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US-20260127520-A1 - ERP SECURITY MONITORING AND COMPLIANCE SYSTEM

US20260127520A1US 20260127520 A1US20260127520 A1US 20260127520A1US-20260127520-A1

Abstract

The invention is a comprehensive security monitoring and compliance tool for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, specifically designed for Workday. It features continuous active monitoring, periodic assessments, multi-environment support, and sensitive access monitoring. The system integrates with Workday through custom reports and REST APIs, providing out-of-the-box compliance controls for SOC1, SOC2, and GDPR. It offers customizable reporting and risk mitigation tracking. The tool addresses critical security needs in ERP environments by combining advanced analytics, continuous monitoring, and structured audit processes to maintain a robust security posture throughout the ERP lifecycle.

Inventors

  • Dimitri Veleris

Assignees

  • Dimitri Veleris

Dates

Publication Date
20260507
Application Date
20251105

Claims (20)

  1. 1 . A system for monitoring and managing security in an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) environment, the system comprising: a continuous active monitoring module configured to: perform automated scans of one or more ERP environments at predetermined intervals of no more than 24 hours by executing REST API calls to extract audit log data and configuration information; identify control conflicts within predefined control categories by analyzing the extracted ERP data against configurable rulesets; automatically generate issues corresponding to identified control conflicts with priority assignments based on severity and compliance framework requirements; automatically reopen previously closed issues when detecting changes in business process definitions that reintroduce previously remediated control conflicts; a periodic assessment module configured to: maintain a centralized repository for tracking and executing periodic audit activities with definable cadence parameters; provide customizable review activities with configurable duration, owner, and approver parameters; generate calendar views displaying upcoming audit activities across multiple compliance frameworks; establish linkages between periodic assessment controls and continuous active monitoring controls to provide unified compliance reporting; a multi-environment support module configured to: simultaneously connect to and monitor multiple ERP environments including production and non-production instances; enable environment-specific control scanning customization through independently configurable rulesets; aggregate monitoring results across environments for centralized review; a segregation of duties (SOD) monitoring module configured to: analyze user access permissions against configurable SOD rulesets defining incompatible function combinations; identify SOD conflicts based on business process definition analysis; monitor changes to business process definitions and automatically reopen SOD issues when configuration changes reintroduce previously remediated conflicts; wherein the system specifically monitors compliance with SOC1, SOC2, and GDPR requirements through framework-specific control mappings.
  2. 2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the continuous active monitoring module performs automated scans on a 24-hour cycle.
  3. 3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the REST API calls extract custom report data built within the ERP environment using native reporting tools.
  4. 4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the segregation of duties monitoring module identifies changes to business process definitions by comparing current configuration snapshots to previously stored configuration baselines.
  5. 5 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a machine learning module configured to identify anomalous user behavior patterns by analyzing historical access patterns and flagging deviations exceeding predefined threshold values.
  6. 6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the configurable rulesets for segregation of duties analysis define incompatible function combinations based on industry-specific compliance requirements.
  7. 7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the periodic assessment module tracks remediation timelines and generates alerts when remediation activities exceed predefined duration thresholds.
  8. 8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the multi-environment support module enables independent control scanning schedules for production and non-production environments.
  9. 9 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a sensitive and privileged access monitoring module configured to: define sensitive access categories based on data classification levels; define privileged access categories based on administrative function access; monitor for unauthorized privilege escalations by detecting changes in user role assignments.
  10. 10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the framework-specific control mappings enable simultaneous compliance reporting across multiple frameworks from a single set of monitoring activities.
  11. 11 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the automatically reopened issues include references to the specific business process definition changes that caused the issue reopening.
  12. 12 . A method for monitoring and managing security in an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) environment, the method comprising: configuring a continuous active monitoring module to scan one or more ERP environments at intervals of no more than 24 hours; executing REST API calls to the one or more ERP environments to extract audit log data, user access permissions, and business process configuration information; analyzing the extracted data against configurable rulesets defining control conflicts across multiple control categories including segregation of duties, sensitive access, and privileged access; automatically generating issues for identified control conflicts, each issue comprising: a description of the control conflict; a priority assignment based on severity and compliance framework requirements; assignment to a responsible remediation owner; monitoring for changes in business process definitions within the ERP environment; automatically reopening previously closed issues when detected changes in business process definitions reintroduce previously remediated control conflicts; maintaining a centralized repository of periodic assessment controls with configurable cadence, duration, owner, and approver parameters; linking periodic assessment controls to continuous active monitoring controls to provide unified compliance tracking; simultaneously monitoring multiple ERP environments including production and non-production instances with environment-specific control scanning configurations; generating compliance reports mapped to specific compliance frameworks including SOC1, SOC2, and GDPR.
  13. 13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the 24-hour scanning interval is configurable based on environment type, with production environments scanned more frequently than non-production environments.
  14. 14 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising: storing configuration snapshots of business process definitions at each scan interval; comparing current configuration snapshots to previous configuration snapshots to identify changes; determining whether identified changes affect previously remediated control conflicts; automatically reopening issues associated with affected control conflicts.
  15. 15 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising applying machine learning algorithms to historical user access patterns to establish baseline behavior models and identify anomalous access activities that deviate from established baselines.
  16. 16 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the REST API calls are executed using service accounts with read-only access permissions to the ERP environment.
  17. 17 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising generating calendar views displaying upcoming periodic assessment activities with visual indicators for activity status including not started, in progress, and completed.
  18. 18 . The method of claim 12 , wherein linking periodic assessment controls to continuous active monitoring controls comprises establishing mappings between control identifiers across both control types.
  19. 19 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising tracking remediation timelines for generated issues and calculating average remediation duration metrics across control categories.
  20. 20 . The method of claim 12 , wherein generating compliance reports comprises filtering monitoring results based on control mappings specific to the selected compliance framework.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims the benefit of and priority to U.S. Provisional Ser. No. 63/717,229, filed Nov. 6, 2024, entitled “ERP Security Monitoring and Compliance System,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to security monitoring and compliance management systems for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software environments. More particularly, the invention relates to automated security monitoring, risk assessment, and compliance tools specifically designed for cloud-based ERP systems such as Workday, including systems and methods for continuous active monitoring of user access controls, segregation of duties analysis, configuration change tracking, and periodic security assessments within multi-environment ERP deployments. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems serve as the backbone of modern business operations, integrating critical functions including financial management, human resources, supply chain operations, and customer relationship management into unified platforms. Cloud-based ERP systems, such as Workday, Oracle Cloud ERP, SAP S/4HANA Cloud, and Microsoft Dynamics 365, have gained widespread adoption due to their scalability, accessibility, and reduced infrastructure requirements. These systems process and store vast amounts of sensitive business data, including financial records, employee personal information, customer data, and proprietary business processes, making them attractive targets for both external cyber threats and internal misuse. The security and compliance requirements for ERP systems have become increasingly complex as organizations face expanding regulatory obligations. Compliance frameworks such as SOC1 (Service Organization Control 1), SOC2 (Service Organization Control 2), and GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) impose specific controls on how organizations manage access to sensitive data, monitor user activities, and ensure segregation of duties. Traditional compliance approaches relied heavily on periodic manual audits, typically conducted quarterly or annually, which created significant gaps in visibility between audit cycles. During these gaps, security vulnerabilities, unauthorized access, and control violations could persist undetected for extended periods, potentially resulting in data breaches, financial fraud, or regulatory violations. Security monitoring in ERP environments presents unique challenges that distinguish it from general IT security monitoring. ERP systems contain complex permission structures with thousands of potential user roles, each comprising multiple granular permissions that control access to specific business functions and data sets. Users often require access to multiple functions to perform their job responsibilities, creating intricate permission combinations that must be carefully managed to prevent segregation of duties (SOD) conflicts. An SOD conflict occurs when a single user possesses incompatible permissions that, when combined, enable fraudulent activities without requiring collusion with other users. For example, a user with both the ability to create vendor records and approve vendor payments could potentially create fraudulent vendors and authorize payments to those vendors without detection. Existing solutions in the market have attempted to address these issues but have fallen short in several key areas. There is a lack of comprehensive, continuous monitoring capabilities that can adapt to the complex, multi-environment, and highly configurable nature of modern ERP deployments. Insufficient integration of machine learning and artificial intelligence for detecting anomalous behavior and potential security threats has also been a limitation. Moreover, there is an absence of tools that can effectively manage and track periodic security assessments which often require manual review and are crucial for maintaining ongoing compliance and risk management. Current solutions often have limited ability to provide context-aware security analysis, particularly in distinguishing between sensitive and privileged access within the ERP system. They also lack adequate mechanisms for tracking and managing the complex interplay between various security configurations, such as business process definitions, custom workflows, changes made to custom entry and exit criteria of said business process definitions & custom workflows, and integration systems. Current ERP security monitoring solutions suffer from several significant limitations. Many organizations rely on periodic manual reviews conducted by internal audit teams or external auditors, who extract user access reports at specific points in time and manually analyze them for potential conflicts. This approach is labor-intensive, error-prone, and provides only snapshot visibility rather than continuous monitoring. When issues are identif