Configuring Materiality, Complexity and Risk settings in Discovery & Risk Management Server
Applies to: Discovery and Risk Assessment Server 2013
How to set materiality, complexity and risk settings in Discovery and Risk Management Server.
Configure Materiality settings
When calculating the risk associated with a workbook, the Materiality of the workbook is one of the main factors that help you determine the risk level, or criticality of any particular workbook. Click on the Materiality tab to set your criteria for “materiality definition”.
To configure Materiality
Click in the “Criteria” field and select one of the criteria categories.
Select and add as many criteria lines as needed to satisfy your requirements for materiality. For example:
If “Cell Value” where range is unspecified (e.g. entire spreadsheet) exceeds a value of 1000000, then assign a materiality score of 60
If “Cell Value” where range is unspecified (e.g. entire spreadsheet) contains “???-??-????” (wildcards representing the format of a United States Social Security number, then assign an additional materiality score of 50.
If “External Link” contains “C:\” (indicating a link to a file on a local disk), assign a score of 25.
Create the Materiality Definition by entering in thresholds to satisfy your company’s requirements for materiality. The example below results in materiality scores lower than 25 being IMMATERIAL, scores between 25 and 75 being MATERIAL, and scores exceeding 75 being CRITICAL.
Configure Complexity settings
How complex a document is depends on several factors including the number of worksheets, formulas, macros and file size. To configure the complexity of your documents, follow the procedure below.
To configure Complexity
Click on the Complexity tab to view and modify the complexity criteria.
Select and add as many Complexity Criteria from the drop down as needed to satisfy your requirements. Here are some examples of complexity criteria:
If “Sheets” (number of sheets) is greater than (>) “1”, then add 20 to the complexity score.
If “Formulas” (number of formulas) is greater than (>) “500”, then add 10 to the complexity score.
If “Formulas” (number of formulas) is greater than (>) “5000”, then add 10 to the complexity score.
If “Formulas with Errors” (number of formulas with errors) is greater than (>) “1”, then add 10 to the complexity score.
If the “Workbook Size” is greater than (>) “5000000” bytes (e.g. 5 MB), then assign an additional complexity score of 10.
If “Macros” (number of macros) is greater than 0, then add 10 to the complexity score.
Create the Complexity Definition by entering in thresholds to satisfy your requirements for complexity. For example, workbooks with complexity scores lower than 25 being RUDIMENTARY, scores from 25 to 50 being LIGHT, scores from 50 to 75 being INTERMEDIATE, and scores exceeding 75 being ADVANCED.
Configure Risk settings
Each workbook will receive a rating for materiality and complexity. The matrix on the Risk tab allows you to set the ultimate risk rating that will take into account both materiality and complexity. You can define what risk level is associated with the intersecting materiality and complexity categories.
To configure Risk
Click on the Risk tab.
Adjust each risk level in the grid by clicking the drop-down lists to satisfy your requirements for assigning spreadsheet risk.
You can save your materiality, complexity and risk settings so that you can use the settings to calculate risk for workbooks that are found during a discovery scan.
To save Risk settings
From the File menu, select Save Settings to save the current risk settings.
Type in a name for the settings (e.g. Operational, Financial, Analytical, etc.), choose a folder location on your computer to save the file, and click Save. As many settings files as you wish can be created and saved. Saved risk files can be opened via the File > Open Settings dialog.