Old Wine, New Bottle - Learning to talk the Audit Language

It looked like just another day. Yet, it was a day which got me crystallizing my views and thoughts. The topic is a clichéd one – Role of internal check mechanisms. Nay, it is not about how and where. It is about some lovely concepts that came out the discussion. It was with a group of friends – all of us from the Audit / Compliance / Regulatory Check / Fraud Prevention background. It was fun, with a lot of new lessons making me feel humbled. Here are some of the expressions that caught my fancy !

1.      WATERFALL PROCESS

It meant Seamless Process – Wherein one process led to the other seamlessly and the entire process is unidirectional.

We used to call this by so many other terminologies – Process hierarchy / Process flow / Process order. I was quick to note this down. It appealed to me as I remembered and co-related the usage of this expression to the “Waterfall” from Baahubali – The Beginning.

  It is a lovely anology, simple and drives home the point pretty clear.

2.     CAPABILITY MATURITY MODEL

Also referred to as CMM – This expression caught my goat when my friends started grading the CMM Levels as part of their conversation. For me everything appeared Greek and Latin.

 It took some time for me to figure out that they were talking about the evolutionary improvement paths – to various stages.

 For Eg : I remember us talking about BASEL 1 norms and chalking out a path for achievement of BASEL 2, as part of the Banking Processes, KRI Assessment, and Provisioning. It involved pegging of the processes as it moved from immature stages to effective and predictable stages. These are more like milestones and defines the current level vis-à-vis desired level.

 A progressive measure of process performance and reliability index – Wow !! That entire concept captured in one term – Indeed lovely term !!

3.      BACK DOOR

 I was narrating a scenario where a filter had been placed to screen and stop the entry of a certain set of profiles into my portfolio, as part of the credit process and soon found that the system had been hoodwinked and the very profiles we wanted to push back had entered the system and was part of my portfolio.

 “Ah ! Back Door Entry “ was the comment I received, summarizing my narration.

I loved this analogy too ! I remember my days in Kerala where the house would have 2 exits. One attached to the living room / hall and the other attached to the Kitchen / Service Area. The one attached to the Kitchen / Service Area used to be termed the “Back Door”, where all people like maid / carpenters / service or support members used to enter the house to do their work. That was also a process meant to increase efficiency and also cater to the community based culture / practices of the household followed. However, this being used for a negative connotation was interesting !

4.      BASTION

I scorned when I first heard this expression. It appeared more like swear word / foul language to me. Yet what it simply meant was a system fully equipped against any attempt / attack.

 “ Guys, its like trying to bust a bastion – Not going to be simple ! “ That was the sentence which made me scorn. What was being communicated was that we are trying to break in to a process which is fully equipped / geared to take on any attempt to attack / break the process.

 This expression was used when discussing the Credit Cards Processes involving some validations and how information pertaining Credit Cards were being sought by hackers and how some of the process were extremely robust and had been tested for such attempts of infiltration.

5.      BRUTE FORCE

This one made me chuckle !! My imagination went on somebody would use their physical brawn power, show a muscle and make things happen.

 However, this expression came up when we were discussing the subject of Ethical Hacking. It was being compared to a locksmith who made keys just by inserting a filed piece of metal and working his way lever-by – lever, addressing one lock mechanism at a time, until all lever requirements were met. Then the key would open the lock !! The entire method was use of Skilled Brute Force.

 I loved the concept and the comparison. Many processes today succumb to such attempts and become ineffective.

 The evolutionary stage from processes succumbing to Brute Force to becoming a Bastion is what is measured by the CMM. – Wow ! three concepts used in a single line / thread of thought

To be concluded in PART 2.........