True change management automation requires an obligations-based approach

Change management is one of the most difficult challenges for Risk and Compliance teams.

Challenges include:

  • A constant and increasingly dense stream of changes and updates from regulators
  • The complex and arduous work of vetting everything to identify what applies to your business, and when it does apply, identifying the actions you must take to remain compliant
  • Manual processes that are slow and error prone, creating backlogs and bottlenecks
  • Reliance on horizon scanning tools designed for high-level information views and analysis, making them impractical for granular obligations-centric change management programs

Obligations are the key

AscentAI takes a unique, obligations-centric approach to change management. We define an obligation simply as the legal requirement(s) your business needs to comply with as defined by a governing authority or regulatory body. They’re derived from laws, regulations, rules, or standards and are designed to ensure compliance with legal, ethical, and operational norms. Obligations are also often referred to as “requirements”. By focusing on obligations, AscentAI empowers customers to define and comply with regulations that govern their business at a foundational level.

A better way:

Obligations-based change management

Many firms rely on traditional horizon scanning technology that employs complex taxonomies to identify and organize obligations at a document level. This “top-down search” approach to change management can help to identify relevant content at a high level, but it typically requires extensive follow-on manual research and interpretation. While these solutions can provide indicative data, they do not help you efficiently and accurately process or understand that data.

AscentAI

AscentAI takes a fundamentally different, “bottom-up” approach, by starting with your obligations. This provides a structured, AI-driven solution to managing the overwhelming volume of regulations to which you must adhere; materially reducing the manual effort, cost, and risk associated with regulatory compliance.

Patented Technology

Our patented AI technology is the only solution in the market that intelligently and automatically extracts every obligation (requirement) from a regulator rule set as an individual object. Rather than requiring manual searches for regulatory amendments or digging through horizon scanning results, AscentFocus automatically captures and parses obligations within regulatory text to ensure that every change is captured and accounted for with high accuracy. Our object level analysis provides fully processed obligation data that’s ready for action.

Obligations

This obligation-specific approach enables AscentFocus to update objects over time with new versions as the rules change. By presenting changes in the context of your inventory, we leverage all previous applicability and mapping work to significantly streamline change management operations, bringing specifically relevant changes directly to the individuals that need to review, understand, and act upon them.

AscentAI change management methodology

With AscentAI, transforming your change management capabilities is more than just an application of technology. It’s a holistic solution that provides a robust regulatory understanding for your business and a purpose-built AI automation engine to effectively identify, assess, and operationalize the constant stream of regulatory change your business faces every day.

1. Regulatory Map

Our partnership begins with a Regulatory Map; a strategic definition of your jurisdictions, regulators, and sections of regulatory content that govern your business. The Regulatory Map becomes part of your core compliance strategy, providing a macro view of your compliance posture that evolves as your business expands.

2. Obligations Inventory

Using the Regulatory Map as a guide, we compile your Obligations Inventory, which is a rock-solid, detailed register of the specific regulatory obligations (requirements) from all of your jurisdictions and regulators. The Obligations Inventory becomes your corporate source of truth and is used as the blueprint for AscentFocus to identify any and all changes to these obligations over time.

3. AI Automation

AscentFocus is configured to monitor regulator data sources based on your Obligations Inventory. When a change is detected, it analyzes and parses the text to identify applicability to your business, eliminating the need for your team to manually review and determine impact at a significant time savings. Any applicable changes are automatically summarized and a side-by-side highlighted comparison is created, helping your teams to quickly understand what has happened and decide on next actions. And, when AscentFocus is integrated with your GRC, it keeps all of your obligations up to date automatically and identifies the policies and controls impacted by obligation updates so teams can take action.

AscentAI’s obligations-based approach offers both tactical and strategic benefits:

Tactical benefit

During the creation of Obligations Inventory it is not uncommon to discover duplicate obligations in your existing register, which add unnecessary complexity. More importantly, we often discover hidden obligation gaps, which represent pure risk, that are then added to your Obligations Inventory.

Strategic benefit

With a robust Obligations Inventory in place, you now have an accurate, reliable, and high-confidence register for your enterprise. The Obligations Inventory then serves as the basis to automate your change management moving forward.

AscentAI’s obligations-based approach offers both tactical and strategic benefits:

Firm foundation

AscentAI helps you establish a solid regulatory understanding and granular regulatory obligations register that’s used to power AscentFocus. Your compliance and change management teams can operate with confidence, knowing that every obligation that impacts the business is being monitored and they’re equipped to act quickly and effectively when necessary.

AI-powered accuracy​

Our methodology, combined with patented AI technology, is the only solution in the market that intelligently and automatically extracts every obligation (requirement) from a regulator rule set as an individual object. Rather than teams manually searching for regulatory amendments, AscentFocus automatically captures and parses them to ensure that every change is captured and accounted for with high accuracy. Our object level analysis provides fully processed obligation data that’s ready for action.

No more spreadsheets

AscentFocus eliminates the need for manual obligation impact assessments, delivering you a tailored list of obligation changes to be addressed. Change summaries and side-by-side highlighted comparisons of updated text help you quickly understand the situation and take action.

Automated updates

Because AscentFocus works at the obligation level, we update your obligations over time with new versions as the rules change. By presenting changes in the context of your inventory, you leverage all previous applicability and mapping work to streamline change management operations – bringing specifically relevant changes directly to the individuals that need to review, understand, and act upon them.

Automation efficiency

AscentFocus eliminates the need for manual obligation impact assessments, delivering you a tailored list of obligation changes to be addressed. Change summaries and side-by-side highlighted comparisons of updated text help you quickly understand the situation and take action.