News
...to the topic "Compliance"
- July 19 2011:
Tributus and monoSoft Are Cooperation Partners for GDPdU Solutions in the Server Environment from AS/400 to Power i
- July 14 2011:
Data Access to POS Systems: Archiving and Managing Up-to-Date POS Data on a Daily Basis
- March 28 2011:
Postbank: GDPdU with C1 Solutions and Tributus CIC
- November 23 2010:
E-Accounting - Mastering Documentation - October 22 2010:
Business Audit Platform CIC - instrument of internal control - September 15 2010:
To avoid penalty for none-compliance management - May 12 2010:
The Golden Bridge from the Old to the New Saves Money - August 31 2009:
The reporting functions of Tributus CIC have been extended - June 09 2009:
New Partnership for the Compliance Challenge - February 09 2009:
Tributus virtualises its Compliance Information Center - January 13 2009:
Central ECM platform for compliance data and documents - September 03 2008:
EuroSOX: Very few companies are prepared for it, but the Tributus CIC can help! - November 21 2007:
Compliance Solution for Data Retention - October 10 2007:
SAP system retirement with access to stored/scanned documents
July 19 2011
Tributus and monoSoft Are Cooperation Partners for GDPdU Solutions in the Server Environment from AS/400 to Power i
Today, TRIBUTUS Compliance Solutions GmbH, an expert in archiving / GDPdU (German Principles of Data Access and the Auditability of Digital Records) projects and monoSoft GmbH, a specialist in the server environment of the IBM Power iSeries announced their strategic partnership. This partnership enables Tributus and monoSoft to provide optimised solutions for the migration of data from Power i systems and for archiving this data in a manner that does not enable them to be altered.
Tributus has a successful position when it comes to archiving data in a manner that does not enable them to be altered, deactivating legacy systems in conformance with the law and implementing consolidation/GDPdU projects. Its main product, the Business Audit Platform CIC (Compliance Information Center), leads to a significant acceleration of data enquiries on servers, in archives and in databases because the data access occurs 'at the push of a button'. The main focus of this advantage is the performance of audits using CIC.
monoSoft develops individual software solutions and oversees existing application software on the basis of IBM Power i (iSeries - AS/400 - i5) and web-based Rich Internet Applications (RIA).
"In monoSoft we have found a partner with prominent specialist knowledge in the area of the IBM i server environment that ideally complements the expertise of Tributus. This cooperation enables us to further expand our portfolio and secure a strategic advantage," explains Oliver Horbert, the Managing Director of Tributus Compliance Solutions GmbH.
"We are looking forward to working together with Tributus. The GDPdU/archive solutions produced by Tributus, which have proven their worth many times over, are the ideal addition to the monoSoft portfolio of solutions. Together we create a complete high-performance solution for IBM iSeries users that is unique in the market," states Anne Große Bordewick, the Managing Director of monoSoft GmbH.
The alliance will particularly combine forces to solve complex GDPdU requirements in the IBM iSeries environment. These include, for example, migrating and archiving data and documents from AS/400 systems in order to provide and access them for financial audits.
July 14 2011
Data Access to POS Systems: Archiving and Managing Up-to-Date POS Data on a Daily Basis
The decision by the German Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) to extend data access to POS systems is posing major problems for companies. In order to fulfil the legal requirements of the BMF, Tributus Compliance Solutions GmbH has developed a solution that enables users to archive POS data on a daily basis and to re-access it immediately. This standard product is an effective solution, particularly for companies with an extensive branch network.
An extract from the BMF report from November 26, 2010:
"Individual pieces of data that are relevant to tax issues must be stored in their complete and unchanged form. Compression of this data or only saving the total sums of bills is not permitted and solely providing printed copies of documents that must be stored is not sufficient. The data must be available at all times, be immediately readable and be able to be automatically analysed throughout the duration of the retention period. An archive system must enable the same analyses as those that are possible in the running system."
Tributus Compliance Solutions GmbH looked into the requirement of the BMF at an early stage and developed a solution that enables users to archive up-to-date POS data on a daily basis in a manner that does not enable them to be altered and to quickly be able to re-access these data. The number of POS systems/branches and the scope of the data do not play a role when it comes to using this solution.
Archived POS data can be managed and accessed using the GDPdU (German Principles of Data Access and the Auditability of Digital Records) platform CIC (Compliance Information Center), which was developed by Tributus and is already being used by a number of reputable companies. At 'the push of a button', data is taken from the archive in a targeted manner and the 'business logic' is then established between the data before being presented to the user. The data is exported in a universal format (IDEA, Z3, etc.) and therefore fulfils the BMF requirements.
Irrespective of the size of the company, the imposed obligation for the retention of POS data should be taken seriously because if it is not complied with, the respective authorities may impose a fee for delay amounting to up to 250,000 Euros.
Dealing with this issue at an early stage enables companies to avoid fees for delay and ensures their IT compliance. Using CIC from Tributus Compliance Solutions GmbH reduces the liability risk for a company's employees and significantly lowers its tax-based risks.
March 28 2011
Postbank: GDPdU with C1 Solutions and Tributus CIC
The Postbank Group has made productive use of the central Business Audit Platform CIC produced by Tributus GmbH. This software provides a homogenous company-wide GDPdU (German Principles of Data Access and the Auditability of Digital Records) solution for all commercial IT applications.
Together with the Tributus experts, who contributed their special expertise and the product itself, C1 Solutions was awarded the GDPdU contract by Postbank at the end of 2009.
Tributus Compliance Solutions is a pioneer in the field of platform-independent standard solutions and is a specialist for compliance requirements, while C1 Solutions GmbH works as an integrator and general contractor.
"We decided to work with C1 Solutions and the Business Audit Platform CIC from Tributus because they focus on Java and current web technologies. They meet our requirements for modern IT architecture and provide the necessary integration channels for mainframes, midrange systems and SAP systems", explains Sven Becker, the Head of the Tax Department at Postbank AG.
In the future, all tax-relevant files from an extremely wide variety of system landscapes at Postbank will be available for use for the evaluations required from the specialist department and the auditors at the push of a button in the Tributus Audit Platform.
The criteria for the decision and key factors of the implementation were:
- Seamless data transfer from SAP and non-SAP systems
- User-friendly and flexible visualisation of data
- Diverse analysis options
- A browser-based user interface
- Punctual project implementation
"With Postbank, we are delighted to have gained another reputable customer in the field of compliance solutions", declares Jörg Rogalla, the Head of the ECM Department at C1 Solutions.
"The customer wanted a heavy-duty and platform-independent GDPdU suite that only we could provide", explains Michael Richter, the Managing Director of Tributus GmbH.
November 23 2010
E-Accounting - Mastering Documentation
With the Compliance Document Editor (CDE), Tributus GmbH is adding an ingenious web application to its Business Audit Platform CIC (Compliance Information Center). This new application provides auditors and tax inspectors with simultaneous access to financial data and descriptive documentation.
The discontinuation of EDI collective invoicing should also be followed by the signature requirement for electronic invoices from 2013 onwards. The description of the mechanisms used to guarantee the correctness and integrity of the financial data that have been produced and are to be stored will then be assigned to the process documentation and therefore imposed on the user.
The VFD Editor (Process Documentation Editor), a variant of the Compliance Document Editor, is preset with a table of contents according to the standard stipulated by the German Technical IT Inspection Association (TÜViT) / German Association for Organisation and Information Systems (VOI) (German Generally Accepted Principles of Computerised Accounting Systems (GoBS)/DMS). It is extremely easy for users to process the different topics due to the fact that each topic is assigned its own support document that can be used and filled in. This work results in the export of complete process documentation for each application in the form of a directory containing all explanatory descriptions, diagrams, etc. and an HTML page. This directory can then be placed on the Intranet, sent electronically or directly burnt onto CD, for example at the end of the accounting period.
The VFD Editor is available as an independent product or as an integrated element of the Business Audit Platform CIC. It can be preset with other directories (Internal Control, Fait, etc.) using Excel files.
October 22 2010
Business Audit Platform CIC - instrument of internal control
Cologne: Tributus moves another step forward with release 2.0 of its Business Audit Platform CIC. CIC is the very first real Business Audit Platform fully dedicated to auditing, compliance requirements and exclusive financial data access without impairing with ongoing 'live' business transactions and ERP applications, providing balance statements at the click of a button.
Early in 2003, the developers of Compliance Information Centerwanted to offer access to and the deployment of financial data from both legacy and freshly migrated applications under just one roof. Tax and financial auditors alike had complained of lengthy archive retrieval and, especially in the case of shut down legacy systems, a battle with different deployment paradigms that were often considered inefficient and cumbersome by the company's own finance staff; a situation often compounded by IT's anxiety about possible disruption of live operations.
Immediately after Eurosox took effect auditors refused to testify to the correctness of financial statements unless provided with sufficient documentation of business procedures. As a result this documentation was included in the Business Audit Platform. The multilingual W3-based design eases financial data access for distributed organisations, allowing local auditing and headquarter-central data storage. Shutting down subsidiarylegacy systems containing data needed for i18n (internationalization) proved to be relatively trivial.
In addition to compliance with SOX, EUROSOX and various local tax laws, CIC has proven to be an extremely useful and productive tool of internal control and financial data administration. It is currently used by major company groups throughout Europe.
September 15 2010
To avoid penalty for none-compliance management
The hesitant attitude of companies regarding government regulations leads to increasingly financial sanctions by the tax authorities. To counteract this risk more and more companies decided for the Tributus Business Audit Platform CIC.
Due to increasing regulatory requirements (GDPdU, GoBS, SOX, etc.) more and more companies are focused onaudit-proof data archiving. But experience shows that many companies have problems with the digital processing of data and documents.
To retrieve data from the archives (e.g. for tax auditing or accounting) is a big challenge for companies. Data should be retrieved rapidly, reliably and securely but which in practice is often not possible.
The Tributus CIC (Compliance Information Center) solves this problem and creates a direct access to archived digital data - including data of the recent past. At the touch of a button the CIC retrieves data from the archive and presents it to the user (enhanced with business-logic).
Early action prevents from financial sanctions which can be fined up to 250,000 euros from the tax authorities. By using the Business Audit Platform CIC the risk of liability for employees and tax risks of a company are significantly reduced.
The Golden Bridge from the Old to the New Saves Money
Release 2.0 of the Tributus CIC (Compliance Information Center) has been released for the customer ramp-up.
The focus of this compliance solution is on cutting costs by consolidating and deactivating old systems. The procedure pays particular attention to data extraction and the subsequent audit-proof storage of the relevant application data.
The relevant compliance requirements are met and the saved data and documents belonging to the various users (auditors, departments, controllers, administrators, etc.) can be used at any time by means of the CIC in this context.
This is a solution scenario that has already been implemented successfully with customers such as Linde, Ford Bank Deutschland and a large German private bank.
The cost cutting effect was noticed very quickly in each case. That's because once the CIC solution has been started up, the original old system can be switched off, enabling the costs for licenses, maintenance and administration to be saved.
Other key factors in the new release are:
- Improved visualization of the data and even more extensive evaluation options in the web-based interface
- Seamless integration of existing data and content from SAP and non-SAP systems
- Improved setup and handling of database structures when dealing with audit data
- Option for incorporating the Tributus Content Server (TCS).
The reporting functions of Tributus CIC have been extended
In order better to meet the continuously recurring challenges posed by auditors, controllers and financial auditors, the reporting engine has been expanded in the recently published CIC version.
Additional functionalities have been implemented for digital data analysis. In addition to the standard functions such as the forming of totals or balances, the visualization options for linked data streams have been developed.
As well as the functions for the totals and balances lists, features have been implemented that provide support during tax audits. Tributus CIC now offers more solutions for the implementation of specific analysis projects as part of a GDPdU (Principles of Data Access and Auditability of Digital Records) inspection or other compliance audits. If the customer wishes, more individual evaluation functions can be integrated with ease by means of a flexible interface.
New Partnership for the Compliance Challenge
Tributus Compliance Solutions GmbH officially announces partnership with the Swiss company RSD (www.rsd.com).
RSD, founded in 1973 in Geneva has leading products for business information, content and records management, archiving and retrieval of documents.
Together with this strong partner Tributus helps companies meet the growing challenges of information governance and compliance.
Appropriate solution packages with common components for compliance archiving and legacy system sunsetting offered for this purpose.
The planning foresees a merger of product range and the strengthening of cooperation.
Tributus virtualises its Compliance Information Center
With its product, the Compliance Information Center (CIC), Tributus is increasingly banking on virtualisation technology. In a current client project, ready-made images for 12 countries are being rolled out to a central VMWare server enabling compliance data and documents to be accessed from all over Europe.
Complete server environments comprising the operating system, the archive adapter and the CIC web application are being implemented on the basis of what are known as template images. In this way, each client country can have its own dedicated environment with access to the central compliance repository.
A comprehensive array of configuration options means that each VMWare image can be tailored to the respective national compliance requirements. A parent instance of the CIC solution allows the client's chief compliance officer to obtain extensive information on the compliance status of each individual region.
Use of these virtual appliances for the Tributus Compliance Information Center will help reduce, above all, project roll-out and operation costs.
Please click on this link for more information:
www.elektronische-steuerpruefung.de/aussteller/tributus/tributus_03.htm
Central ECM platform for compliance data and documents
The latest release of the Tributus Compliance Information Centre (CIC) makes it possible to operate a central ECM platform for compliance data and documents. The CIC is used to provide access to data from active systems as well as from old systems that have been deactivated in the course of system consolidation projects.
One example of a customer project is storage of GDPdU data (complying with the Principles of Data Access and Verifiability of Digital Documents) from deactivated SAP systems in an ASG ViewDirect archive. During productive operations of the SAP systems, outgoing and incoming documents were stored in an OpenText archive. The CIC's flexible archive interface is able to integrate these different archiving systems. CIC users are given standardised access via an intuitive web interface to all relevant compliance information.
In the GDPdU documents that are displayed from the ASG ViewDirect archive, hyperlinks can be used to reference and display the original documents in the OpenText archive. This scenario rationalises the requirements for sustainable storage of relevant data and documents, and does so independently of legacy systems.
This information can be found at:
www.elektronische-steuerpruefung.de/aussteller/tributus/tributus_02.htm
EuroSOX: Very few companies are prepared for it, but the Tributus CIC can help!
The 8th EU Directive was passed by the European Commission on 17th May 2006 and implemented into national law by the Federal German Government with effect from 29th June 2008.
This measure is designed to bolster trust in the auditing of financial accounts throughout Europe. Every public-interest entity must establish an audit committee, whose job it is to control the accounting, auditing and reporting process.
The efficiency of the internal control system, audit system and risk management must also be monitored.
The current Version 1.7 of the Tributus CIC (Compliance Information Center) can support you in your efforts to comply with EuroSOX requirements. This web solution enables those in charge of compliance to monitor observance of the 8th EU Directive in their company. As with SOX and J-SOX, controlling requirements can be satisfied with CIC document management for secure administration of a company's entire documentation. This relies, as before, on tried-and-tested COBIT 4.0 and COSO structures in the CIC.
We would be happy to provide you with further details and options on request.
Compliance Solution for Data Retention
The current version of the CIC (Compliance Information Center) compliance tool, Version 1.6, has been extended to include a solution component for data retention.
The new functionalities ensure compliance with the legal, European-wide requirements with respect to storage of traffic data for all forms of telecommunications.
The new law, which implements EU Directive 2006/24, comes into force on January 01 2008.
From this time onwards, telecommunications providers have to maintain a comprehensive catalog of communications data.
All communication via telephone, mobile phone, e-mail and Internet is to be logged in the future for the purpose of criminal prosecution.
All call data records as well as data on the identity of persons concerned must be preserved for at least six months regardless of whether a suspicion exists.
The CIC allows data access as required by law as well as requisite searches to be conducted using a Web 2.0 interface.
Master data, terminal information and other details, for example, can be searched for using direct links on the basis of the recorded communications log files.
Moreover, a connection can also be established with the concrete location data. It is possible, furthermore, to display the document linked with a master data record of a communications user (e.g. the signed contract).
SAP system retirement with access to stored/scanned documents
From CIC release 1.5, it is possible to access SAP legacy data and documents.
In an existing SAP system, incoming and outgoing documents (among others) are archived and linked to SAP business objects. The viewing of these documents is controlled via SAP. After the retirement of an SAP system and data extraction, the documents can no longer be easily accessed. Instead, the data can be made available in the Tributus CIC. By activating the interface to the productive SAP archive, the linked documents can continue to be viewed via the Tributus CIC.
This scenario simplifies the requirements for the sustainable storage of relevant documents independent from the SAP legacy system.