JD Edwards Security Audit: 7 Questions To Ask Before Choosing An Audit Solution

Auditing an ERP system like JD Edwards (JDE) for security risks is a complex, time-consuming, and tedious process. Security teams have to go through volumes of data on roles, authorizations, data access privileges, and usage logs to determine Segregation of Duties (SoD) conflicts, master data changes, and security gaps. It’s impractical and inefficient to do this exercise manually. And even if you have a large enough budget and team, there is a high possibility that you will miss something that might cause you to fail your external audits. One of the best ways to overcome this challenge is to implement an auditing solution that can simplify your audit and give you the information you need to improve your JDE security.

How Do You Know If You Need An Auditing Solution?

A good auditing solution enables you to save a significant amount of time and effort required to perform the audit. It should be easy to implement, not require much training to use, and provide you with actionable insights into your security blind spots. Here are some likely scenarios to help you decide if getting an auditing solution is the right decision for you:

• Achieving and maintaining SOX/FDA compliance is turning out to be too expensive
• Satisfying external auditors is becoming an uphill task
• Current audit issues are taking too long to resolve even as your next audit approaches
• The internal audit team is too small, or you simply don’t have one
• There is a consensus that security needs to be improved but no clear direction on priorities
• The company leadership won’t approve security budgets without evidence of security gaps

Questions To Ask Before Choosing An Auditing Solution For JD Edwards Applications

With so many solutions out there, it can be hard to choose one that is right for your needs. Every company has unique use cases that require consideration. The below questions can help you determine if the solution you are evaluating delivers on utility, ROI, and more.

1. Is It Technically Challenging?

The goal of getting an auditing solution is to simplify your auditing process to save time and costs. If the solution is technically complex to implement and use, it defeats the purpose completely. Before releasing that PO, check how long it takes to implement the solution and if your team needs intensive training to use it. If the answer is yes, you’re probably going to spend more time on implementation and training, which will only add to your audit woes.

2. Does The Solution Come With Pre-Seeded SoD Rules?

Once you implement the solution, populating it with rules to identify SoD conflicts is going to be a tedious task. Look for solutions that have a comprehensive set of rules that enable you to detect security and compliance violations out of the box. Some rules can be customized based on your specific needs, but a good audit solution should have all the basic SoD rules pre-seeded.

3. Can It Scan All User Access Routes To Your JDE Applications?

Today, applications are being accessed from the office, remote locations, and personal devices. The audit solution you choose should be able to scan for all access paths into your JDE environment. Comprehensive access data about who has access to what ensures that your security reporting and SoD analysis is much more accurate

4. Is There A Provision To Add SoD Rule Exceptions?

False positives have always been an audit challenge. There might be situations where users might be granted privileged access due to business or IT needs, even if such authorizations create an SoD violation. The ability to apply rule exceptions so that they won’t show up as violations in subsequent audits prevents time wasted on investigating false positives. However, make sure that you can pull separate reports to check the validity of mitigated access.

5. Are The Reports Business-Friendly?

It’s important to involve business managers in risk management, but nobody wants to read through complex, incomprehensible reports. The audit solution you choose should provide meaningful information about users’ access and drill down to spot where changes are needed. This ensures that the time taken to review is much less, reducing your JDE security audit’s overall cycle times.

6. Is The Dashboard User-Friendly

This might look like a trivial detail, but the dashboard is your interface to the solution. Having the information you need presented in a simple and well-organized manner allows you to use the solution efficiently. The dashboard should prioritize high-risk items and give a high-level view of your JDE security posture.

7. What’s The ROI?

This is one of the most important questions you should ask before zeroing in on any solution. Do a thorough analysis of how much time, effort, and cost will the audit solution save if implemented. Also, check if the reports provided by the solution are accurate and insightful enough to make a case with your CFO for security improvement budgets. A good audit solution should be cost-effective and save considerable audit efforts that translate into cost savings.

Pathlock’s Cloud-Based Security Audit Service For JD Edwards

Unlike complex GRC platforms that offer a huge range of capabilities, but require enormous investment in cost and effort, Pathlock’s Cloud-based Security audit service is a specialized tool that does a specific job well for a small price. Users can just log in, request an audit, and the results are delivered within hours. The solution can be installed in about 30 minutes, followed by a half-hour training session for users to find their way around. It’s as simple as that.

Download the Pathlock QCloud Security Audit Datasheet to simplify your JD Edwards audit journey.