Transaction Algorithm Results

In the worksheet for a transaction algorithm, each row is the record of a transaction that violates the algorithm, although a single violation may encompass multiple rows. For example, an algorithm that detects duplicate invoices would return one row for each of the duplicated invoices.

Records may contain the following information:

• Most columns report values for attributes of business objects. A business object is a set of related fields in a business application subject to analysis by an algorithm. An attribute is one field in the set. However, every transaction algorithm is assigned its own result attributes, so the result worksheet for each algorithm contains a unique set of columns.

  The header for each of these columns concatenates the name of a business object with the name of one of its attributes, with a period as the delimiter. For example, "Supplier.Supplier Name" indicates the Supplier Name attribute of the Supplier business object. In this example, the value reported for each record would be the name of a supplier.

• Attributes include key values, such as supplier number or invoice number, that you can use to search for records of suspect transactions in the applications in which they were created. These attributes are located in the first few columns of an algorithm-detail worksheet. They vary from algorithm to algorithm.

• Algorithms may use filters that divide records into groups. In each group, specified values are either equal or similar to one another. The records in each group constitute a set of transactions that may present an issue. For example, an algorithm may group invoice records by supplier, to determine whether invoice amounts for each supplier exceed a limit, or perhaps an average amount.

  When an algorithm creates groups, columns report the values that are equal or similar to one another. Their headings include the phrase "is the same" or "is xx percent similar" (in which xx is a number). They're among the last few columns in the worksheet. Also, each worksheet includes an algorithm description, which you're encouraged to read not only to understand what the algorithm sets out to find, but also to identify significant features such as grouping values.

• A transaction algorithm may incorporate "derived attributes." These are calculations performed by the algorithm. For example, the algorithm that groups invoice records by supplier may calculate the total value, or the average value, of invoices for each supplier. For each record in the group, a column reports the calculated value.

Some algorithms find transactions in each of which an individual user has acted in a way that violates sound separation-of-duties policy. Others find transactions that show signs of any sort of risk other than SOD risk. The type of an algorithm may influence how you review its results.

The name of each transaction algorithm begins with a five-digit code. You can use the first two digits of each code to distinguish the type of algorithm as well as the business process to which it applies:

Code Begins With	Algorithm Type
30	Non-SOD analysis in the Accounts Payable process
32	Non-SOD analysis in the General Ledger process
33	Non-SOD analysis in the Order to Cash process
40	SOD analysis in any of the Accounts Payable, General Ledger, or Order to Cash processes
50	SOD and non-SOD analysis in the Human Capital Management process