Facilitate your control workflow - from control design, through managing deadlines and documentation to monitoring.
How does Control Management work in Impero? 
- You want to automate the execution and administration of controls and improve control effectiveness at the same time? Create your controls! Check out 4 core elements.
- You need tailored reports with filtered content for different stakeholders? Prepare control tags!
- You want to review control documentation on executed and active controls, and take actions on open assignments? Visit the activity list!
➤ You need the role "Control Manager" or "Administrator" to create new programs and controls. Read more here.
Create control program and control
What is a program?
A control program serves to structure controls. It works like a folder that consists of controls from a certain process area, which separates it from other process areas.
In advance of creating controls, you need to create a control program. 😊
Quickstart: Create your first control program and set access rights
- Go to Control Management in the navigation menu.
- Click on "Create new program". Give your program a unique name and add descriptions.
- Under "Access Management", manage which users can view, edit or administrate the controls within this program.
Preparation Guide: What needs to be decided in advance
Cautious: We strongly recommend to take some time to think about WHO in your organization will have access and work with WHICH control program(s).
Structuring approach
Question 1: Which colleague(s) are responsible for which process area(s)?
Clarify requirement: Restrict view of data between departments and/or process areas?
Question 2: Your organization has multiple subsidiaries or is located in multiple countries?
Option A. Structure by process area
Accounts Payable, AR, CM etc.: Each program contains controls for all subsidiaries/countries.
Usage context:
Option B. Structure by subsidiary/country
Each program contains controls for all process areas.
Programs:
Impero A/S, Impero GmbH etc.
OR
Denmark, Germany etc.
Usage context:
Option C. Separated approach
Programs:
AP Impero A/S, AP Impero GmbH, AR Impero A/S, AR Impero GmbH etc.
OR
AP Denmark, AP Germany, AR Denmark, AR Germany etc.
Usage context:
Note: Not sure which approach suits your setting? Reach out to your Customer Success Manager to find the best solution for your setting.
Create your first control
After entering a control program such as "Financial reporting controls", click on "add control".
Or after entering the Control Management module, click on "create new control" in the upper right corner.
A control consists of four major components:
- Details: Give the control a name, descriptions and tags.
- Scheduling: Plan the due date and the notification date.
- Assignment: Assign the control to the responsible(s) and reviewer(s).
- Design: Pre-define control steps using questionnaire elements.
1. Edit details
Use a clear headline to indicate the content of the control.
Abbreviations and numbers help to identify controls quickly.
When do I need tags?
Control tags serve to:
A. Categorize controls by control attributes
B. Tailor reports through filtering data by assigned tags
C. Search for controls by tags in Control Management
Note: Once you start with Impero, your tag catalog will be empty. Please see how you can edit your tag catalog here.
2. Schedule a control
When setting up a control, you have two scheduling options:
- Automate your regular controls with the recurring option. It will be automatically sent out to the control responsible(s) in a given frequency, such as monthly, quarterly, yearly etc.
- Respond to special events with the manual option. It will be sent only out once at the defined notification date.
Note: If you wish to use a business days calendar or individualize your company calendar, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager.
The control will be sent out, once the notification date is reached.
3. Assign control to responsible(s)
You can assign the control to one or several responsibles. Each assigned responsible will complete the control assignment separately.
Optionally, you can choose to have a reviewer in terms of a four-eye-principle and also a second reviewer.
A reviewer will review the submitted control and confirm or reject it (send back to responsible).
Tip: If you send the same control to different departments/entities, you can use assignment tags to mark for which department a control is performed. This will serve as a filter in reports.
Want to assign controls to a team instead of an individual? Learn more here.
Below the assignee table, you can decide if responsibles need to log into Impero to complete the control (or review), and if responsibles are allowed to review their own work.
4. Customize control design
Create a tailored questionnaire to guide responsibles through the control assignment. Collect targeted answers and required documentation to evidence the control execution.
★ Easy-to-understand instructions and standardized templates help to save time for control responsibles, to improve the quality of control results and to better fulfill audit requirements.
Define questions and tasks with the design elements on the right.
Tip on design elements:
Radio-button is a single-choice task, e.g. Have you performed the control? Yes/No.
Checklist is a multiple-choice task where responsibles can select several answer options.
Comment field is mostly used to ask for a reason, e.g. if a control step has not been performed.
Attach file asks the responsible to upload document(s).
You can add a task by clicking on it on the right. Feel free to choose as many tasks as you wish.
- When "required" is marked, the responsible is not able to submit the control, unless the task is performed.
- When "conditions" is marked, this task will only be show or hidden, depending on the answer of a radio-button or checklist task above.
Can I preview the control from the perspective of the responsible?
Of course! When having a complex design, it is recommended to check the preview. So you can see what the responsible will see and click through the questionnaire.
Click on "Preview" at the end of the page:
.
Complete the control
Click on "save" if the control looks like you wish. You will see the message below.
Once the notification date is reached, the control will be sent out to the responsible(s).
Your control is now ready! 😊
Tip: It is always recommended to have a double check with your Customer Success Manager to make sure everything is set up as intended.
Administrate your control activities
You have collected controls answers - Ready for review or take further actions?
1. Go to a control program or the Dashboard in the menu.
2. Click on 
in the upper right corner.
3. Now you see a list of controls that have been sent out. Use the search bar and the time filter to select relevant data.
4. Administrate controls using the automated actions, such as sending reminders to open controls, reassigning controls to other responsibles e.g. due to vacation or resignation. You can export all control results in an Excel file.
Learn more:
How can I add links to a control description or an instruction?
Want to format your text in a control description or an instruction?