MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX 2012 R2

AUDIT WORKBENCH
January 2013
Version 1.0.0

Contents

Introduction .......................................................................................................... 3
Audience ................................................................................................................ 3
Scenario .................................................................................................................. 4
Problems this Demo Addresses ..................................................................... 4
Key Pains or business imperatives ................................................................ 4
Overview ................................................................................................................ 4
Demo 1: Policy rule types

Demo 2: Create Audit policy

Demo 3: View Audit cases ............................................................................. 12

Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 13
Disclaimer

AX2012R2-DS003 Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 Sub Ledger Integration Demo Script

14

INTRODUCTION
This document examines the new audit workbench functionality included in Microsoft Dynamics AX
2012. The primary objective of this demo script is to provide the user with an overview of the new audit
rules, policies and cases and how it can improve operational effectiveness by detecting fraud early and
reduce the costs associated with auditing.
This document and its included script:

Demonstrates the ability to define common audit rules, such as random sampling of expense
reports, purchase orders, and vendor invoices.

Explains how to create flexible audit policies, allowing you to define specific audit rules which can be
applied to one or more legal entities in your organization.

Upon completion of the audit policy, violations are grouped into audit cases, allowing auditors to research
and record all findings regarding violations.

AUDIENCE
The script in this document should be used to demonstrate the value of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 to a
business decision maker (BDM). The executives that you present to will find value in this script if they are
challenged with:

Maintaining strong continuous controls on expenditures in their organization

Expensive, non-repeatable, time consuming audits

This script targets CFOs, Controllers, and Internal auditors who need to create strong process controls
which effectively detect fraud early and to which action can be taken quickly to eliminate fraud and stop
the problem.

AX2012R2-DS003 Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 Sub Ledger Integration Demo Script

SCENARIO
This script focuses on the following processes:

Policy rule types: Manage which documents are to be audited as well as the query type used to
audit those documents.

Audit policies: Assign policies to specific legal entities in an organization, schedule the policies
as well as define specific audit rule criteria.

Audit cases: View, research and record all findings regarding audit violations

PROBLEMS THIS DEMO ADDRESSES

This script focuses on solving issues around time consuming manual audits by providing rich user defined
audit rules that can be scheduled to run automatically. Additionally any violations found are automatically
grouped into audit cases allowing for ease of maintenance and tracking.

KEY PAINS OR BUSINESS IMPERATIVES

Effectively manage audit costs of critical business processes

Manual audit queries are time consuming and expensive

Effectively track and record audit violations

DEMO PRESET CONFIGURATION:

This script was written to work with the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 RTM Virtual Machine (VM),
released in December 2012. Make sure that the VM is up and running and that you have logged on. The
script addresses key pain points and challenges that different roles might face. However the demo can be
completed as the system administrator.

Domain: CONTOSO
User: Administrator
Password: pass@word1

OVERVIEW
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 introduces the Audit Workbench which is a fully automated auditing
solution which can be used detect fraud early and strengthen internal processes and controls. The
following provides a list of demonstrations covered in this script:

Policy rule types

Audit policies
Audit cases

AX2012R2-DS003 Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 Sub Ledger Integration Demo Script

AX2012R2-DS003 Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 Sub Ledger Integration Demo Script

DEMO 1: POLICY RULE TYPES

Scenario and Background
In Microsoft Dynamics 2012 you can define audit rules types which will allow you to audit expense reports, vendor
purchase order or vendor invoices. Six different query types can be used to define the policy rules: Conditional,
aggregate, sampling, duplicate, list search and keyword. In this scenario Sara, Contosos CFO is reviewing several
draft travel budgets for the next fiscal year and has noticed some significant increases in hotel lodging year over
year. Sara wants to gather some more data around why Contoso is spending more on hotels to determine if they
need to negotiate better rates with corporate hotel chains, or change Contosos expense policies regarding where
and how much employees can spend per night at a hotel. In addition, Sara wants to make sure that the increases
are not attributed to internal fraud. Sara tells Ken that she wants Contoso to start auditing high dollar hotel
expenses on expense reports so they better understand who is incurring those charges, where they are occurring
and for what events. In addition she tells Ken she wants to understand if any employees are attempting to defraud
Contoso by entering expense lines multiple times across different expense reports. Ken logs into Dynamics AX and
creates 2 policy rule types, one to check for duplicate expense lines and then other a policy rule type that will allow
Contoso to aggregate amounts across expense reports based on a set of conditions.

1. Open Compliance and internal controls >

Setup > Audit > Policy rule type

2. Click New to add a rule type.

3. Enter High dollar hotel in the Rule name field.
4. In the Query name field select Expense report
line.
5. In the Query type field select Aggregate.
6. In the Legal entity field select Legal entity.
7. In the Document date reference field select
Modified date and time.

8. Click New to add another rule type.

9. Enter Duplicate in the Rule name field.
10. In the Query name field select Expense report
line.
11. In the Query type field select Duplicate.
12. In the Legal entity field select Legal entity.
13. In the Document date reference field select
Modified date and time.
Additional policy rule types can be created in this form such as a random sample of purchase orders over a certain

AX2012R2-DS003 Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 Sub Ledger Integration Demo Script

amount, and queries for specific words existing on expense reports and so on.
End of Demo Scenario 1

DEMO 2: CREATE AUDIT POLICY

Audit policies allow you to run a collection of audit rules against one or more legal entities in your organization.
The audit rule criteria can be set per audit policy and each policy can be scheduled to execute once or on a
recurring basis. Now that Ken has created the High Dollar Hotel policy rule type he can include that in an Audit
policy rule for Contosos US legal entities and further specify the criteria for the rule.

1. Open Compliance and internal controls >

Common > Policies > Audit policies

2. On the Action Pane, click Policy.

3. In the Name field type, Contoso USA policy

4. Expand the Policy organizations FastTab and
select Contoso Entertainment System USA,
Contoso Consulting USA and Contoso Retail
USA and click the Add button. .

AX2012R2-DS003 Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 Sub Ledger Integration Demo Script

5. Next expand the Policy rules FastTab

6. Select the Duplicate rule type and click the
Create policy rule button.

7. In the Audit policy rule form enter 90 in the

Additional days to evaluate for duplicates field.

8. Next click the Select button.

9. Select the Group tab and select the Add

button.
10. Enter in the following criteria in the field
column:
Name
Expense category
Transaction date
Transaction amount
11. Click OK to close form.
12. Click OK to close form.

This rule will consider any expense line which has

the same employee, expense category,

AX2012R2-DS003 Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 Sub Ledger Integration Demo Script

transaction date and transaction amounts as a

duplicate.

13. Next select the High dollar hotel rule type

and click the Create policy rule button.

14. In the Audit policy rule form click the Select

button.

15. Select the Range tab and set the Criteria field
on the Expense category field to Hotel.

16. Select the Aggregate tab and click Add.

17. Select Transaction amount for the Field.
18. In the Aggregate Function field select Sum.

AX2012R2-DS003 Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 Sub Ledger Integration Demo Script

19. Select the Group by tab and click Add.

20. Select Employee as the field.
21. Click Add.
22. Select Expense category as the field.

23. Select the Having tab and click Add.

24. Select Transaction amount as the field.
25. Select Sum as the AggregateFunction.
26. Enter >2000 as the Criteria.
27. Click OK to close form.
28. Click OK to close form.

29. In the Audit policy form select the Additional

options button on the Action pane.

AX2012R2-DS003 Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 Sub Ledger Integration Demo Script

10

30. Enter 1/1/2013 in the Starting date field

31. Enter 1/31/2013 in the Ending date field.
32. Select the Batch button.

33. In the Audit policy batch processing form

select the OK button.
Upon clicking the OK button the Infolog form
should open with a message indicating that
the Audit policy batch processing job has
been added to the batch queue.

AX2012R2-DS003 Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 Sub Ledger Integration Demo Script

11

End of Demo Script 2

DEMO 3: VIEW AUDIT CASES

Upon completion of the audit policy batch job if any expense reports were found in violation of any of the audit
rules contained in an audit policy one or more audit cases will automatically be created.

34. Open Compliance and internal controls >

Common > Audit > Audit cases.
In the Audit cases list page you should see an
audit case created with a Description of Audit
High dollar hotel and an audit case created with a
Description of Duplicate

35. Double click on the High dollar hotel audit

case to open the details.

36. Expand the Associations FastTab.

In the Associations grid you should see one or
more expense reports that contain hotel charges
that create a combined total greater than $2000.

37. Select one of the expense reports in the grid

and select the Details button.
38. In the Expense report form you are able to view
more details regarding the expense report
including the hotel charges.

Additional note regarding research on the expense reports that are attached to the audit case can be captured in
the Case log section of the audit case.
End of Demo script

AX2012R2-DS003 Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 Sub Ledger Integration Demo Script

12

CONCLUSION
This demonstration has guided you through automating the audit process by:
Creating policy rule types
o Indicate the documents you wish to audit
o Select which of the six query types you want to use
Executing flexible audit policies
o Create rich user-defined audit rules per policy
o Execute the policy against one or more legal entities in your organization
o Schedule the audit policy to execute once or on a recurring basis
o Documents containing audit violations automatically attached to audit cases
o Ability to manage and track audit violations to resolution

AX2012R2-DS003 Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 Sub Ledger Integration Demo Script

13

Disclaimer
2011 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows, Windows Vista, Microsoft Dynamics and other product
names are or may be registered trademarks and/or trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other names and brands may be
claimed as the property of others.
The information herein is for informational purposes only and represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation as of the date of
this presentation. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment
on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information provided after the date of this
presentation. Microsoft may make changes to specifications and product descriptions at any time, without notice.
Sample code included in this presentation is made available AS IS. THE ENTIRE RISK OF THE USE OR THE RESULTS FROM THE USE
OF THIS CODE REMAINS WITH THE USER.
MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION. NO
LICENSE, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, BY ESTOPPEL OR OTHERWISE, TO ANY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS IS GRANTED BY THIS
PRESENTATION. Microsoft products are not intended for use in medical, life saving, or life sustaining applications.

Microsoft Dynamics is a line of integrated, adaptable business management solutions that enables you and your people to make
business decisions with greater confidence. Microsoft Dynamics works like and with familiar Microsoft software, automating and
streamlining financial, customer relationship and supply chain processes in a way that helps you drive business success.

U.S. and Canada Toll Free 1-888-477-7989

Worldwide +1-701-281-6500
www.microsoft.com/dynamics

AX2012R2-DS003 Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 Sub Ledger Integration Demo Script

14