SAP® GRC For Dummies®

Introduction

GRC is an acronym that may be Greek to the uninitiated, but chances are if you picked up this book, you are at least interested in knowing what it means. And even if not everyone knows what GRC means, the concepts involved are ones that everyone understands.

The G is governance. In short, this means taking care of business, making sure that things are done according to your standards (and those of the ever-present regulators, not to mention your company's Board of Directors). It also means setting forth clearly your expectations of what should be done so that everyone is on the same page with regard to how your company is run.

The R is risk. Everything we do involves an element of risk. When it comes to running across freeways or playing with matches, it's pretty clear that certain risks are just not to be taken. When it comes to business, however, risk becomes a way to help you both protect value (what you have) and create value (by strategically expanding your business or adding new products and services).

The C is what everyone knows about — compliance with the many laws and directives affecting businesses (and citizens) today. One of the authors of this book would also like to extend that C to controls, meaning that you put certain controls in place to ensure that compliance is happening. This might mean monitoring your factory's emissions or ensuring that your import and export papers are in order. Or it might just simply mean that the same person is not creating ...