1. Controls Exercise / Discussion Example #1
A game that is useful in understanding controls and a control diagram.

2. Exercise Everyone in the room grab a marshmallow
Separate into 2 groups
One person in each team a gets a message – DON’T SHARE THE MESSAGE WITH YOUR TEAMMATES!
The person with the message must pop a marshmallow in their mouth and whisper the message into the ear of the person next to them
Can only whisper it once – No repeating!
Must be quiet enough that no one else can hear it
Continue step 4 until the message reaches the last person on the team
The team that gets the message right at the end wins
If there is a tie, the team that finished first wins
11/18/2018

3. Messages
Team # 1
WE DELIVER MEASURABLE VALUE, QUICKLY Our phased approach and broad experience produce practical solutions that enable our clients to realize rapid results.
Team # 2
WE TRANSFER KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS TO OUR CLIENTS ON EACH ENGAGEMENT Our seasoned consultants work alongside our clients to transfer their deep industry, business process and application experience.
11/18/2018

4. What were some causes for failure?
Marshmallows made it hard for the sender to pronounce words
Other noise in the room made it difficult for the receiver to hear the message
The message you heard was complex
The guy next to you accidentally spit in your ear?
11/18/2018

5. Reality Check
Funny kids game... Of course, it never happens in the real adult world... does it? The president decides that their strategic direction needs to be changed. He talks to the COO. The COO talks to the VPs. They talk to their direct reports. They talk to the mid-level managers. They talk to the individual managers. They talk to the employees.
11/18/2018

6. How does this apply to company controls?
Within the company system:
There is a message (data) that needs to be conveyed
A sender (USA database) needs to bundle the message and communicate it to the next stage
A receiver (QEIS) needs to interpret the message and format it for display on the website
A receiver (End User) needs to correctly understand the website in order to make informed business decisions
Noise often contributes to a garbled message (data)
During our exercise, what if we installed a “listening” device in between each person that alerted us when the message had been changed? Could we expect better end results?
Ah, yes…. Controls.
11/18/2018

7. Company Controls Overview
Objective:
Concisely and efficiently analyze business data to increase confidence in company metrics
Point to Point Controls
P2P controls objectives
Accuracy - The data correctly represents source data and is valid
Allocation - The data was assigned to the correct account, period, etc
* Completeness - All data is present
Existence - The data represents a valid account, product, transaction, etc
Occurrence - The data represents an event that actually happened
* Timeliness - The data is received in an acceptable period of time
Valuation - The data represents the correct value of transactions, assets, etc
Business Controls
Used to evaluate data trends from a business standpoint
Operational changes – Are changes to processes or definitions affecting the trend?
Market changes – Are market changes affecting the trend?
Organizational changes – Have recent organizational changes affected the trend?
Simple Data Flow Diagram
11/18/2018

8. Control Examples Business Control Example P2P Control Example
Control Objective: Timeliness
Service Level Agreement: Must be received by 7AM each day
Date Sent
Time Sent
Date Received
Time Received
Pass/Fail
1/2/2005
3:00:00
5:58:22
Pass
1/3/2005
2:55:07
6:08:44
1/4/2005
2:58:55
5:51:27
1/5/2005
3:01:04
6:30:51
1/6/2005
2:58:34
7:53:21
Fail
Business Control Example
Does the unit trend (over time) stay within statistical control?
11/18/2018

9. Controls System Diagram
11/18/2018

10. Control Flow / Testing Diagrams Example #2
You may need to zoom in to read these examples.

11. Business Processes: Wireless

12. Business Processes (IR): AL, DSL, Data & IP

13. Business Processes (IR): Long Distance

14. Business Processes (OOR): Wholesale

15. Business Processes (OOR): BMG