Billy has kindly shared his presentation with us.

Uncommon Applications PowerPoint

We’ve been using RECOFFSET to identify split Purchase Orders/Requisitions and Duplicate Payments, calculate Running Totals, and identify Security Access violations. Please note: RECOFFSET does not work on all versions of ACL. We have only tested this on Desktop 9.1 and 9.2.

Record Offset can be used to move up and down your table to find conditions defined in your computed field. Here’s how we used Record Offset to find Potential Split Purchase Requisitions made within 2 days of each other:

SORT ON Requisitioner Req_Date Vendor_Number TO “Requisition_Sort” OPEN

DEFINE FIELD c_Matching_Date COMPUTED

RECOFFSET(Req_Date,-1) IF RECOFFSET( Requisitioner, -1) = Requisitioner AND RECOFFSET( Vendor_Number, -1) = Vendor_Number

Req_Date

DEFINE FIELD c_days_diff COMPUTED c_Matching_Date – Req_Date

Make sure there’s a blank space after DEFINE FIELD c_Matching_Date COMPUTED

First, we sorted the file so that we have the Requisition Number, Requisition Date, and Vendor Number together.

Second, we created a conditional computed field to test if previous Purchase Requisition had the same Requisitioner and Vendor Number. If it found a match, it would pull down the date from that above record.

Finally, now that we have both of our dates on one record, we can subtract them to determine the days between them. In our case, we’re looking for anything where ABS(c_days_diff) <= 2 AND ABS(c_days_diff) > 0.

Join us for Billy Cheung’s presentation.

Here’s the flyer!  We hope to see you there.

ACLUG2012Q2

Data Analytics Specialist/Data Analytics Senior – Internal Audit Department

The Enterprise Holdings’ Internal Audit Department is excited to announce an opening for a Data Analytics Specialist or Data Analytics Senior (depending on experience).  This individual will work closely with the various Internal Audit teams, Corporate Security and operating groups to help proactively identify, investigate and deliver analysis on potential fraud scenarios.  The individual will also assist in the process of obtaining, organizing, and delivering on data requests for various Internal Audit projects as needed to ensure reliability of financial data, safeguarding of assets and records, and adherence to policies.  This individual will work with business/operational management teams across Enterprise Holdings while providing the individual with opportunities to increase their knowledge of Enterprise Holdings’ Oracle and Teradata databases.

Responsibilities Include:

• Evaluate continuous monitoring reports and social media sites for potentially fraudulent activity and conduct follow-up with the operating groups
• Assist in work to support various internal and external customers to provide the information they need for various anti-fraud initiatives, internal investigations, and process/rate integrity audits
• Query, link, validate and then analyze data across multiple databases with a keen eye on data integrity
• Assist with project sample selections, document requests, and determination of data sources as needed
• Support the project approach/methodology being applied
• Evaluate operational processes and measure their compliance with Company operating policies
• Ensure proper documentation, validation of data and completion of the project
• Evaluate and communicate project results to the Internal Audit Data Analytics Supervisor and discuss potential best practices, continuous monitoring reports and/or COSO audit steps, where
  applicable, to maintain a focus on the related fraud/internal control risk going forward
• Participate in other audit services (e.g., Group COSO audits, Fiscal Year-End Review, Financial Statement Reviews, Follow-Up Audits, Branch Evaluations, etc.) as needed

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree required
• Prior data analysis experience preferred  (ACL, SQL, DataWarehouse, Business Objects, Cognos)
• One (1) to three (3) years of data analysis experience
• Must be authorized to work in the United  States and not require sponsorship now or in the future

Qualified Candidates must also possess the following:

• Sense of high ethics and confidentiality
• Strong communication skills
• Keen business sense
• Attention to detail
• Ability to work extended hours as needed
• Willing to learn or be proficient in spreadsheet, word processing, database applications/querying tools and macro writing skills
• Analytical and problem solving skills
• Demonstrated history of learning new skill sets
• Willing to commit a minimum of two (2) years to the Data Analytics Team
• Must be able to work in a fast-paced environment with ability to manage multiple competing tasks, projects and demands

How to Apply:

If you are interested and qualified for this position, you must apply via the Enterprise career center: click here.

If you have any questions regarding this opportunity, please reach out to Nick Panneri 314-512-2867.

If you have a job posting to share, email StLouisACL

Here is the Enterprise Robust Continuous Audit powerpoint. ACL_UG_Enterprise

We’re planning our next meeting for April 25^th over lunch. More details to follow – but mark your calendars. Billy Cheung who just joined Mercy Health Systems and was previously a consultant with ACL Services will have some great tips for us.

Developing a Robust Continuous Audit Tool

Nick and Rene will show us how they combined SQL and ACL to provide a continuous audit tool with an efficient exception management solution that has the flexibility of being able to access reports without having to be “ACL” proficient.

Registration and Lunch – 11:30 am

Meeting 12-1

Lunch provided courtesy of Laclede Gas

ACL UG 2012 Q1 Flyer

Registration details are available at http://www.cvent.com/Events/Calendar/Calendar.aspx?cal=bf960e5d-2985-49e6-8c44-ad18388ff4bd.

__________________________
ACL certification evaluates and recognizes your ability to integrate ACL technology into your financial analysis and business process. Earning the ACL Certified Data Analyst (ACDA) designation enhances your professional development while validating your technical skills and ensuring you meet performance standards necessary to address key business challenges.

Here more details!

Training_901

Please let us know if you have any questions!

I like this convenient way to script the data intergity verification step with added value.

1.  Extract the entire record into a file if any field is not verifiable.

OPEN TESTFILE

EXTRACT RECORD IF NOT(VERIFY(field1) AND VERIFY(field2) AND VERIFY(field3) AND VERIFY(field…)) TO “Review_for_Invalid_Data.FIL”

You can send the records to excel if any data validation errors are found.

IF WRITE1> 0 EXTRACT Field1 Field2 Field3 Field4 XLS21 TO “Data_errors”

2.  Then you can also create the normal verify text file to indicate which fields weren’t verifiable.

OPEN TESTFILE

VERIFY ALL ERRORLIMIT 1000 TO “Data_ErrorsDetail.TXT”

Usually,  just looking at the .fil created by step one will be enough.  You can usually see why a record wasn’t verified, but the text file confirms exactly which fields were invalid.  The audience doesn’t have to know ACL to review an excel and txt file of data validation errors either!

 
http://docs.acl.com

Select ACL User Guide -> ACL Language Reference -> Functions

Please feel free to contribute any advice or resources for our tips and tricks menu.