SAP Process Control


What is SAP Process Control?

Companies need to ensure their activities are carried out following board-level directives and internal policies while complying with applicable regulations. That’s where internal controls come into play, and process control is a method that companies use to streamline and automate the monitoring of business processes. SAP Process Control, part of the SAP GRC suite, is one tool that many SAP customers use to ensure their business is operating in an efficient and compliant manner.

What is SAP Process Control?

Companies need to ensure their activities are carried out following board-level directives and internal policies while complying with applicable regulations. That’s where internal controls come into play, and process control is a method that companies use to streamline and automate the monitoring of business processes. SAP Process Control, part of the SAP GRC suite, is one tool that many SAP customers use to ensure their business is operating in an efficient and compliant manner.

SAP Process Control and similar tools offer the following capabilities, among others:

  • Continuous controls monitoring (CCM), which automates the monitoring of process data.
  • Single source of process control data, including internal procedures and compliance policies
  • Business objective and risk alignment with controls
  • Automated workflows and notifications for issue response
  • Internal controls evaluation

Process Control is largely manual without a targeted solution. Automation with the help of technology enables faster response to efficiency and compliance issues, while reducing workload for GRC teams.

There are many vendors that provide services and products around process control. For example, Appsian Security’ssolutions offer attribute-based controls monitoring, continuous monitoring, and real-time process analytics. System integrators such as Capgemini, Deloitte, and Accenture assist customers with establishing process controls policies and implementing SAP Process Control and other software.

Key Considerations for SAPinsiders:

  • CCM automation is an appealing piece of SAP Process Control for many SAP customers. For example, as part of an SAP Process Control implementation, Eli Lilly utilized CCM to help track the company’s controlled activities. This has helped increase transparency and efficiency in the controls process.
  • Business partners need to be involved in SAP Process Control. Get out in front of the process with your business partners so you can inform and co-create, making them aware of control considerations that will impact their decisions. Challenge your current processes and leverage technology and external expertise to support adoption and behavior change. Asking questions like “what is your biggest pain point” and “how do we benchmark against our peers” is important.
  • Hershey is using process control to measure process and adoption rates during its phased SAP S/4HANA implementation. This phased approach allows the company to understand what extent GRC is being leveraged. Using SAP Process Control, rationalization of manual controls is targeted at 35% and control automation is expected to increase from 20% to over 50%.

21 results

  1. Cybersecurity sessions

    Enterprise Governance, Risk, and Compliance Supported by SAP GRC Solutions

    Published: 07/March/2023

    Reading time: 6 mins

    While Enterprise Risk and Compliance provides a centralized and coordinated framework for an organization’s strategy on how to manage governance, risk, and regulatory compliance, the SAP GRC solutions support both the strategic as well as tactical and operational approach on the “how to”. It is important to understand what it takes from an organizational as…

  2. increasing transparency and efficiency Eli Lilly image

    Increasing Transparency & Efficiency

    Published: 30/June/2021

    Reading time: 5 mins

    Sprawling multinational drug company Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly) needed a way to centrally monitor its core enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. The company had been using a manual method to track its financial and operational activities and related controls. But to increase transparency and efficiency, Lilly decided to implement SAP Process Control to automate…

  3. How an integrated team can ensure SAP S/4HANA control and security success

    Migrating to SAP S/4HANA can provide organizations with multiple benefits such as real-time reporting, scalable platforms, simplified processes, and faster analytics. However, effective security and controls as an implementation afterthought can lead to inefficiencies and audit concerns later. How can your organization leverage GRC and controls to ensure a smooth and secure transition? Attend this…

  4. Audits got you down? Improve them with SAP Process Control

    Resource constraints, business deadlines, and financial reporting can make managing and executing audits in a normal year challenging enough—let alone the disruptions of a global pandemic and sudden remote environments. It’s important for organizations to make audits more effective and reliable so that resources can focus on the business and critical controls that can impact…

  5. Panel | How automation and intelligence can be applied to Process Control or Internal Controls

    Automating controls within SAP Process Controls is becoming more and more of a “must” than a “want” for organizations in terms of risk identification and transparency. SAP Process Control can perform both semi- and fully automated testing of controls that range from application controls (value checks, blank checks, change log checks) to master data controls…

  6. Creating and deploying automated controls in SAP Process Control

    Are you taking full advantage of your SAP Process Control investment with automation? Attend this session to learn how to configure continuous control monitoring in SAP Process Control. Attendees will learn how to: - Define and test data sources to retrieve data from source systems using common sub-scenarios (reports, tables, queries, and so on) -…

  7. Video: Hershey Demonstrates the Strategic Value of Controls & Compliance

    Published: 04/June/2021

    Reading time: 1 mins

    The mention of Hershey might bring to mind an image of chocolate and it should, but there is a lot more to discover: a chocolate and confectionary leader, The Hershey Company has over 90 brands. Hershey is continuously challenged to innovate and at speed to meet changing consumer preferences and in a global context, like…

  8. Hershey Demonstrates the Strategic Value of Controls & Compliance

    Published: 04/June/2021

    Reading time: 5 mins

    The Hershey Company’s move to SAP S/4HANA prompted a reassessment of its governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) strategy. As part of this review, Internal Audit (IA) resources were reviewed, restructured, and incorporated into the SAP S/4HANA project plan. The IA team employs an Agile implementation strategy to build controls into the process, evaluate performance, and…

  9. Expert Q&A: Best Practices for Continuous Control Monitoring

    Many SAP users are simplifying and automating continuous control monitoring (CCM) to manage their GRC environment. Marie-Luise Wagener-Kirchner, Vice President of Governance, Compliance and Digital Services at SAP, recently sat down with SAPinsider to share best practices for CCM. Wagener-Kirchner has been involved in the SAP ecosystem for approximately 20 years, always with a focus…

  10. Case Study | How Pfizer supports audit testing & enhances user experience in SAP GRC Process Control

    Effectively administrating and governing control creation and execution in SAP Process Control (PC) requires a series of developments, knowledge, and experience. Hear from Pfizer on proven control design administration and master techniques for effective control maintenance, execution, monitoring, and audit testing. Attend this session to: - Take a deep dive into a governance model that…