Right time information for Governance, Risk and Compliance
Date:
By: Philip Howard
Classification: White Paper
It should be self-evident that when an organisation needs to run a business process of some sort, or has to make an operational or strategic decision, that it will need complete, accurate and trusted information to be provided either with the process or to the decision maker, at the point in time at which the information is needed. In this paper we will be focusing on the provision of information “at the point in time at which it is needed”. This is otherwise known as providing information in ‘right time’. Specifically, we discuss the importance of right time information in terms of governance, risk and compliance (GRC).
Before we begin, there are two issues to address. The first is to understand the relationships that exist between risk on the one hand and governance and compliance on the other. We will defer this discussion to the next section.
The second issue is what we mean by delivering information at the right time. Simply that the information needs to be available within a time frame that enables the business to do its work, take decisions and monitor its operations in the most efficient manner. In some cases this may mean providing information as it happens (so called ‘real-time’) or a delay of a few seconds or minutes may be acceptable. In other environments (often within the same company) the delivery of relevant information may not be needed for hours, days, weeks or even months. So there is an information latency spectrum for delivery requirements; and systems need to be in place that will handle all of these latencies, as required. This is what we mean when we say that information must be delivered at the right time.
In this paper we will begin by considering the requirements of GRC, paying particular attention to risk, and we will discuss the dangers (risks!) and costs involved in not having information when you need it. We will then consider common challenges that get in the way of providing information in a timely manner, followed by a discussion of how Informatica’s solution for right-time information can help.