Sr. Manager, Demand Generation
Updated on September 26, 2023.
A robust data governance framework is critical to remaining SOX compliant in Salesforce ALM. After all, to prevent any fraud or other form of tampering with financial data, SOX requires you to put safeguards in place to ensure your organization complies with regulations.
In this blog, we discuss the role of data governance in SOX-compliant application lifecycle management (ALM). We also examine the structure of data governance and explain how to operationalize it for SOX compliance.
Perhaps you’re thinking, “We don’t use financially-impacting data in the release process. Why do I need to know about data governance?”
Well, let’s say a developer needs a specific type of financial data to test a change or new build. In this scenario, they don’t need to know the actual information—they just need to know how it responds to the change. Since it’s challenging to create a lot of test data to make your dev environment look like production, it’s best to work with data that you replicate from prod. And in an instance like this, it could involve exposing sensitive financial data.
To ensure the data isn’t misused, you need policies and procedures that govern its management. And that’s where data governance comes in.
Data governance for SOX-compliant ALM involves managing the availability, usability, integrity, and security of financially-impacting data in the Salesforce change management process.
Many companies use Salesforce to host sensitive data such as customer information, sales data, and financial transaction records. When it comes to SOX compliance, any information related to financial reporting becomes particularly critical. You need to ensure:
For instance, if your financial transaction data in Salesforce is inaccurate or inconsistent, it could lead to incorrect financial reporting. That could be a violation of SOX regulations and result in hefty fines, legal penalties, and damage to your company’s reputation.
Similarly, let’s say your security posture isn’t strong enough and you suffer a breach. A bad actor could make unauthorized changes to your financial data, which could also lead to noncompliance with SOX.
Maintaining accuracy, consistency, and security isn’t just about good data management practices. It’s directly linked to legal compliance, investor trust, your company’s reputation, and customer confidence. And that’s why data governance is critical to SOX-compliant ALM.
A data governance structure for a SOX-compliant ALM process in Salesforce should include the following elements:
This cross-functional team includes representatives from various departments such as IT, finance, operations, and legal. It’s their responsibility to create and enforce the overall data governance strategy in Salesforce. This involves developing policies and procedures for data handling, ensuring regulatory compliance, and promoting best practices for data management.
The data governance committee also establishes the roles of the data stewards, data quality team, and data security team.
Data stewards are responsible for managing and maintaining data within Salesforce. They define the various data elements and ensure that data entered into Salesforce aligns with those definitions. They also monitor data for accuracy and completeness, resolve any data quality issues, and coordinate with the quality and security teams when needed.
Stewards play a critical role in maintaining SOX compliance because they ensure your financial data is accurately represented in Salesforce.
The data quality team sets data quality standards within Salesforce and makes sure everyone adheres to them. They conduct regular audits and checks to identify inconsistencies, inaccuracies, or duplicates in the data. If any issues arise, they coordinate with data stewards and the data governance committee to address them in a timely manner.
In the context of SOX, the data quality team helps ensure that the financial information within Salesforce remains reliable and accurate. This in turn directly contributes to accurate financial reporting.
The data security team maintains the security and privacy of the information in Salesforce. They’re responsible for implementing and maintaining security measures such as access controls, encryption, and firewalls.
They also regularly monitor your orgs for signs of breaches or unauthorized access and take steps to address any issues. Their work is critical to preventing uncontrolled changes to financial data.
Together, these roles create a robust data governance structure that helps ensure SOX compliance within Salesforce ALM.
Next, let’s take a closer look at the operational strategies you can use to bring this data governance structure to life.
Create clear, consistent data definitions to provide a common language for all stakeholders. Include specifics about elements like account numbers, transaction amounts, dates, and more. By aligning these definitions with your organization’s accounting standards, everyone in the company understands what each data point represents. This minimizes the risk of misunderstandings or misuse.
The purpose of establishing data standards is that it ensures information is stored in a uniform format across all fields in Salesforce. Consider factors such as consistent data types, field lengths, and values. These standards make it easier to audit data because auditors know exactly what format to expect.
Standards also promote data integrity because they minimize the likelihood of errors resulting from inconsistent data entry or interpretation. When you know that SOX requires rigorous auditing and places a premium on data integrity, it’s essential for compliance to establish data standards.
Regular data quality checks are important to make sure that your changes and new apps aren’t affecting financial data in an unexpected way. During a data quality audit, you should verify the accuracy of entries, check for duplicates, and validate information against predefined standards.
When you perform data quality audits on a regular basis, you’re laying the foundation for maintaining data integrity. And that ensures you only use accurate, reliable financial information for reporting purposes.
It’s crucial to data governance for Salesforce ALM to implement stringent security measures. These can include:
By implementing these measures, you can protect your financial information from unauthorized access—which is a fundamental requirement under SOX.
Establish data access policies to determine who can view, edit, and change what in Salesforce. Implement role-based access control by giving users access to the data they need to perform their job duties—nothing more, nothing less. In this setup, only give authorized users access to sensitive financial data.
Data access policies are key to protecting financial data from unauthorized access and potential tampering. They help safeguard the integrity of your financial information, which contributes directly to SOX compliance.
The intersection of data governance and SOX compliance in the Salesforce ALM process isn’t merely a procedural stipulation that keeps you on the right side of the law. It’s a reflection of your dedication to integrity, accountability, and transparency. Strong data governance helps preserve the accuracy, consistency, and security of financially significant information. And because investors and customers recognize this dedication, it helps amplify investor trust, bolster your company’s reputation, and enhance customer confidence.
How do I ensure data consistency across different departments in our company?
The most effective way to achieve this is by establishing uniform data definitions and standards across the organization. Additionally, regular quality checks and audits can help identify inconsistencies so you can address them in a timely manner. On top of that, establishing a cross-functional data governance committee can further promote data consistency by fostering collaboration across various departments.
Is there a specific role for data governance in managing financial data in Salesforce?
Yes, the data stored within Salesforce is subject to the same regulatory and security requirements as any other kind of data. These include SOX compliance, so implementing data governance within Salesforce is critical to maintain the integrity and security of the information.
Can automation help in maintaining SOX compliance in Salesforce change management?
Absolutely. Automation can greatly enhance data security and integrity. For instance, Prodly provides desktop-free data migration in Salesforce, which reduces the risk of unauthorized access or tampering. It also offers data masking, data obfuscation, and granular data redaction to protect information.
Don’t forget: Always implement automation alongside a robust data governance framework to fully support SOX-compliant ALM in Salesforce.
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