SAP GRC Organizational Rules: Filtering Out False Alarms in Risk Analysis

SAP Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) is a powerful toolset designed to help organizations manage compliance, mitigate risks, and streamline access controls. A crucial part of GRC is identifying Segregation of Duties (SoD) risks – those situations where a user has conflicting permissions that could potentially lead to fraud or abuse. However, not all identified SoD risks are genuine concerns. That’s where Organizational Rules step in.

What are SAP GRC Organizational Rules?

Organizational rules in SAP GRC are used to filter out specific SoD risks during risk analysis based on organizational restrictions. By defining organizational boundaries within your SAP system, you can tell the GRC tools to consider those limitations when flagging potential conflicts.

A Classic Example

Imagine these two roles within your organization:

• Role A: Allows posting vendor invoices (transaction FB60) for Company Code 1000.
• Role B: Allows changing vendor master data (transaction FK02) for Company Code 2000.

Without organizational rules, a user with both roles would be flagged for an SoD violation. However, there’s no real risk since the roles apply to different company codes. An organizational rule tied to the “Company Code” would prevent this from being flagged.

When to Use Organizational Rules

Organizational rules are powerful but should be used with careful consideration:

• Exception-Based: Organizational rules should target scenarios where organizational boundaries genuinely eliminate risk.
• Performance Impact: Using organizational rules can speed up your GRC risk analysis.
• Role Design First: Focus on good role design to limit access based on organizational restrictions. This minimizes the need for organizational rules.

How to Create Organizational Rules in SAP GRC

1. Identify the Need: Analyze your SoD risks to find cases where organizational boundaries eliminate the potential for abuse.
2. Choose the Organizational Level: Select the organizational field (Company Code, Plant, Sales Organization, etc.) that will be used to filter risks.
3. Create the Rule: In the SAP GRC configuration, link the rule to the relevant organizational level.
4. Apply the Rule: Assign the organizational rule to your risk analysis jobs.
5. Regenerate SoD Rules: After any change to organizational rules, regenerate your SoD ruleset to ensure the changes impact your risk analysis.

Key Points to Remember

• Organizational rules are not a substitute for good security design. Prioritize building roles that inherently respect organizational boundaries.
• Only use organizational rules addressing a clear business need to segregate functions on a managerial level.
• Be aware that excessive reliance on organizational rules can hinder performance.

Making GRC Risk Analysis More Accurate

SAP GRC Organizational Rules are valuable tools for refining risk analysis, reducing the noise of false positives, and helping focus remediation efforts on the proper areas of risk within your SAP environment. By understanding their purpose and using them strategically, you can enhance your organization’s compliance and security posture.