Active Compliance http://activecompliance.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&id=9&layout=blog&Itemid=18 Sun, 14 Aug 2011 12:27:46 +0000 Joomla! 1.5 - Open Source Content Management en-gb http://activecompliance.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55:solutions-default&catid=39:solutionscat1&Itemid=57 http://activecompliance.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55:solutions-default&catid=39:solutionscat1&Itemid=57 So much data, so little time.

Information, in all of its forms and functions, drives business. Data must be collected from a variety of sources then analyzed and correlated into meaningful information that can answer management’s questions about IT and business operations. The collection of data through surveys and direct technology queries is the cornerstone of Active Compliance’s Automated Data Acquisition and Management (ADAM) solution.

With ADAM, our partners have been able to efficiently collect and analyze data from a variety of perspectives including:

• Compliance Management: Collecting the necessary data to determine the operating effectiveness of IT and business process controls including the collection of evidence.
• Security & Configuration Management: Collecting system configuration settings from IT infrastructure components and applications to detect changes to security settings or deviations from standard builds.
• Process Management: Collecting key performance indicators, measuring control effectiveness, and timely reporting for operational processes such as ITIL, COBIT, or specific business processes.

]]> stan.wakefield@activecompliance.com (Stan Wakefield) Solutions1 Sat, 10 Apr 2010 17:44:55 +0000 http://activecompliance.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54:solutions-sec&catid=39:solutionscat1&Itemid=56 http://activecompliance.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54:solutions-sec&catid=39:solutionscat1&Itemid=56 Configuration Testing and Management

In any IT organization, managing "configuration creep" is critical to achieving virtually any IT operational objective. However, due to the distributed nature of today's IT organization, managing configuration can be a constant challenge - consuming valuable IT resources and often producing inaccurate results.

Previous configuration management solutions are typically "agent based" technologies that have proven to be expensive to deploy and maintain. It has also become apparent that static or "one size fits all" solutions seldom fit the specific needs of any dynamic IT organization. That's why a configuration management solution based on Automated Data Acquisition and Management (ADAM) utilizes an open and flexible "Agent-Less" technology platform.

ADAM allows companies to answer questions relating to configuration management such as:

• Are my IT technology assets configured according to standard builds?
• How can I re-use my existing IT asset management or configuration management database to test configuration settings?
• Do my IT technology assets have the necessary security settings and patches installed?
• How can I reduce the time to produce meaningful reports?

Active Compliance's ADAM can extend the capabilities of traditional configuration management systems by efficiently collecting, correlating, and consolidating system configuration information from almost any source to:

• Quickly provide deep visibility into complete IT asset inventory, configuration status and change history.
• Automate the process of measuring IT asset configurations against common builds, patch and security standards across a wide range of technology and infrastructure components.
• Connect to systems without the need to install and maintain local agents.

]]> stan.wakefield@activecompliance.com (Stan Wakefield) Solutions1 Sat, 10 Apr 2010 17:41:54 +0000 http://activecompliance.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=53:process-management&catid=39:solutionscat1&Itemid=18 http://activecompliance.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=53:process-management&catid=39:solutionscat1&Itemid=18 Process Automation and Metric Analysis

Process improvement through automation is many times the core of an organization's cost saving strategy. Process automation allows reallocation of resources to other operational areas, reduction of resource requirements, improved process execution consistency, and reduced total time to execute.

Many operational processes in organizations today are sub-optimal. This is due in part to a lack of visibility into process execution and measurement metrics, little or no process automation, and poor process ownership and governance practices.

Automated Data Acquisition and Management (ADAM) allows companies to answer questions relating to process management such as:

• Are my processes documented and standardized?
• Are my processes being executed as defined?
• Are my key processes running efficiently?
• How can I correlate data and report process metrics from all of the various process management packages I use?
• How can I increase the efficiency of collecting and analyzing key performance indicators?

Active Compliance's ADAM extends the capabilities of traditional process management applications to efficiently collect and analyze process metrics thereby providing capabilities to:

• Collect process metric information from processes owners via electronic surveys.
• Collect, correlate, and analyze key performance indicators from almost any process management software solution.
• Provide a rich warehouse of data for flexible mining and timely reporting.

]]> stan.wakefield@activecompliance.com (Stan Wakefield) Solutions1 Sat, 10 Apr 2010 17:38:18 +0000 http://activecompliance.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=51:solutionscm&catid=39:solutionscat1&Itemid=55 http://activecompliance.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=51:solutionscm&catid=39:solutionscat1&Itemid=55 Compliance Control Testing and Monitoring

Typically, the most expensive and time consuming efforts associated with any compliance program are those related to compliance testing and evidence gathering. The never ending cycle of "test and document" places a heavy burden on resources typically dedicated to other non-compliance related initiatives.

Many organizations today pass spreadsheets and documents around via email to provide control testing instructions and collect the necessary evidence showing control operating effectiveness. This quickly leads to inconsistent data collection due to version control issues, numerous control re-tests, lengthy data collection cycles, and long analysis and reporting cycles.

Automated Data Acquisition and Management (ADAM) allows companies to efficiently answer questions relating to compliance management such as:

• Am I compliant with laws and regulations governing my business?
• How can I reduce the time it takes to collect control operating evidence?
• How can I increase testing consistency?
• How can I reduce the time to produce meaningful compliance reports?

Active Compliance's ADAM dramatically reduces the costs of managing compliance programs by extending the capabilities of traditional compliance management applications to:

• Proactively perform compliance testing end evidence collection using a "test once - report many" model.
• Automate the testing workflow to streamline manual actives and increase testing consistency.
• Perform fully automated "hands-free" testing and evidence collection where practical.
• Provide a rich warehouse of compliance data for mining and reporting.

]]> stan.wakefield@activecompliance.com (Stan Wakefield) Solutions1 Sat, 10 Apr 2010 13:00:27 +0000