I NTERACTIVE D ATA E XTRACTION AND A NALYSIS (IDEA)

IDEA VAST IMPROVEMENT OVER IDEA5 HIGHLY USER FRIENDLY MANY HICCUPS ELIMINATED AUTOMATIC IMPORT OF RECORD DEFINITION, WITH DATA MORE GRAPHS

IDEA A KEY FOR COMPREHENSIVE FILE INTERROGATION USED BY AUDITORS, ACCOUNTANTS FINANCIAL MANAGERS INVESTIGATORS

IDEA DEVELOPED BY CANADIAN INSTITUTE OF CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS PRESENTLY OWNED BY CASEWARE INTERNATIONAL INC. HIGHLY USER FOCUSSED MAJOR USERS INVOLVED TRHOUGH STEERING COMMITTEE, IN PACKAGE DEVELOPMENT

IDEA HELPS IN COMPLEX DATA ANALYSIS EXTRACTION OF UNUSUAL ITEMS GENERATION OF AUDIT SAMPLES DUPLICATE DETECTION …….. IMPORTING DATA FROM A WIDE RANGE OF FILE TYPES MATCHING & COMPARING FILES

IDEASCRIPT A TOOL FOR USERS, IN PROGRAMMING USES OBJECT ORIENTED PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE, IN LINE WITH MS VISUAL BASIC

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS INSTALLATION CD-ROM PC WITH WINDOWS NT4/95/98/ ME /2000 PENTIUM II 350 (OR ) HIGHER PROCESSOR 128 MB RAM FOR WINDOWS NT 64 MB RAM FOR WIN95/98/ME/ 2000

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS 6O MB HDD TO STORE PROGRAM FILES 10 MB HDD TO STORE E-DOCUMENTATION HDD CAPACITY TO STORE 1 ½ TIMES THE DATA FILE SIZE

MODULES IN IDEA IDEA – MODULE TO IMPORT DATA AND CONDUCT AUDIT TEST/ANALYSIS RDE – MODULE FOR RECORD DEFINITION EDITOR IDEASCRIPT–PROGRAMMING TOOL

STARTING IDEA ACCESS THE IDEA MODULE FROM DESKTOP ALTERNATIVELY, SELECT START > PROGRAMS > IDEA >IDEA SET A WORKING FOLDER IMPORT THE DATA FILES

STARTING RDE ACCESS THE IDEA MODULE SELECT START> PROGRAMS >IDEA > RECORD DEFINITION EDITOR ALTERNATIVELY, SELECT FROM FILE MENU IN IDEA

IDEA SCREEN WITH DATABASES OPEN

Deliveries List main critical deliverables Yours to client Yours to outside services Outside services to you Other departments to you Understand your confidence rating to each deliverable Indicate confidence level on slides if appropriate

Costs

APPLICATION WINDOWS AND TOOLBARS IDEA USES TW PRIMARY WINDOWS DATABASE WINDOW MACRO WINDOW DATABASE WINDOW GIVES A VIEW OF THE FIELDS IN A DATABASE EACH DATABASE IS OPENED INTO A SEPARATE DATABASE WINDOW

APPLICATION WINDOWS AND TOOLBARS DATABASE WINDOWS HAVE MANY VIEWS THESE VIEWS ARE ACCESSED THROUGH THE VIEW TABS AT THE BASE OF THE WINDOW

VIEW TABS AVAILABLE FOR DATABASES DATABASE HISTORY FIELD STATISTICS

VIEWTABS AVAILABLE FOR RESULTS NUMERIC GAP DETECTION DATE GAP DETECTION CHARACTER GAP DETECTION NUMERIC STRATIFICATION CHARACTER STRATIFICATION DATE STRATIFICATION KEY FIELD STRATIFICATION

VIEWTABS AVAILABLE FOR RESULTS QUICK SUMMARISATION KEY FIELD SUMMARISATION AGING GENERATE RANDOM NUMBERS MUS HIT POINT MUS EVALUATION CHARTS

VIEWTABS AVAILABLE FOR RESULTS ALL RESULT VIEWS ARE AUTOMATICALLY SAVED WITH THE DATABASE INFORMATION WITHIN THE DATABASE VIEW CAN’T BE EDITED

DATABASE WINDOW FOR AN ACTIVE DATABASE THE VIEW LOOKS LIKE A SPREADSHEET FIELD NAMES INDICATED AS COLUMN HEADINGS RECORD NUMBERS INDICATED AS THE ROW NUMBERS NAME OF THE ACTIVE DATABASE IS DISPLAYED ON THE TITLE BAR

DATABASE LIMITATIONS FIELD/ COLUMNS32167 RECORDS / ROWS (DEPENDING ON THE O/S) 2.1 BILLION FILE SIZE1.8 EB

HISTORY VIEW OF THE DATABASE WINDOW SHOWS THE HISTORY OF ALL OPERATIONS PERFORMED ON THE FILE

IMPORTING A DBASE FILE SELECT FILE > IMPORTASSISTANT SELECT A DATABASE TO IMPORT CLICK ON BROWSE BUTTON (…) INDICATE THE TYPE OF FILE INDICATE THE IMPORT METHOD NEW FILES AND STANDARD PC FORMATS CLICK ON NEXT BUTTON

IMPORTING A DBASE FILE CLICK ON NEXT BUTTON, IF THE IMPORT ASSISTANT INDICATES THE FILE TYPE CORRECTLY SPECIFY IDEA’S FILE NAME INDICATE HOW TO USE THE FILE LINK TO SAVE DISKSPACE IMPORT (FOR FASTER ACCESS)

IMPORTING A DBASE FILE GENERATE FIELD STATISTICS INDICATE THE DATABASE NAME AVOID DUPLICATE NAMES CLICK ON FINISH THE FILE IS IMPORTED, NOW

ONCE THE FILE IS IMPORTED, MANY FUNCTIONS COULD BE DONE DATA ANALYSIS SAMPLING

DATA EXTRACTION DUPLICATE KEY DETECTION EXCLUSION GAP DETECTION NUMERIC DATE CHARACTER

DATA INDICES SORT DESCRIBING THE SORTED ORDER FIELD MANIPULATION CHARTING THE DATA

ANALYSIS FILE STRATIFICATION NUMERIC KEY FIELD CHARACTER DATE FIELD SUMMARISATION QUICK KEY FIELD AGING

DATA EXTRACTION CLICK ON DATA MENU SELECT EXTRACTION OPTION INDICATE THE RECORDS TO BE EXTRACTED – ALL (OR) RANGE INDICATE A NAME FOR EXTRACTED FILE INDICATE THE CRITERIA

DATA EXTRACTION HIGHLIGHT ANY FIELD(S), TO HIDE RIGHT CLICK AND SELECT HIDE FIELDS SELECT SHOW FIELDS, TO SHOW THE FIELD(S) AGAIN CLICK ON ANY ROW OF ANY FIELD & RIGHT CLICK. SELECT FIND RECORDS TO VIEW RECORDS WITH THAT MATCHING THE SPECIFIED ROW

EXTRACTION TO EDIT THE EXTRACTION EQUATION SELECT EDIT, RE-RUN TASK, TO MODIFY THE EQUATION DOUBLE CLICK ON THE EQUATION AND EDIT TO KNOW THE FILE STRUCTURE, DOUBLE CLICK ON ANY ROW

INDEXING A FILE OPEN A DATABASE SELECT DATA, INDICES INDICATE THE FIELD AND DIRECTION, FOR THE INDEX FUNCTION, IN THE DIALOG BOX CLICK THE FIELD, TO AUTOMATICALLY INSERT THE FIELDS AS CONTAINED IN THE FILE

DUPLICATE DETECTION & EXCLUSION SELECT THE FILE ON WHICH TO DETECT DUPLICATES SELECT RECENT DATABASES, FILE SELECT DATA, DUPLICATE KEY SELECT DUPLICATE DETECTION SELECT THE OUTPUT WITH (OR) WITHOUT DUPLICATES INDICATE THE KEY (LIKE NAME, ASCENDING)

DUPLICATE DETECTION & EXCLUSION CLICK ON OK INDICATE THE CRITERIA LIKE PNONE_NO=35600 TO EXCLUDE DUPLICATES, SELECT DATA, DUPLICATE KEY, EXCLUSION INDICATE FIELDS TO MATCH

IMPORTING FIXED LENGTH ASCII FILES SELECT FILE, RDE INDICATE THE DRIVE AND FOLDER SELECT THE RECORD DEFINITION E.G., A:\PAYROLL.DEF INDICATE A FILE NAME FOR THE DEFINITION, IN IDEA E.G., C:\IDEA2001\PAYROLL.RDE RECORD DEFINITION IS SAVED, NOW

TO INDICATE DETAILS, FOR EACH FIELD, CLICK ON ‘DESCRIPTION’ AND PROVIDE DETAILS NOW, WE CAN IMPORT THE PAYROLL.DAT FILE, FROM FLOPPY

HAVING IMPORTED THE FILE, ANY UNWANTED / BLANK FIELDS CAN BE HIDDEN HIGHLIGHT THE FIELD, RIGHT CLICK AND SELECT HIDE FIELD

FIELD MANIPULATION TO ADD A VIRTUAL FIELD, IN A FILE AND VALIDATE DATA USE PAYROLL SELECT DATA, FIELD MANIPULATION IN THE DIALOG BOX, CLICK ON ‘APPEND’, FOR A VIRTUAL FIELD SELECT THE TYPE OF VIRTUAL FIELD, AS CHARACTER / NUMERIC, DATE

INDICATE THE FIELD LENGTH, DECIMAL ETC., INDICATE THE CRITERIA IN THE PARAMETER FIELD, USING A VALID EQUATION E.G., GROSS_PAY<=1/6 * RATE CLICK ON ‘VALIDATE AND EXIT’

EDITING EQUATIONS CLICK ON THE VIRTUAL FIELD, CONTAINING THE EQUATION RIGHT CLICK (OR) SELECT DATA, FIELD MANIPULATION CLICK ON THE FIELD ‘PARAMETER’ EDIT THE EQUATION

EXTRACTION TO DISPLAY RECORDS HAVING GROSS_PAY GREATER THAN A LIMIT, CLICK ON DATA, EXTRACTION INDICATE THE IDEA FILE NAME AND INDICATE THE CRITERIA AS GROSS_PAY>=RATE*1/6 TO DISPLAY ONLY SPECIFIC FIELDS, SELECT UNWANTED FIELDS, RIGHT CLICK AND SELECT OPTION ‘ HIDE FIELDS’

TO DISPLAY EMPLOYEES WHO JOINED BEFORE 1 ST SEPTEMBER 1965 GO TO FILE, RDE AND SELECT THE OPTION OPEN RECORD DEFINITION (C:\IDEA2001\PAYROLL.RDE)

SELECT THE ‘START’ FIELD AND CLICK ON THE DATA TYPE. CHANGE IT AS NUMERIC SAVE THE DEFINITION CLOSE THE WINDOW

SELECT DATA, EXTRACTION IN THE CRITERIA, TYPE – START<= VIEW THE RESULTANT FILE THE NUMBER OF RECORDS IS INDICATED AT THE BOTTOM

TO STRATIFY A FILE (EG., NETPAY) SELECT ANALYSIS, FILE STRATIFICATION, NUMERIC SELECT THE FIELD ON WHICH TO STRATIFY THE FILE PROVIDE THE INCREMENT

TO STRATIFY A FILE (EG., NETPAY) CLICK ON THE NUMBER OF STRATA REQUIRED PROVIDE LOWER AND UPPER LIMITS CLICK ON OK

TO STRATIFY A FILE (EG., NETPAY) DOUBLE CLICK ON ANY STRATA TO VIEW THE ASSOCIATED RECORDS (ALSO CLICK ON THE ICON ‘SHOW RECORDS ASSOCIATED WITH SELECTED DATA’)

IMPORTING ASCII DELIMITED FILES SUCH FILES CONTAIN DELIMITERS LIKE COMMAS, QUOTES ETC., IT IS ONE OF THE FORMATS USED FOR DATA INTERCHANGE THE FIELDS CAN VARY IN LENGTH IDEA READS THROUGH THE FILE, USES THE DELIMITERS AND WORKS OUT THE STARTING AND ENDING POSITION OF FIELDS

EXAMPLE (IMPORTING INVOICE.TXT) SELECT FILE, IMPORT ASSISTANT INDICATE THE LOCATION OF THE FILE, VIZ., INVOICE.TXT (C:\) CLICK ON ‘NEXT’, TO INDICATE FILE TYPE ENSURE IT IS ASCII-DELIMITED CONFIRM THE DELIMITER AS ‘COMMA’ & THE NUMBER OF RECORDS TO ANALYSE

EXAMPLE (IMPORTING INVOICE.TXT) CLICK ON ‘NEXT’, TO RENAME FIELDS CLICK ON FINISH (PROVIDE IDEA FILENAME)

EXAMPLE (IMPORTING INVOICE.TXT) SPECIFY THE DATABASE NAME CLICK ON ‘FINISH’ IF THE FILE EXISTS, INDICATE A DIFFERENT NAME

MACROS STEP BY STEP - RECORDING AN IDEASCRIPT 1.START RECORDING 2.RECORD AUDIT STEPS 3.STOP RECORDING THE IDEASCRIPT 4.SAVE THE IDEASCRIPT

MACROS STEP BY STEP - RECORDING AN IDEASCRIPT OPTIONALLY: ADD THE IDEASCRIPT TO THE TOOLS MENU  ASSIGN THE IDEASCRIPT TO A TOOLBAR BUTTON  RUN THE IDEASCRIPT

START RECORDING SELECT ONE OF THE FOLLOWING TO START RECORDING AN IDEASCRIPT CLICK THE START/STOP RECORDING A MACRO SCRIPT BUTTON ON THE OPERATIONS TOOLBAR SELECT TOOLS -RECORD MACRO

PRESS ALT-T FOR TOOLS, FOLLOWED BY R TO RECORD MACRO CTRL + R IDEA WILL NOW RECORD THE IDEASCRIPT CODE. THE RECORDED MACRO/ SCRIPT CANNOT BE VIEWED OR EDITED UNTIL RECORDING HAS STOPPED WHEN A MACRO WINDOW WILL THEN BE OPENED. RECORD AUDIT STEPS STOP RECORDING THE IDEASCRIPT SAVE THE IDEASCRIPT

TO FIND RECORDS CONTAINING DATA SIMILAR TO THAT OF A SPECIFIC RECORD CLICK ON A CELL(INTERSECTION OF A ROW AND A FIELD) RIGHT CLICK & SELECT FIND RECORDS CONTAINING “ “ ALL MATCHING RECORDS WILL BE LISTED