Compliance Analytics has become a major part of the compliance environment. In this constantly changing and increasingly sophisticated compliance environment, compliance analytics drives business models toward smarter, more efficient strategies. According to Seth Rosensweig, an associate in PwC’s strategic consulting practice and global head of its digital security, compliance, and compliance practice, compliance analytics is all about employing data to identify trends, practices, and errors, which can be used to improve internal controls and increase company-wide productivity.
The first step towards compliance analytics is the creation of comprehensive data and audit plans. Those plans should include objectives for the data analysis, methods for measuring those goals, metrics to track progress and results, and reporting methods. A compliance dashboard is typically developed as part of the compliance analytics process. The dashboard brings all the data together, showing management what is being monitored and how it is being measured and helps make the process transparent so that everyone involved can see what the findings mean for the entire organization.
The Life Sciences Association is one of the largest trade groups in the life sciences industry, along with the Pharmaceutical Association and the National Institute of Health. Life sciences businesses are beginning to use compliance data analytics, as well as compliance dashboards, to understand and improve their internal processes. By providing the metrics to track key performance outcomes and showing the business the results of their efforts, compliance data analytics provides managers with important insight into how they can optimize their own management systems.
While compliance analytics provides an invaluable tool for compliance managers, it’s important that the user community gets the information they need as well. Transparency reporting is one way that the user community benefits from compliance analytics. Transparency reporting provides insights not only into compliance actions and deadlines but also shows the user community the effectiveness of the program. These insights can help to make users more comfortable about taking their compliance activities seriously and can reduce the apprehension about compliance activities that can have a real impact on the bottom line.
Transparency reporting also helps managers focus their attention on the most critical compliance functions. In some cases, compliance analytics can alert managers to emerging threats or trends that they might not have otherwise identified on their own. It can even help to alert compliance functions to emerging opportunities, which can ultimately have a positive impact on business. Transparency reporting can provide managers with the data they need to strengthen their overall compliance functions.
Compliance analytics provides a valuable service for compliance managers and the user community. Internal audit firms rely heavily on compliance data in their functions, as do compliance monitoring agencies. By tracking compliance analytics data, the appropriate personnel can ensure that their processes are operating as effectively as possible and can maximize internal audit time by ensuring compliance risk is being managed.
