Audit Team Management System (ATMS) FAQ

Q: Do you need to use the Risk Based Integrated Auditing approach to use ATMS?

A: No. ATMS is designed to help you manage any internal audit department regardless of the audit approach that you use. ATMS provides audit management with the basic information about the company's business risks, auditors, audits, and customers that is essential to effectively and efficiently run any audit group.

If you do audits in team based structures, ATMS has special features that make it easier to manage audit teams.

Q: Does ATMS contain automated work papers?

A: No. Automated work papers assume that audits are all done in a similar way. The nature of the business risks in companies today make this a non-effective and "value-less" way to use scarce audit resources.

Q: Does the ATMS software reside on our PCs and laptops or do we need to access the server that it resides on?

A: We prefer to install both the front-end and back-end of ATMS on the server so you would be required to access the server to access ATMS. Please be aware that the speed of the system is a function of the speed at which you can communicate with the server. However, the front-end can be placed on any workstation/laptop that has MSOffice2000 installed. If Access2000 is not installed on desktop, then RUNTIME will be installed. The department coordinator can re-link "remote" systems to the back-end data on the server.

Q: How many users can be attached to an ATMS system?

A: As many as you want - up to 255 concurrent users. Please be aware that the speed at which ATMS operates is a function of the capacity of the network and the capacity and speed of the computers attached to it. The pricing of the ATMS product is also based on the number of users attached to the system.

Q: How much training do you provide for ATMS?

A: We provide a free 1/2 day training session during the installation process for anyone who would like to attend (assuming the IT technology infrastructure is in place to run ATMS). We spend additional training time with your audit department ATMS coordinator on the technical aspects of ATMS and the special structure and set up issues.

The ATMS on-line help functions duplicate the information contained in the user manuals. We created extensive on line help since auditors do not want to lug around thick user manuals when traveling.

Q: What software is ATMS developed in and what is involved in our IT department approving its installation?

A: ATMS is written in ACCESS 2000. We developed ATMS in ACCESS for two reasons:

1. Most auditors have ACCESS knowledge so the learning curve is minimal, and

2. No special IT testing requirements are needed. This will minimize the impact on your IT department.

If your department does not have ACCESS 2000 on your PCs/laptops, the installation program will install Access2000 RUNTIME.

Q: Will ATMS run on Office/Access 97?

A: No, sorry. However, ATMS will run under Office/AccessXP, provided that the migration to XP is from the Office/Access2000 suite. If Access2000 was never installed on end-user system, then Access2000 is required and will automatically install on your system during installation.

Q: How much security is required to access the ATMS system?

A: You will need to logon to your department's network using that particular password.

In addition, ATMS has two separate levels of passwords protection to access the data in the ATMS system. These passwords should only be disclosed to members of the audit department.

The ATMS system "logon" password can be updated by the end user in order to comply with your company's password rotation requirements. The ATMS system "entry" password, which is supplied to your audit department by Osterio, Inc. cannot be modified by the end user.

Q: Can I restrict access to various parts of ATMS for specific auditors?

A: No. ATMS was developed around the audit team concept, which requires that auditors, who may be working on multiple audit teams at once, have access to all the information that their team needs. If you have information that is so sensitive that you do not trust your own auditors to see it, we suggest that you do not put it on any computer system at all. There is no effective security on PC based systems.

Q: Can we customize the ATMS system at all?

A: There is some minor customization of ATMS captions in order to suit the unique reporting and classification requirements of audit departments. In addition, reports have several methods of selection criteria, such as between a range of dates, or by a particular field. ATMS has over 50 reports to cover just about any reporting requirement that you may need.

In addition, we will be happy to develop any specific customization that you require on a time, materials and expenses basis. Please bear in mind that the license and maintenance contract costs increase substantially for customized versions of ATMS.

Q: Our IT department requires that they have access to the information in ATMS in order to support it? Is this a problem?

Not to us -- but it should be to your General Auditor! The ATMS system keeps confidential information about audits in the company, including those carried out in the IT department. The ATMS data would contain the results of those audits. If IT has access to ATMS, they have access to every piece of data in ATMS. Does your general Auditor really want to give IT this access?

Concerning the support issue, IT does not need to be involved in supporting ATMS. It is a stand alone Access database with no connections outside the audit department. ATMS impacts and obtains data from NO other system. The support contract covers all support issues. As far as your IT organization is concerned, ATMS, as a program on the organization's network, is no different than someone in your department taking the time to write an Access database to manually keep track of the temperature in the room.

The Best of the Best for 2006

RBIA Gold Medal
Ms. Martha Mimica, Florida Power & Light

RBIA Silver Medal
Mr. Bill Egan, Scotts Company

RBIA Bronze Medal
Mr. Dan Ashley, Qwest Communications

Congratulations!
prior year winners

SOX 404 RISK CONTROL MANAGER 2.1 SOFTWARE


a cost effective way
to document controls

AUDIT TEAM MANAGEMENT
SYSTEM (ATMS) SOFTWARE


best value available for
small audit groups

Updated: February 2, 2007