Insurance
Spreadsheet Challenges for Insurance Cost & Risk Operations
Many insurance organizations rely on complex spreadsheet applications as forecasting tools to determine risk and uncertainty for property, casualty, pension, health, life, annuities, and welfare plans. To keep up with ever-changing compliance mandates such as ERISA, PBGC, FAS 87, FAS 106/158, and IAS 19, insurance firms have developed proprietary algorithms and extensive IP within these spreadsheet applications, making their safe keeping and integrity paramount to business operations.
However, despite the power and flexibility of these proprietary spreadsheet models, many firms have failed to apply the proper corporate policies for software development, implement proper controls to limit liability of third party access to spreadsheet logic, apply proper IT application controls, or apply the proper quality checks. In many cases, this has led to a lack of confidence and trust in insurance risk and cost spreadsheet models.
Business Mandates As with other like enterprise software applications, spreadsheets used in insurance cost and risk operations should be managed with the highest level of integrity and trust throughout their lifecycle. The bottom line: spreadsheet security, access control, data integrity, and change management are not optional in today’s compliance-driven business environment. They are core requirements for sound corporate governance and for effectively managing operational risk.
Establishing Spreadsheet Controls With the Prodiance Spreadsheet Compliance Edition solution, insurance organizations can:
- Automate spreadsheet discovery, inventory and change management processes
- Improve spreadsheet security and limit access to critical spreadsheets to only authorized personnel
- Automate spreadsheet versioning while providing access to historical data
- Analyze spreadsheets for complexity, risk and structural errors
- Enforce spreadsheet development lifecycle policies and best practices
- Automate spreadsheet review and approval via automated workflows and email notifications
- Established a controlled environment for all critical spreadsheets and associated documentation
- Improve management reporting and visibility for all critical spreadsheets
- Improve compliance with regulatory mandates
- Boost productivity through a seamless, non-invasive end user experience