Patent ID: 7899693

Claim:
A system comprising: a processor programmed with an audit manager application, wherein the audit manager application is communicatively coupled with a workflow system, wherein the workflow system is communicatively coupled with a set of workflow-enabled applications, the set including a workflow-enabled project management application, and wherein the audit manager application is adapted to: retrieve a set of business processes implemented in the workflow system; identify a deviation between a first business process in the set of business processes and a second business process in the set of business processes, wherein the first business process is implemented by an organizational unit of an enterprise, and wherein the second business process is a standard business process implemented across the enterprise; retrieve a set of audit project templates defined via the workflow-enabled project management application, each audit project template including standard procedures for auditing a business process; associate a selected audit project template in the set of audit project templates with a selected business process in the set of business processes; create an audit project for the selected business process based on the selected audit project template, the creating being performed in response to a scheduled activity or to a predetermined trigger event defined for the selected business process; and execute the audit project, the executing comprising: receiving and recording audit issues; tracking progress of the audit project against project milestones; storing and managing audit-related documentation; resolving audit opinion differences; and generating an audit opinion upon completion of the audit project, wherein the executing is performed using functions of the workflow-enabled project management application.