Latest SAP® BusinessObjects™ GRC Solutions Increase Clarity Across the Enterprise, Helping Organizations to Better Predict and Manage Risk

New Versions of SAP® BusinessObjects™ Risk Management and SAP® BusinessObjects™ Process Control Automate and Unify Risk and Compliance Initiatives

PALO ALTO, Calif. and WALLDORF, Germany .- In a rapidly changing economic environment marked by unpredictable risk, organizations today are increasingly vulnerable to financial loss and, tarnished reputations. SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today introduced new capabilities in two SAP® BusinessObjects™ governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) solutions that promote automated, unified risk management and compliance strategies. Available today, new versions of the SAP® BusinessObjects™ Risk Management and SAP® BusinessObjects™ Process Control applications give customers the clarity required to help ensure that the right controls are in place, helping them to both comply with government regulations and manage business risks. This holistic view will help customers take a preventative approach to risk and be better protected against future vulnerabilities caused by rapidly shifting conditions. The new SAP BusinessObjects GRC solutions are also embedded with SAP BusinessObjects business intelligence (BI) solutions, enabling greater transparency across customers’ organizations and helping them to develop smarter, more risk-aware business strategies.

Risk managers and auditors face a serious challenge: they lack real-time, unified visibility across the various business units. Traditionally, they monitor risks and assess controls via manual processes, such as surveys and spreadsheets sent on an annual or quarterly basis, to help them comply with and support specific regulations or corporate initiatives. But risk is not a static, predictable event. Companies today require an ongoing and automated way to identify risks and test controls continuously, and to quickly aggregate that data into a comprehensive, enterprise-wide picture. With the solutions SAP announced today, customers can enact continuous monitoring of business risks and internal controls. Customers’ ability to make risk management an ongoing process will help ensure fewer surprises and more sound business practices. For example, recent product recalls have cost companies both money and reputation. But SAP BusinessObjects GRC solutions can help companies make sure the right controls are in place to help them identify and resolve product quality issues before they put both the public and the company at risk.

For example, recent spinach recalls due to E. coli bacteria could have been better managed with SAP BusinessObjects GRC solutions. In the food industry, companies have manufacturing controls in place to help plants comply with quality checks mandated by the Federal Department of Agriculture (FDA): failing to comply with these regulations poses a significant risk to public safety, not to mention fines and damage to brand reputation. Today, most companies audit their inspection processes manually and on a quarterly basis. As a result, it can take months to find out if controls are still in place or effective. With the new SAP solutions, risk indicators and controls are monitored continuously and automatically. For example, the software can help ensure that every shipment of spinach that goes out has been adequately inspected. If an inspection is not completed or if the quality results fall out of acceptable range, an alert is automatically sent to the operations manager so immediate corrective action can be taken before the product is shipped. SAP software helps the company to address the risk before it becomes a problem, thus protecting customers and ultimately, consumers.

“Our objective in our division is to be able to manage multiple compliance projects more efficiently,” said Kevan Wooden, VP, Controller Group Operations for Johnson Controls Building Efficiency division. “We expect that a global approach to managing and automating controls will improve our overall efficiency.”

The new versions of SAP BusinessObjects Risk Management and SAP BusinessObjects Process Control also empower business users to embed risk management into existing business processes and divisions. Now risk managers and auditors can easily build controls and key risk indicators that monitor the business environment, helping to prevent problems and promote the effectiveness of existing systems. This is a faster and more cost-effective way to make sure that risk monitoring is automatic and ongoing.

This latest release of SAP BusinessObjects GRC solutions embeds SAP BusinessObjects BI solutions, enabling simplified reporting, dashboarding and analytics. For risk and compliance programs to succeed, business users across the company must have access to risk information. Integrating SAP BusinessObjects BI solutions provides a powerful way to share this data via reports and interactive dashboards. Now business users can easily create, customize and distribute a report from Crystal Reports® software or a dashboard from Xcelsius® software to highlight a potential problem. Leveraging technologies like Xcelsius to build “heat maps” offers companies a visually powerful way to demonstrate trouble spots, such as supply chain disruptions and its potential financial impact.

“The latest SAP BusinessObjects GRC solutions further showcase their unique vision, which ensures that GRC is integrated into the core business processes and applications - and is not simply an afterthought,” Michael Rasmussen, president, Corporate Integrity. “With a holistic approach to real-time monitoring of key risk indicators and controls, organization can manage their business proactively and strategically, rather than reactively. And a more comprehensive risk management strategy is key to improving corporate performance. Customers ability to automatically test and monitor these processes can deliver significant cost and efficiency savings.”

The enhancements to SAP BusinessObjects GRC solutions also help enable customers to manage multiple compliance programs centrally, helping to save time and cut costs. Rather than manually tracking numerous initiatives one by one, customers can manage various risk management and compliance programs at the same time in one environment. This centralized approach also helps make sure that controls are being used effectively across the company. For example, Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPPA regulations may require the same controls; now customers use the same controls and make sure they are deployed consistently across various initiatives.

“Today we’re taking a significant step forward, giving customers the clarity required to successfully navigate risk more effectively in the current financial climate, help position them for future growth,” said Narina Sippy, senior vice president and general manager, GRC Solutions, SAP BusinessObjects Division. “The enhancements we announced today allow customers to clearly see where they are must vulnerable to risk and where they need to bolster controls to mitigate that risk. With the continuous monitoring and transparency SAP provides, companies can respond quickly to new business threats and help comply more efficiently with new regulations.”