again made in the audit domain after back-translating the event notifications made in event processing form, into audit-style reports. 
     Other aspects of the invention may include an audit system arranged to execute the aforementioned method and a computer readable program configured to execute the aforementioned method. These, additional, and/or other aspects and/or advantages of the embodiments of the present invention are set forth in the detailed description which follows; possibly inferable from the detailed description; and/or learnable by practice of the embodiments of the present invention. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       For a better understanding of embodiments of the invention and to show how the same may be carried into effect, reference will now be made, purely by way of example, to the accompanying drawings in which like numerals designate corresponding elements or sections throughout. 
       In the accompanying drawings: 
         FIG. 1  is a high level schematic block diagram illustrating a system according to some embodiments of the invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a high level flowchart illustrating a method according to some embodiments of the invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a high level flowchart illustrating an example according to some embodiments of the invention; and 
         FIG. 4  is a high level flowchart illustrating an example according to some embodiments of the invention. 
     
    
    
     The drawings together with the following detailed description make apparent to those skilled in the art how the invention may be embodied in practice. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Prior to setting forth the detailed description, definitions of certain terms that will be used hereinafter are provided. 
     The term “Continuous Control Monitoring” or CCM as used herein in this application refers to rules or steps in a process that are defined by an organization or a company in order to ensure that its policies, procedures, and business processes are operating effectively and in accordance with the management requirements. 
     The term “True CCM” as used herein in this application in the context of audit systems refers to CCM that provides the following three objectives: (1) continuous monitoring in the sense that real time data delivered as soon as a transaction is carried out; (2) exhaustive monitoring in the sense that all data sources are monitored simultaneously; and (3) a high level of responsiveness to certain changes tracked, such as an audit violation. 
     The term complex event processing or “CEP” as used herein in this application refers to processing multiple events happening across all the layers of an organization, deriving events as function of the processed events to detect significant situations within the event cloud, analyzing their impact, and taking subsequent action in real time. An event may be observed as a change of state with any physical or logical or otherwise discriminated condition. In temporal event processing a timestamp attached to data is used to define the order of occurrence. It is then processed in view of temporal patterns of events, based on the domain rules. 
     With specific reference now to the drawings in detail, it is stressed that the particulars shown are by way of example and for purposes of illustrative discussion of the preferred embodiments of the present invention only, and are presented to what is believed to be the most useful and readily understood description of the principles and conceptual aspects of the invention. In this regard, no attempt is made to show structural details of the invention in more detail than is necessary for a fundamental understanding of the invention, the description taken with the drawings making apparent to those skilled in the art how the several forms of the invention may be embodied in practice. 
     Before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is applicable to other embodiments and can be practiced or carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein is for description purposes and should not be regarded as limiting. 
     The present invention, in embodiments thereof, applies concepts and methodologies of Complex Event Processing (CEP) and specifically temporal event processing, in order to overcome the drawbacks of traditional internal audits of business processes. Additionally, and according to some embodiments of the present invention, by using an IT environment that is CEP based, auditors (being non-programmers) may be able to convert test attributes from written to electronic form. This saves time and further, improves both the visibility and the comprehensiveness of the audit process. 
     Advantageously, event processing technology, by virtue of its scalability, may extract predefined data from disparate applications in real time mode, and quickly compile the data as needed. Using a CEP based environment, auditors may monitor, in real time, the data in its entirety (100% of available data at any given point of time), as opposed to currently available solutions which provide a partial view of the data, based upon a sample thereof, for specific control non-compliance, and combinations of transactions indicating fraud. 
     Consistent with one embodiment of the invention, a wizard or rule editor configured to develop electronic attributes may be provided to the auditor and so enabling him or her to quickly add or modify attributes as business risks change over time. In the case in which no events are detected, auditors can easily determine what areas of a business process are controlled or operating as intended and what areas may warrant more analysis. 
     Advantageously, applying CEP technology to CCM audit systems provides benefits to the management and the shareholders by reducing the potential for loss, waste, and mismanagement through real time detection of risks and more precise determination of cause, and so enables the auditor to provide more precise recommendations to remediate risks. Additionally, CEP monitoring allows management to perform continuous monitoring or auditing as opposed to cyclical monitoring. 
     Furthermore, CEP allows management to reallocate constrained audit resource to focus on emerging areas of risks. Advantageously, embodiments of the present invention provide a scalable solution and further benefit the CEP “run once” ease of deployment. 
     Event processing, and more specifically temporal event processing terminology is a very effective way for expressing CCM derived rules in the audit domain, since these rules are temporally oriented, and are typically expressed using event processing notations. Specifically, event processing technology allows separating between CCM rules logic and the application logic, and as such may provide the flexibility in defining and maintaining the rules in a decoupled manner. 
     Advantageously, since the control used in continuous control monitoring is typically expressed using temporal terms, expected patterns that are within a certain context are all the building blocks of Event processing concepts. In addition, separating between CCM rules logic and the application logic provides the flexibility in defining and maintaining the rules in a decoupled manner. 
     However, there is an inherent qualitative difference between the frequency of the reports and the concept of true continuous monitoring. Specifically, it is insufficient to more frequently in order to be considered true continuous monitoring. On the other hand, having a way to stream all of the data and further apply complex patterns and further invoke an alert once a control is circumvented is more likely to be considered as true continuous monitoring. 
       FIG. 1  is a high level schematic block diagram illustrating an exemplary system  100  configured to provide a so-called “true” CCM for audit purposes of financial IT systems. System  100  is in communication with multiple data sources  10 A- 10 D on which transactional information is stored as data structures such as tables. According to some embodiments, system  100  may include a data consolidator  110 , configured to consolidate data from multiple data sources  10 A- 10 D into a single comprehensive source  112 . The consolidation is carried out only in a case where data relating to transactions of the monitored financial system is stored on more than one database. In the audit domain, it is typical to have numerous amounts of transactional data stored at different locations and such that consolidation is then necessary. Comprehensive source  112  stores the transactional data in its entirety and may be further configured to identify data elements that are required to be detected and reported, based on a plurality of user-defined audit rules. 
     System  100  may further include an event publisher  120  that is configured to translate and a stream transaction data received from comprehensive source  112  into events  122 , in case any of multiple data sources  10 A- 10 D do not support storing transactional data in events processing notation. In some embodiments, event publisher  120  is further configured to eliminate duplicate data that results in duplicate events. Specifically, duplicate data is sometimes stored in several locations or in several tables and so it is necessary to eliminate redundant data that may be generated during the translation into event notation in order to avoid erroneous event processing. 
     System  100  may further include a Complex Event Processing (CEP) engine  130  which is configured to receive a stream of events  122  from event publisher  120  and process them based on audit rule patterns  142  that are generated via audit rule editor  140 . Rule editor  140  may be implemented in a form of a wizard, accessed usually by non-programmers (such as financial persons and management personnel) over a user interface in a computer  30 . Rule editor  140  is arranged such that it enables non-programmers to design audit pattern rules in event processing notation based on an original rule provided in audit rules style. 
     Event processing engine  130  may be configured to apply the audit rule patterns  152  to the events  122 , to yield alert notifications  132  so that any violation of audit rules invokes an alert in event processing notation. Alert notifications  132  may be then translated back to the audit domain via situation listener  140  resulting in alert data reports  142 . Alert data reports  142  may be then presented to the non-programmers in a manner that complies with the audit domain. 
       FIG. 2  is a high level flowchart illustrating a method according to some embodiments of the present invention. Method  200  may be implemented by an architecture other than the aforementioned architecture of system  100 . However, for the sake of clarity, some of the description below illustrates steps of method  200  as carried out by elements of system  100 . Method  200  shows a plurality of steps which may be carried out in order to effectively apply concepts of complex event processing to continuous control monitoring in the audit domain. These steps are required due to the transactional nature of continuous control monitoring deals, which are not events oriented by nature. 
     Method  200  starts with a check whether data source consolidating is required  210 . If it is, then data consolidation from multiple sources is carried out  220 . The consolidation may be carried out by consolidator  110  and data may be consolidated into comprehensive source  112 . The method then goes on to check whether a translation of data into events is required  230 . If it is required, the data-to-events translation is carried out  240 , possibly by event publisher  120  which may also eliminate duplicate data generated by the translation step. 
     Method  200  then goes on to applying audit patterns to the stream of events to yield alert notifications  250 . This applying may be possibly carried out by event processing engine  130  wherein the audit pattern rules are designed possibly by non-programmers using a wizard which enables them to produce audit pattern rules in event processing notation, based on their audit style data. 
     Finally, the alert notifications are translated into alert data reports, possibly by situation listener  150 , so that non programmers may be easily presented with the audit-style reports they are used to, indicating the audit violations monitored using the event processing analysis. 
       FIG. 3  is a diagram illustrating an example according to some embodiments of the invention. The illustrated example relates to business transactions with rigorous regulations and examinations being the processing of account receivable transactions. Billing can include write-offs and adjustments larger than a defined value (due to company policy) and so may require additional approvals by higher level management to sign-off on. The process may have built in red flags to handle such conditions. However, inadvertently or on purpose, such a red flag may be circumvented by breaking the transactions into several write-off adjustments with a smaller amount. Besides by-passing company processes and controls, this may expose the company and needs to be avoided or at least identified and mitigated before impacting the business. Auditors may use rule editor  140  to state the required risk pattern to monitor, in this example it may be: “split transactions are processed in order to by-pass required level of approvals”  310 . In this example the corresponding event processing rule is in the form of: “alert when multiple transactions with write-off adjustments to the same customer for the same product in aggregate are equal to or greater than 25K USD within a 90 days rolling window”  320 . The transactions as stated before are the events  322 , context  324  for this rule is a rolling window of 90 days as well as segmentation by customer and product type, and finally the pattern  326  is a threshold on the aggregation of write-off adjustments from the relevant transactions or events. After designing the audit patterns as illustrated above, event processing engine  130  may then apply them to the stream of events  122 , to yield alert notifications  132  as detailed above. 
       FIG. 4  is a diagram illustrating yet another exemplary flow  400  according to some embodiments of the invention. The exemplary system focuses now on the credit limit of a customer in application A  410  and compares that limit to the customer&#39;s current receivables balance in application B  420 . Next the system looks at the total value of all orders C  430 . If the total value of orders plus the accounts receivables balance exceed the customer&#39;s credit limit  440  then an alert can be issued providing management, based on its policy  450 , with the opportunity to: (1) suspend the order and not manufacture until the accounts receivables are settled  460 A, (2) decide if it is appropriate to increase the customer&#39;s credit limit and continue with manufacturing  460 B, (3) require the order be shipped cash on delivery  460 C, (4) ship only that amount covered by the credit limit, and/or (5) cancel the order  460 D. As illustrated in this example, there is provided for the elimination of unnecessary manufacturing cost and improved safeguarding of assets. The true CCM nature of embodiments of the present invention is illustrated in this example as only a comprehensive approach to processing all data in real time, which may enable a quick response to audit issues raised in this example, thus avoiding risks to manufacturing and shipping. 
     Embodiments of the present invention address yet another challenge in performing true CCM deriving from the gap between the natural language description of each risk (auditors or managers point of view) and its interpretation as an executable rule, usually done by the technical team. This challenge is addressed by formulating work procedures, to standardize the way auditors describe the risk requirements, that is, a step between the natural language description and the actual resulting rule in the event processing engine&#39;s language, which allows both the auditors and the technical teams to speak the same language and fully understand the requirements. This is done after rule templates are agreed upon both by the auditing team and technical team. 
     Consistent with some embodiments of the invention, a structured representation may be provided, in terminology for auditors or managers, for some of the building blocks of the event processing rule. These building blocks are events, temporal context, spatio-context, and the like. This enables semi-automatic translation from the rule requirements to the event processing executable rules, since it allows automatic mapping between sections in the requirements to the corresponding building block. The additional logic is manually added on top of these building blocks. 
     During research based on real data experimentations, the applicants have identified recurring patterns which may be translated into patterns in event processing terminology. A non-limiting example relates to accounts receivable. These are associated with recurring patterns across multi geographies such as EMEA, Asia pacific and Latin America. As the logic is constant for each recurring pattern, such rules can be automatically generated from the rules requirements. 
     Consistent with some embodiments of the invention, a semi-automatic mapping from a natural language requirement to a building block of an executable rule is provided. An exemplary and non limiting mapping may be as follows: (i) data elements are mapped into to an event building block which describes event attributes; (ii) a rule start point and duration is determined, in other words, from which point in time should the rule be active, how long should the rule be active, and the like, would be mapped into temporal context building blocks; (iii) data elements reported by the engine would be mapped to what should be included in the alert report; and finally, (iv) data elements which serve as grouping criteria, would be mapped into segmentation context building block. 
     As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the present invention may be embodied as a system, method or computer program product. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.” Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of a computer program product embodied in one or more computer readable medium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon. 
     Any combination of one or more non-transitory computer readable medium(s) may be utilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the non-transitory computer readable storage medium would include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of this document, a non-transitory computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. 
     Program code embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wire-line, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing. 
     Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of the present invention may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programming languages. The program code may execute entirely on the user&#39;s computer, partly on the user&#39;s computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user&#39;s computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user&#39;s computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider). 
     Aspects of the present invention are described above with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. 
     These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readable medium produce an article of manufacture including instructions which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. 
     The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other devices to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide processes for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. 
     The aforementioned flowchart and diagrams illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be noted that, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions. 
     In the above description, an embodiment is an example or implementation of the inventions. The various appearances of “one embodiment,” “an embodiment” or “some embodiments” do not necessarily all refer to the same embodiments. 
     Although various features of the invention may be described in the context of a single embodiment, the features may also be provided separately or in any suitable combination. Conversely, although the invention may be described herein in the context of separate embodiments for clarity, the invention may also be implemented in a single embodiment. 
     Reference in the specification to “some embodiments”, “an embodiment”, “one embodiment” or “other embodiments” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiments is included in at least some embodiments, but not necessarily all embodiments, of the inventions. 
     It is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein is not to be construed as limiting and are for descriptive purpose only. 
     The principles and uses of the teachings of the present invention may be better understood with reference to the accompanying description, figures and examples. 
     It is to be understood that the details set forth herein do not construe a limitation to an application of the invention. 
     Furthermore, it is to be understood that the invention can be carried out or practiced in various ways and that the invention can be implemented in embodiments other than the ones outlined in the description above. 
     It is to be understood that the terms “including”, “comprising”, “consisting” and grammatical variants thereof do not preclude the addition of one or more components, features, steps, or integers or groups thereof and that the terms are to be construed as specifying components, features, steps or integers. 
     If the specification or claims refer to “an additional” element, that does not preclude there being more than one of the additional element. 
     It is to be understood that where the claims or specification refer to “a” or “an” element, such reference is not be construed that there is only one of that element. 
     It is to be understood that where the specification states that a component, feature, structure, or characteristic “may”, “might”, “can” or “could” be included, that particular component, feature, structure, or characteristic is not required to be included. 
     Where applicable, although state diagrams, flow diagrams or both may be used to describe embodiments, the invention is not limited to those diagrams or to the corresponding descriptions. For example, flow need not move through each illustrated box or state, or in exactly the same order as illustrated and described. 
     Methods of the present invention may be implemented by performing or completing manually, automatically, or a combination thereof, selected steps or tasks. 
     The descriptions, examples, methods and materials presented in the claims and the specification are not to be construed as limiting but rather as illustrative only. 
     Meanings of technical and scientific terms used herein are to be commonly understood as by one of ordinary skill in the art to which the invention belongs, unless otherwise defined. 
     The present invention may be implemented in the testing or practice with methods and materials equivalent or similar to those described herein. 
     Any publications, including patents, patent applications and articles, referenced or mentioned in this specification are herein incorporated in their entirety into the specification, to the same extent as if each individual publication was specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated herein. In addition, citation or identification of any reference in the description of some embodiments of the invention shall not be construed as an admission that such reference is available as prior art to the present invention. 
     While the invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the invention, but rather as exemplifications of some of the preferred embodiments. Other possible variations, modifications, and applications are also within the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should not be limited by what has thus far been described, but by the appended claims and their legal equivalents.