Software products

The CDE VFD Editor

The Compliance Document Editor (CDE) presents a web tool for preparing compliance documentation for individual applications. The VFD Editor, a variant of CDE, is preset with the template of the standard stipulated by the German Technical IT Inspection Association (TÜViT) / German Association for Organisation and Information Systems (VOI) on process documentation according to the German Generally Accepted Principles of Computerised Accounting Systems (GoBS).

The template is used for the documentation of applications (DMS) and can be amended in MS Excel. The template is displayed as a table of contents.

The table of contents can be amended by entering new topics and deleting existing topics. Each topic can be edited, incorporates one document and can be assigned to an authorised user. It can be output in pure HTML or HTML with JavaScript (a collapsible directory) at any time. The HTML export is autonomous and can be directly transferred to CD, placed on the Intranet or sent by e-mail in this form.

Further templates for CDE: Internal Control (IT) according to COSO/Cobit; Internal Control according to IDW FAIT1/2/3

Structure and Function

The VFD Editor acts as an electronic 'paperclip' for a set of ordered documents that can be edited by several users. One set of documents is produced for one application.

The order of the documents is stipulated by a preset table of contents with expandable decimal classification. Each item in the directory corresponds to one topic. Each topic has an MS Word support document as a template for the editors, a field for entering details and links, a field for incorporating a document (of any format) and a field for entering the name of the editor of the topic. A status panel displays the editing status. The table of contents is the only editing interface and users can learn how to operate it in just a few minutes. Existing documentation such as Office documents, graphics, organigrams, etc. are transferred as files (XLS, WORD, PDF, JPG, PNG ...). Sample templates are supplied with the software and enable users to quickly familiarise themselves with it. It can be adapted to suit the new GoBS (German Generally Accepted Principles of Accounting Using IT) by transferring an Excel file into the database.

Operation

The user's edit menu contains four menu items:

• Attach
• Edit
• Export
• Import

Attach: This command is used to enter the project parameters. Once the process documentation for an application has been attached, a table of contents containing all support documents (MS WORD) is produced. Each support document displays the specific main focuses and criteria of the editing process and can be copied (downloaded) and used by the user.

Edit: Once an application has been selected, all editing work takes place using the table of contents, the main desktop of the VFD Editor. By clicking on the index, users can access a popup window displaying the parameters which they can use to amend the data, to delete indices or to incorporate new indices.
By clicking on the index, users can access a popup window displaying the parameters, which they can use to amend the data, to delete indices or to incorporate new indices.

Export: This function enables users to choose between pure HTML, HTML with JavaScript and XML. Use of the HTML export leads to the output of complete documentation containing all documents into the alias directory. The XML export produces a backup of an application, which can then be re-imported.

Administration

The administration menu contains the following three menu items:

• Initialise
• User
• Delete

Initialise: This function enables the user to load individual or all database spreadsheets from MS Excel files. The Excel files are used to adjust field names and to import the template for the table of contents, including the support documents. The Excel files are then used to load control data into database tables that specify which fields appear in the head tables.

User: This function can be used to set up user accounts with names, passwords and rights, to change passwords and to delete accounts.

Delete: This function is used to delete applications and exports in HTML and XML. It can only be accessed by the administrator.

Style sheet: The style sheet supplied with the program enables the user to manually adapt the colours, fonts and parameters of spreadsheets and elements of spreadsheets.

Properties

• Modifiable topics / table of contents
• Can be preset by the user (MS Excel file)
• For each topic:
  • Main focus template
  • Status information
  • Owner/Editor
  • Help templates (MS Word)
  • Document (file) & details
• Division of rights between the administrator/user
• User rights: admin/project/index/all
• Insertion of hyperlinks (http://..)
• Insertion of existing documents
• Export of complete process documentation (VFD) in HTML
• Export/Import in XML (MS schema)
• Preparation of several types of documentation
• Multi-user compatible (server/Intranet)
• Operation: intuitive - only 4 menu items
• Insertion of documents in a wide variety of formats
• Languages: dictionaries in MS Excel
• Database initialisation using the user's own templates

Technical Data

• Operating systems: Windows XP Pro, Windows7 Pro or Server 2003; Mac/Linux (PHP))
• W3Server: IIS 5.0/6.0/7.5 / Apache
• Database: Sqlite3
• Programming language: ASP or PHP
• Browser: MS IE, Chrome, Firefox, Opera