New Oracle BI tool adds color to compliance efforts |
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By Mark Brunelli, News Editor
11 May 2006 | SearchOracle.com |
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Oracle says its newly released Daily Business Intelligence for Compliance software helps companies stay on top of compliance efforts by combining reporting and analytics with the company's Internal Controls application.
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[DBAs] really need to understand some of the regulatory requirements that are having a downstream impact on IT.
Chris Leone,
group vice president of applications strategy, Oracle Corp.
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SearchOracle.com talked to Chris Leone, Oracle's group vice president of applications strategy, to find out more details about the new BI software. Leone offered product details and explained why Oracle decided to combine BI with compliance. He also had some advice for DBAs who want to be considered invaluable assets when it comes to their companies' compliance initiatives.
Pricing for Oracle Daily Business Intelligence for Compliance is $30USD per employee based on a minimum of 500 employees, according to Oracle.
Can you tell me a little about Oracle's new BI offering?
Leone: We're announcing is Oracle Daily Business Intelligence for Compliance. In the past, we've had a suite of compliance applications falling under the bucket of Internal Controls Manager, really to help manage, monitor and automate compliance projects and initiatives within an organization. What we're announcing now is really bringing together [our] Internal Controls Manager capabilities with our Daily Business Intelligence capabilities.
What does Oracle hope to accomplish by combining BI with compliance software?
Leone: Leveraging our DBI technology, we're providing graphs and charts and reports that bring to the forefront visibility into [whether a company is adhering to the internal controls that have been set]. By law, senior executives within the organization have to certify their financial statements, and one of the things that we can provide them is greater transparency into that certification process. We can identify for them in a graph what controls are effective or ineffective. If they are taking some remediation on a particular control, it was ineffective and they want to go remedy that, we can provide some status on those controls that are being remedied all in a very graphical, visual way.
You said that the software provides "greater transparency into the certification process." Can you offer more examples of how this is accomplished?
Leone: We can tell the organization which certifications are completed and which ones haven't been completed. If an evaluation for a particular control, whether it's manual or automated, has come back negative, we can identify that very quickly in a graph. The business leaders can sort of drill down to understand specifically what control is either out of compliance or had a negative evaluation.
How would you describe the scope of the compliance problem today?
Leone: I would say that when I talk to customers that this is their number one, two or three key initiative within their organization. And this touches all facets. It's on the applications side with what controls I have around my business processes. It's on the technology side where it certainly has a big impact. Do I have the right security controls in place? Have I tested this [technology]? It really is an enterprise-wide issue.
How can DBAs become star players in the area of compliance?
Leone: The one thing that I would identify is that compliance is not an issue that is going to go away. It really touches all aspects of the business. From a technology perspective, a DBA can certainly understand how to secure tables, how to secure directories and how to manage the overall infrastructure. But they really need to understand the impact that it has on the business side. They really need to understand some of the regulatory requirements that are having a downstream impact on IT. A lot of IT has moved into being not only technologically savvy but also business-savvy. I think that trend will continue.
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