Page 79 -

40 Enterprise Data Governance

2.1.1.2. Electronic business regulations

Legislators are becoming aware that regulations must be
translated in a reliable and transparent way within company
IT tools, without which it is impossible to follow through
with their application. Sadly, most of the time, this IT
translation is based on desktop tools, such as spreadsheets,
which are too elementary.

Security and access management, data entry and update
traceability and version control are non-existent or handled
in a unreliable and cumbersome manner. In order to
straighten out this problem, business regulations are
increasingly presented in a new format, meaning one directly
useable by IT.

Legislators no longer only produce a rule book but also
reference and master data models and business rules: some
must feed a company’s data repository and others a system
of business rules management .
1
When these new kinds of laws are introduced to
companies, the organizations that already have experience in
data repository management (MDM) and rules repository
management (Business Rules Management System (BRMS))
have a considerable competitive edge. They are able, more
rapidly than others, to adapt their way of operating to the
imposed regulations and demonstrate their capacity to
ensure the traceability of their data and business rules.

Companies must anticipate this change of direction
towards business repositories. They should also seek
financial help from the public purse, for instance by tax
optimization of IT investments that support the work of real
risk management.

1. See in particular the “Governance, Risk Management and Compliance
Roundtable” community: http://www.grcroundtable.org/