Document processes of an organization

• US 20060053168A1
• Filed: 08/31/2005
• Published: 03/09/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Accenture Global Services GmbH (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Morrison, John Neil, McDougall, Scott Hanly, Finlayson, Ian Thomas, Denne, Jason Donald
• Granted Patent: US 8,234,136 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/972 Access to data in other repository systems, e.g. legacy data or dynamic Web page generation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/186 Templates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A method and system for documenting processes and controls of an organization involve storing information describing the processes of the organization in a database and then accessing the database with a suitable user interface application. Preferably the user interface application is a web browser and the data in the database is provided to users as a series of web pages. Using the user interface application, users can review the documented processes, report errors, request changes, generate reports, and so forth. Users with suitable access privileges can modify the data in the database using the user interface application. An external auditor can audit the processes and controls of the organization from his own office by accessing the database over a network such as the Internet.

Claims

1. A system for documenting the processes and controls of an organization, comprising:

a database storing information describing the processes and controls of an organization; and

a web server computer in communication with the database for receiving information from the database and for formatting that information as a plurality of linked web pages, the web pages including;

a web page for displaying information about a selected process of the organization and including a link to a list of documents relating to the selected process and a link to a list of financial statement categories affected by the process;

a web page for displaying information describing a selected process in the form of a flowchart;

a web page for enabling a user to prepare a summary report summarizing a problem with a selected process; and

a web page for enabling a user to request a change to a selected process.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the summary report includes an impact assessment of the problem with the selected process.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the summary report is automatically populated with information identifying the selected process.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the summary report includes an indication by the user of whether a change to the selected process is required.

5. A system for documenting processes and controls of an organization comprising:

a database storing information describing processes of an organization, each process comprising at least one procedure to be followed when carrying out the process and any controls associated with the or each procedure; and

a client computer programmed to receive information describing a process from the database and having a user interface application thereon, the user interface application programmed to display the information describing the process and enabling a user to prepare a summary report summarizing a problem with the process and to save the summary report to the database.

6. A system as claimed in claim 5 wherein the database is accessible over a public network and the user interface further enables an auditor to retrieve a summary report summarizing a problem with a process from the database over the public network.

7. A system as claimed in claim 5 wherein the user interface further enables a reviewer to view a saved summary report summarizing a problem with a process.

8. A system as claimed in claim 7 wherein the user interface further enables a reviewer to approve a summary report summarizing a problem with a process.

9. A system as claimed in claim 5 wherein the user interface application is a web browser and wherein the client computer is programmed to receive the information describing a process formatted as at least one web page.

10. A system as claimed in claim 9 wherein the at least one web page comprises a viewing web page for viewing the information describing a process and a summary reporting web page for receiving from the user the summary report summarizing the problem with the process, the viewing web page having a link to the summary reporting web page.

11. A system as claimed in claim 5 wherein the summary report includes a request for a change to the process.

12. A system as claimed in claim 5 wherein a reviewer is informed by an email automatically generated by the user interface application when a summary report summarizing a problem with a process has been saved to the database.

13. A system as claimed in claim 5, further comprising a client computer with the user interface application thereon allowing an administrator to review the summary report and to reconfigure the database with improved process information.

14. A method of documenting processes and controls of an organization comprising:

storing in a database information describing processes of an organization, each process comprising at least one procedure to be followed when carrying out the process and any controls associated with the or each procedure;

using a user interface application on a client computer to display information describing a process received at the client computer from the database; and

using the user interface application to prepare a summary report summarizing a problem with the process;

using the user interface to save the summary report to the database.

15. A method as claimed in claim 14 wherein the database is accessible over a public network, the method further comprising using the user interface to audit a summary report summarizing a problem with a process retrieved from the database by an auditor over the public network.

16. A method as claimed in claim 14 further comprising using the user interface to view a saved summary report summarizing a problem with a process.

17. A method as claimed in claim 14 further comprising using the user interface to approve a summary report summarizing a problem with a process.

18. A method as claimed in claim 14 wherein the user interface application is a web browser application, the method further comprising:

formatting the information describing a process as at least one web page; and

providing the at least one web page to the client computer.

19. A method as claimed in claim 18 wherein the at least one web page comprises a viewing web page for viewing the information about a process and a summary reporting web page for receiving from the user the summary report summarizing the problem with the process, the viewing web page having a link to the summary reporting web page.

20. A method as claimed in claim 14 wherein the summary report includes a request for a change to the process.

21. A method as claimed in claim 14 further comprising informing a reviewer when a summary report summarizing a problem with a process has been saved to the database by:

opening an email application on the client computer;

automatically generating an email message to the reviewer informing him that a summary report summarizing a problem with a process has been saved to the database; and

sending the email message to the reviewer with the email application.

22. A method as claimed in claim 14, further comprising an administrator using the user interface on a client computer to review the summary report and to reconfigure the database with improved process information.

23. A system for documenting processes and controls of an organization comprising:

a database storing information describing processes of an organization, each process comprising at least one procedure to be followed when carrying out the process and any controls associated with the or each procedure; and

a client computer programmed to receive information describing a process from the database and having a user interface application thereon, the user interface application programmed to display the information describing the process and enabling a user to prepare a request for a change to the process and to save the request to the database.

24. A system as claimed in claim 23 wherein the database is accessible over a public network and the user interface further enables an auditor to retrieve a request for a change to a process from the database over the public network.

25. A system as claimed in claim 23 wherein the user interface further enables a reviewer to view a saved request for a change to a process.

26. A system as claimed in claim 25 wherein the user interface further enables a reviewer to approve a request for a change to a process.

27. A system as claimed in claim 23 wherein the user interface application is a web browser and wherein the client computer is programmed to receive the information describing a process formatted as at least one web page.

28. A system as claimed in claim 27 wherein the at least one web page comprises a viewing web page for viewing the information describing a process and a requesting web page for receiving from the user the request for the change to the process, the viewing web page having a link to the requesting web page.

29. A system as claimed in claim 23 wherein a reviewer is informed by an email automatically generated by the user interface application when a request for a change to a process has been saved to the database.

30. A system as claimed in claim 23 wherein the user interface further enables an administrator to reconfigure the database with improved process information.

31. A method of documenting processes and controls of an organization comprising:

storing in a database information describing processes of an organization, each process comprising at least one procedure to be followed when carrying out the process and any controls associated with the or each procedure;

using a user interface application on a client computer to display information describing a process received at the client computer from the database;

using the user interface application to prepare a request for a change to the process; and

using the user interface to save the request to the database.

32. A method as claimed in claim 31 wherein the database is accessible over a public network, the method further comprising using the user interface to audit a request for a change to a process retrieved from the database by an auditor over the public network.

33. A method as claimed in claim 31 further comprising using the user interface to view a saved request for a change to a process.

34. A method as claimed in claim 33 further comprising using the user interface to approve a request for a change to a process.

35. A method as claimed in claim 31 wherein the user interface application is a web browser application, the method further comprising:

formatting the information describing a process as at least one web page; and

providing the at least one web page to the client computer.

36. A method as claimed in claim 35 wherein the at least one web page comprises a viewing web page for viewing the information about a process and a requesting web page for receiving from the user the request for the change to the process, the viewing web page having a link to the requesting web page.

37. A method as claimed in claim 31 further comprising informing a reviewer when a request for a change to a process has been saved to the database by:

opening an email application on the client computer;

automatically generating an email message to the reviewer informing him that a request for a change to a process has been saved to the database; and

sending the email message to the reviewer with the email application.

38. A method as claimed in claim 31 further comprising an administrator using the user interface to reconfigure the database with improved process information.

39. A system for documenting the processes and controls of an organization comprising:

a database storing information describing processes of an organization, each process comprising a plurality of procedures to be followed when carrying out the process and any controls associated with each procedure; and

a client computer programmed to receive information describing a process from the database and having a user interface application thereon, the user interface application enabling a client computer to display the information describing a process received from the database in the form of a flowchart comprising a plurality of shapes each representing a procedure of the process, wherein the flowchart is divided into a plurality of regions, each region associated with an entity responsible for one or more of the procedures of the process, wherein the shapes are positioned in the flowchart in the region corresponding to the entity responsible for the associated procedure.

40. A system as claimed in claim 39 wherein the shapes include an indication of a risk amount of the associated procedure, the risk amount for each procedure corresponding to a risk amount of any controls associated with that procedure.

41. A system as claimed claim 40 wherein the shapes are color-coded according to the risk amount of the associated procedure.

42. A method of documenting the processes and controls of an organization comprising:

storing in a database information describing processes of an organization, each process comprising a plurality of procedures to be followed when carrying out the process and any controls associated with each procedure;

providing information describing a process to a client computer having a user interface application thereon; and

using the user interface application to display the information describing the process in the form of a flowchart comprising a plurality of shapes each representing a procedure of the process, wherein the flowchart is divided into a plurality of regions, each region associated with an entity responsible for one or more of the procedures of the process, wherein the shapes are positioned in the flowchart in the region corresponding to the entity responsible for the associated procedure.

43. A method as claimed in claim 42 wherein each shape includes an indication of a risk amount of the associated procedure, the risk amount for each procedure corresponding to a risk amount of any controls associated with that procedure.

44. A method as claimed in claim 43 wherein each shape is color-coded according to the risk amount of the associated procedure.

45. A system for documenting processes and controls of an organization comprising a database storing information describing processes and controls of an organization and information about financial statement categories of the organization, wherein a process is linked with a financial statement category in the database if the financial statement category is affected by the process.

46. A system as claimed in claim 45 wherein the database is searchable over a public network for processes affected by one or more selected financial statement categories.

47. A method of documenting processes and controls of an organization comprising:

storing in a database information describing processes and controls of an organization;

storing in a database information about financial statement categories of the organization; and

linking a process with a financial statement category in the database if the financial statement category is affected by the process.

48. A method as claimed in claim 47 further comprising performing a search in the database over a public network for processes affected by one or more selected financial statement categories.

49. A system for documenting processes and controls of an organization comprising a database storing information describing processes and controls of an organization and document location information identifying the location of documents on a network, wherein a process is linked with a document location in the database if the document at the document location relates to the process.

50. A system as claimed in claim 49 wherein a process is linked with a document location if the document at the document location relates to Sarbanes-Oxley requirements for the process.

51. A system as claimed in claim 49 wherein a process is linked with a document location if the document at the document location is a document describing the process in greater detail.

52. A method of documenting processes and controls of an organization comprising:

storing in a database information about processes and controls of an organization;

storing in the database document location information identifying the location of documents; and

linking a process with a document location in the database if the document at the document location relates to the process.

53. A method as claimed in claim 52 wherein a process is linked with a document location if the document at the document location relates to Sarbanes-Oxley requirements for the process.

54. A method as claimed in claim 52 wherein a process is linked with a document location if the document at the document location is a document describing the process in greater detail.