Group 1001 builds scalable, audit-ready internal controls with Kainos
Impacts
x5
10 hours
Instant
Auditable
Summary
US-based financial services organisation, Group 1001, was limited by existing security and compliance practices. With Workday powering HR and Finance, manual reporting, reconciliation and reviews lacked the scalability they required for ongoing compliance.
Kainos Smart Audit has automated processes across key ITGCs like SoD, configuration change and user access reviews. Automation has delivered instant risk detection, x5 faster audit preparation and saved 10 hours per user access review cycle.
Challenges
With a growing team of 1500 employees, Group 1001 started its Workday journey in 2013. Workday’s security infrastructure provided a strong foundation for Group 1001’s internal controls. But, manual practices created multiple challenges:
Volume of information – Verbose audit logs were difficult to aggregate and contained large volumes of data. Bryan’s team struggled to find the information needed to monitor high-risk changes.
Auditor education – A lack of understanding of the difference between configuration changes and customisations required 'Workday 101’ sessions with external auditors to contextualise logs, taking resources from strategic projects.
Inefficient processes – The team were reliant on spreadsheets, email chains and JIRA tickets. Controls monitoring was difficult, lacked scalability and required input from stakeholders across the business.
“Our internal controls journey was… we didn’t really have much of a control journey. Everything was manual, we were reliant on audit logs, email chains and JIRA tickets and we had to constantly educate auditors on how Workday works.”
Why a solution was needed
A Workday Financials go-live, more unique user roles and a complex compliance landscape increased the burden on the team at Group 1001. Manual processes couldn’t keep up without increasing headcount and the involvement of senior stakeholders in checks wasn’t commercially viable. Group 1001 needed a solution that was scalable, precise, repeatable and reduced manual effort.
Automating Workday compliance with Kainos Smart Audit
Adopting Kainos Smart Audit has enabled Group 1001 to build seamless governance, risk and compliance processes. Key improvement areas include:
Optimised Segregation of Duties (SoD)
Smart Audit monitors SoD more widely, quickly and accurately. Precise automated detection only shows the risks that matter, meaning quicker remediation and less time wasted. “Automation allows us to prove segregation of duties and reduce false positives. It’s more than just access—it’s about precision and confidence,” Bryan says.
Self-service auditing
By granting direct access to Smart Audit, Group 1001’s external auditors can ‘self serve’ and easily access reports, making audit preparation five times quicker. Bryan adds, “Traditionally there’s a sense of fear when you’re getting audited. Now our internal audit team are proactive and external auditors pull their own data. That’s a game-changer for efficiency”
Real-Time Configuration Change Monitoring
Configuration change detection is now carried out automatically. Spreadsheets and emails have been replaced with automated logs that link to JIRA tickets for near-instant reconciliation. Bryan says, “We used to have changes happen without knowing. Now Smart Audit gives us daily change logs, so we can act immediately instead of chasing ghosts.”
Seamless User Access Reviews unlocked
After deploying Workday Financials, monitoring user access became a critical security and compliance pillar. But, a large number of users with diverse roles and entitlements made user access reviews increasingly difficult and error-prone.
With these challenges compounded by pressure to maintain SOX compliance and deliver timely, accurate reviews, Group 1001 needed an integrated, automated access governance tool.
Group 1001 has just deployed Kainos User Access Review (Kainos UAR), automating the entire review workflow:
Reviews are carried out through simplified dashboards, automated notifications and user-friendly role descriptions, reducing friction and maximising completion rates.
Results are consolidated in centralised reporting dashboards that are integrated with company-wide GRC platforms, providing auditors instant access to data.
Bryan’s team spends less time chasing reviews and more time focusing on strategic tasks that add value.
Kainos UAR provides round-the-clock, cost-effective compliance and audit readiness.
“With Smart Audit and UAR, we’re refining processes post-audit and focusing on strategic updates instead of chasing evidence. We’re now free to work on strategic projects like Workday Prism and process documentation that we couldn’t touch before.”
About Kainos Smart Audit
Smart Audit is a Built on Workday solution that enhances and streamlines internal controls with automation. Smart Audit is the only security and compliance solution that is Built on Workday and used by Workday.
Always-on monitoring, instant risk detection, and automatic report reconciliation keep Workday secure, audit-ready and compliant no matter what changes.