Overview:

As an Auditor in Aptly, your role is to ensure that all delegations and approvals are in line with the organization’s policies and governance framework. This guide provides you with the necessary tools to audit activities, review delegation workflows, and generate compliance reports to maintain transparency and accountability.

Step 1: Accessing the Auditor Dashboard

1. Login and Navigate to the Auditor Dashboard:

   • After logging in, navigate to the Auditor Dashboard. This dashboard gives you a high-level overview of all system activities, including approvals, delegations, and user actions.
   • The Auditor Dashboard is specifically designed to allow for easy tracking and auditing of the organization’s compliance.

2. Key Dashboard Metrics:

   • Approval Trends: Review the volume of approvals by department, role, or individual.
   • Delegation Activity: Track the number of delegations created, modified, or revoked over time.
   • Audit Flags: View any activities or delegations that have been flagged for exceeding approval limits, bypassing workflows, or triggering escalation rules.

Step 2: Reviewing Delegation and Approval Workflows

1. Access Audit Logs:

   • From the Audit Logs section of the Auditor Dashboard, you can access detailed records of every action taken in the platform, including changes to delegation workflows, user permissions, and approval decisions.
   • Use filters to narrow down your search by time period, department, user, or approval type.

2. View Authority Matrix:

   • Navigate to Authority Matrix Management to review the organization’s delegation structure.
   • Ensure that all roles and approval limits are aligned with corporate governance policies. You can cross-check individual approval decisions with the authority matrix to ensure that no unauthorized approvals have been made.

Step 3: Generating Compliance Reports

1. Generate Compliance Reports:

   • In the Reports section of the dashboard, generate detailed compliance reports that outline all delegation activities, approval workflows, and user actions.
   • Reports can be customized to focus on specific departments, approval types, or individuals.

2. Sharing and Exporting Reports:

   • You can export reports in PDF or CSV format for sharing with leadership, external auditors, or compliance teams.
   • Schedule automated reports to be sent periodically, ensuring that leadership is always informed of key compliance metrics.

Step 4: Monitoring for Anomalies

1. Audit Flags and Notifications:

   • Aptly automatically flags suspicious or non-compliant activities, such as approval requests that exceed a role’s authority limit or actions that bypass the normal approval chain.
   • These flagged activities appear in the Audit Flags section. You can investigate them further by reviewing the audit logs and associated approval workflows.

2. Escalation Monitoring:

   • Ensure that all escalated approvals follow the correct approval path. Aptly’s built-in escalation monitoring system allows you to track any requests that have moved up the chain and verify that they reached the appropriate decision-makers.

Step 5: Best Practices for Auditors

1. Regular Audits:

   • Perform regular audits of delegation and approval workflows, focusing on areas that have high financial or operational impact.

2. Cross-Check Compliance:

   • Compare the data in Aptly with your organization’s governance policies to ensure that no unauthorized delegations or approvals are occurring.

3. Automate Alerts:

   • Set up automated alerts to notify you when critical delegation or approval thresholds are met, ensuring you can address any potential compliance risks promptly.