Introduction

Monitoring of business operations against regulations and standards are essential to good Corporate Governance and Risk Management.

iComply is uniquely placed to meet these needs because of an ability to supply both audit compliance and risk assessment services along with corresponding state-of-the-art software technology – the latter of which is currently in use in 20 countries around the globe.

iAppraise is an award winning web based software application developed by iComply to provide cutting edge audit management capability to organisations of any size and classification.

The Consensus Software Awards entry set out in this document details the unique product and service attributes that iAppraise provides to assist corporations and governments worldwide achieve best practice and maximisation of stakeholder value.

Product Description

IAppraise is a web-based, multi-user compliance management system that incorporates all current technology mobile applications to deliver field auditing with the utmost ease, convenience and efficiency.

The program has been developed to provide an efficient, data-driven compliance monitoring solution, intended to support occupational health and safety, quality, environment, risk management, financial management, regulatory compliance, corporate governance, vendor assurance, contract management or project compliance.

IAppraise incorporates a three tiered audit management solution:

iAppraise Server is the core component of the audit management solution. Running on your corporate intranet, iAppraise Server provides all the functions needed to enable you to manage the entire system with an easy to use browser interface. Audit set-up and modification, data table maintenance, scheduling and metrics reporting are just a few of the many powerful features of this award winning application. A major benefit is that the user has full control over audit structure and content without having to resort to expensive software customisation.

iAppraise Lite is a windows application, designed to provide the rich functionality of the iAppraise solution, without requiring constant connection to the main system. iAppraise Lite works through remote synchronisation, giving auditors all of the power of the iAppraise solution wherever they are in the field.

iAppraise Mobile is designed to work on Pocket PCs, giving auditors the utmost flexibility in taking the iAppraise solution to remote survey sites anywhere in the world . iAppraise Mobile was a finalist in Microsoft's Worldwide Partner of the year awards, in the Mobility Innovation category, in 2005 and 2006. 

Using dynamically generated, survey-like checklists, users can respond to questions quickly and easily, even to the extent of using standard text resources to effortlessly enter observations and remarks.

On completion of the work or at periodic intervals, users can re-connect to their corporate data to upload and synchronise consolidated audit results.

iAppraise covers all phases in the audit lifecycle, from audit/checklist creation to planning/scheduling, auditing, audit review, reporting.

A flexible notifications module integrates with every step of the audit lifecycle, giving key stakeholders the information needed, as events occur.

Primary iAppraise Benefits Summary

iAppraise provides unique user benefits.

Principal among these are mobility and ease of customisation.

Paperless field audits can be conducted effortlessly anywhere in the world. Audit results can be instantly updated to the centralised database from the audit location providing immediate results for analysis and review along with reporting against Key Performance Indicators and industry benchmarks. 

iAppraise is easily customised to meet the individual requirements of any business environment. The basic framework is easily adaptable to accommodate specific user needs. Initial configurations are put in place by the iComply team. This is followed by training to allow users to fine tune any further modifications resulting in total user control. Ongoing support services are available to clients if required.

Other important benefits include:

• Ease, accuracy and efficiency of data collection

• Cost reductions ensuing from more efficient collaboration

• Information is more accessible to management

• Enhanced information security 

Principal iAppraise Features Summary:

Fully secure Web or Intranet based delivery

Fully customisable checklist content 

Plan and schedule audits for the coming year with a click of a button

Flexible security and permissions module

"Outlook style" calendar interface

Automatic notification to stakeholders of key events with the customisable notifications module, including automatic attachment of relevant reports.

Corrective action generation and tracking

Innovation

a) Business environment change

There is a growing need for public and private sector organisations to implement systems for corporate governance, regulatory and standards compliance and risk management. This shift has been reinforced with government introduced corporate governance regulations worldwide.

The shift has exposed organisational weaknesses in compliance monitoring. Most organisations use inefficient, labour intensive paper auditing methods and therefore seek a more effective way to conduct audits, inspections and other compliance monitoring activities.

Traditional manual and paper based systems are manifestly inadequate. The gulf between cost conscious management and resource strapped auditing continues to widen.

IAppraise’s technical excellence provides the most advanced local and international cost efficient solution to compliance needs in an automated way.

a) Creating a business advantage

iAppraise provides clients with a competitive advantage in gaining new contracts. It drives compliance management efficiencies with ensuing cost benefits with increased ‘peace of mind’ for key stakeholders.

b) Breaking new ground

iComply has been at the forefront of .NET Framework technology since the pre-beta release of the Framework in March 2000. iComply was recognised as one of the first in the world to achieve certification (.NET Connected) with the PDA software application (iAppraise Mobile) offering .NET compact framework solution, communicating via web services, to a SQL Server database.

Since this technological achievement, iComply has continued to add innovation to the software, with features such as:

Smart Scheduling - iAppraise allows audits to be scheduled for years in advance at the touch of a button, this scheduling takes into account auditor availability, regional location, industry sector qualifications and standards approval.

Dynamic Data Synchronisation - Synchronisation of data between PDA and Server utilises the latest in dynamic filtering technology and the use of the HTTP protocol to allow for efficient and secure transfer of data from almost any location in the world.

User Customisable functionality - The ability for users to customise the application from everything down to workflow, brings a new level of independence and broad market reach to packaged software.

User Customisable Notifications - Notifications that are generated by user defined rules. Notifications integrate with Microsoft Outlook & Lotus Notes calendars, and also deliver automatically generated reports.

User Reports - iAppraise provides the ability for users to embed their own Crystal Reports directly into the software.

iAppraise was named Microsoft ANZ ISV Solution of the year 2005, and iAppraise Mobile named in the final 5 worldwide for Mobility Solutions Innovation.

Performance

Ensuing from iComply’s ongoing audit compliance and risk assessment audit services the company has a unique ability to understand practical day-to-day compliance management requirements and issues. This understanding is transferred to accurately assessing iAppraise customer needs via a four-tiered process involving:

• Mapping user needs to the application

• Customisation of the application

• Implementation and training

• Follow-up customer technical support locally and internationally

Perhaps this dedication to customer and product support is best illustrated by the following client comments:

“ Prior to signing the contract we did a check of other vendors that had a similar solution, but were unable to find any that were as good a fit or advanced as the iAppraise product. In the three years CML has been dealing with the team at iComply, we have found them excellent to work with. They have invested a huge amount of time and effort to win the contract with Coles Myer and have been able yo overcome all the hurdles that dealing with a large organisation produces....”

John Bryce, Business Process Manager, Coles Myer Information Technology Group

“This product was acquired, installed and operational with in three months. We were extremely pleased with the product, technical support and the knowledge of the staff at iComply during the acquisition, planning and implementation phases and now their ongoing support of the product. In spite of our geography, we were able to conduct business in an efficient and timely way, maintaining our ongoing relationship with iComply...”

Jean Persuad, Manager Business Systems Development and Support, Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario

Evidence of Performance

Evidence that iComply is a leader in this field both locally and internationally has been confirmed by the recent approval for purchase of the product by America's leading life insurer - MetLife - after an exhaustive worldwide search for a suitable product.

iAppraise is currently in use in the following sectors:

• Retail - Coles Myer Limited: Store Audits

• Financial Services – Metlife USA Superannuation and Life Insurance Audits

• Utilities - City West Water: Construction Safety, Quality and Design Audit

• Defense - Compass Group: Contract Management Audits for the department of defence.

• Mining and Chemicals - Orica Mining: Safety Case Audits for explosives placement.

• State Road Authority Registration and Licensing - VicRoads - Registration and Licensing Agency Compliance Audits 

• Policing and Security – Victoria Police – Venue and Major Events Security - Melbourne Commonwealth Games 2006 and Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix

• Transport – Public Transport Safety Victoria – Bus and Coach Accreditation Audits

• Gaming - AGCO (Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario): Gaming industry Compliance

Potential

Potential for future development is virtually unlimited both locally and internationally.

Local level public and private sector is already well established with a blue chip client list referred to above. Now the recent appointment by MetLife has widened the opportunity to further extend overseas expansion.

These opportunities have arisen largely as a result of a conscious management decision to sequentially build frameworks and credentials in a broad cross section of vertical and horizontal industry segments and sectors.

The universal relevance of the application to almost any set of compliance needs among the diverse user group presents truly exciting development prospects and potential.

Gaining the following prestigious awards further enhances this potential:

• Microsoft Gold Certified Partner status

• Microsoft ANZ ISV Solution of the year 2005

• iAppraise Mobile named in the final 5 worldwide for Mobility Solutions Innovation

• Australian Better Business Insurance (ABBI) Best growth business award, 2005.

Future growth strategies will continue to concentrate on:

• The public and private sector

• Further develop vertical and horizontal industry sectors and segments

• An international rollout of the application

An awareness of the urgent need to adopt best compliance practice is top-of-mind among CEO’s everywhere. The ability of iComply to fill this need will figure prominently in the phased rollout of marketing plans and strategies.

Evidence of Potential

The application is already in use in Australia, Canada, USA, Argentina, and Korea among diverse user groups. Multi-lingual support and sophisticated time zone capabilities within the software adds to international development potential.

Software has been architecturally designed with a 3-tiered structure to allow for scalable and efficient deployments in large-scale projects.

With the groundwork already completed, the next development phase promises to be even more exciting.

Other information the judges should know

iComply is a Melbourne based, globally focused Compliance Software and Services Business. 

iComply has developed a suite of software products complementary to iAppraise that are designed to assist governments and corporations manage their audit processes more efficiently.

iComply employs 10 full time staff and 6 part time staff, and outsources accounting and administrative functions. All development staff are permanent employees. Part time staff are utilised on demand for consulting and audit services.

The development team is highly qualified: all are graduates and 3 have IT Masters degrees; all are specialists in .Net, .Net Compact Framework, C# and SQL Server programming.

As a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, iComply has access to significant technical, research and development resources.

1) iAppraise Flyer (pdf)

2) Coles Myer Ltd Client Testimonial (pdf)

3) Microsoft Testimonial (pdf)

4) AGCO Case Study. NET Solutions Handbook (pdf)

5) Tony's email pertaining to his recent Austrade experience in Washington (html)

6) Victorian Government Spotlight on Victoria Case Study (pdf)