SOX sets corporate responsibility for public financial reports. Every public company that fills out periodic reports to the SEC must have a principal executive officer certify the report has been reviewed and does not contain any false or misleading statements. SOX also requires that each report fairly present the financial and operating conditions of the enterprise. If it falls short, the signing officer can be fined up to $1 million and/or imprisoned for up to one year.
That's not all. Enterprises must disclose material changes in their financial conditions or operations publicly on a "rapid and current basis." And they must do it in plain English. Finally, after Enron, there are criminal penalties for destroying, altering or falsifying records or documents supporting an audit, with fines and/or imprisonment of up to 20 years.
All the DM systems we evaluated in "Averting Document Disaster" provide central, secure workplaces to prepare and submit financial reports. Each has a method to create, track and confirm the accuracy of documents, and they can use workflow rules to route and track approval requests. These systems also make it easy to create and publish documents rapidly. Each system provides an audit trail that will show a history of actions taken on documents. Additionally, they provide a records-management module that can identify and retain all records pertaining to an audit.
Think these systems can be tricked? Not likely. Auditors have rights distinct from those of admins and users. Admins cannot alter audit parameters--any changes they make will appear in the audit. If the system is set up with crossover rights and responsibilities, the audit trail is a sham.
Although each product reviewed had something to offer--any one could be a lifesaver if litigation looms--Hummingbird Enterprise with its RM (records-management) component earned our Editor's Choice award.Enterprise content and documents are targets for multiple product markets. Business applications create and maintain documents, and storage products give them a home and ensure redundancy. Web applications serve them to end users, while security products lock them down to provide authentication and nonrepudiation. But vendors are starting to follow documents from beginning to end without respect for market barriers. As a result, the document- management market is rife with mergers, acquisitions and partnerships. Although no one vendor can cover the full range of activity on content, some are trying. Besides the consolidation mentioned earlier:
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