fintechbenchmark.com: The Fintech Benchmark

Audit & Evidence Management

Support for producing, storing, and retrieving records and audit trails necessary for internal or external audits.

Access-controlled Evidence Sharing: Secure, permission-based access for internal or external auditors.
Audit Engagement History: Log of all past audit events, responses, and outcomes for reference.
Audit Issue Tracking: Track and manage audit findings, recommendations, and remedial actions.
Audit Query Support: Rapid response to audit requests with filtered document and record search.
Audit Trail Logging: Comprehensive logs of all actions, changes, and access events throughout the platform.
Audit-ready Reports: Pre-built report templates for common audit requirements.
Cross-linking to Policies: Link audit evidence and findings directly to governing policy documents.
Data Export Capabilities: Ability to securely export audit logs and supporting documentation.
Evidence Repository: Central, secure storage for audit evidence (documents, communications, files, etc.).
Evidence Version Control: Track changes or additions to audit evidence over time.
Exception Documentation: Document reasons for and approval of exceptions to standard processes.
Link Evidence to Decisions: Direct association of evidence files with meeting items, decisions, policies, or actions.
Point-in-Time Snapshots: Store system state/archive at specific dates for evidence and historical reference.
Retention Management: Automated application of retention policies to audit evidence and logs.
Tamper-evident Logging: Ensure audit logs cannot be altered without detection.

Board & Committee Management

Features facilitating the efficient operation of boards and committees, including scheduling, minutes, and secure collaboration.

Attendance Tracking: System for recording and reporting on attendee participation in meetings.
Automated Reminders & Notifications: Automated emails or alerts for pending tasks, upcoming meetings, or policy reviews.
Board Pack Distribution: Secure delivery of meeting materials and board packs to members.
Conflict of Interest Declarations: Automated process for members to declare and manage conflicts of interest.
Digital Agendas: Support for creating, distributing, and amending meeting agendas electronically.
Document Annotation: Board members can annotate and share notes directly on meeting documents.
Integration with Calendar Systems: Ability to sync with external calendaring solutions (e.g., Outlook, Google Calendar).
Meeting Recording: Audio or video recording of meetings with secure access.
Meeting Scheduling: Ability to coordinate and schedule meetings with automated calendar invitations.
Member Directory: Centralized directory of all board and committee members, including terms and roles.
Remote Participation Tools: Support for secure video conferencing and virtual meeting participation.
Role-Based Access: Customizable access controls for different committee and board member roles.
Secure Minutes Capture: Tool to record, store, and distribute meeting minutes in a secure, permission-controlled environment.
Task Assignment & Follow-up: Assign tasks to board/committee members and automate follow-up reminders.
Voting & Resolutions: Digital tools for facilitating, recording, and storing votes and resolutions.

Compliance & Regulatory Management

Functionalities ensuring adherence to regulations, best practices, and internal governance standards

Audit Trail of Compliance Activities: Detailed auditing of all compliance-related actions and changes.
Automated Compliance Monitoring: Continuous monitoring of compliance with built-in alerts for non-compliance.
Automated Evidence Collection: Automatically gather records necessary for demonstrating compliance.
Compliance Analytics: Analytics to identify compliance trends, gaps, and risks.
Compliance Attestation Tracking: Track and report on user attestation to key policies or regulatory requirements.
Cross-jurisdictional Compliance Support: Manage and track requirements across multiple applicable jurisdictions.
Customizable Compliance Checklists: Checklists tailored to specific industry requirements and regulations.
Policy Exception Management: Workflow for documenting, approving, and tracking policy exceptions.
Regulatory Calendar: System to track filing deadlines and regulatory obligations.
Regulatory Change Notifications: Alerts for relevant changes in laws, standards, or regulations.
Regulatory Reporting: Tools for generating and submitting reports to regulators.
Risk Register Integration: Connect compliance issues to an organizational risk register.
Rule & Policy Mapping: Link regulations and policies to related internal processes and controls.
Third-party Compliance Management: Extend compliance monitoring and reporting to key vendors and service providers.
User Certifications and Training Tracking: Record staff certifications and required compliance training completions.

Decision & Action Tracking

Tools and processes to document, monitor, and evidence the implementation of governance decisions.

Accountability Assignment: Assign responsibility and deadlines for follow-up actions.
Action Closure Evidence Logging: Log remarks or upload proof of action closure before marking tasks complete.
Action Item Status Tracking: Monitor the completion and status of governance-related action items.
Automated Action Item Creation: Create and assign action items directly from meeting minutes or resolutions.
Comment and Discussion Threads: Embedded discussion capability for decision and action items.
Completion Notification: Automated notifications when assigned tasks are completed or overdue.
Decision Register: Central log of all formal decisions made by boards and committees.
Dependency Tracking: Manage dependencies between multiple action items or decisions.
Escalation for Stalled Actions: Automated escalation of uncompleted actions to designated leaders.
Evidence Attachment: Attach evidence items (documents, links, notes) to decision and action records.
Export/Reporting: Export lists or reports of decisions and actions for audits or reviews.
Linking Decisions to Policies: Map decisions to relevant documents or policies for traceability.
Overdue Actions Dashboard: Overview of outstanding or overdue actions by board, committee, or member.
Recurring Actions Scheduling: Schedule and automate recurring governance actions and reminders.
Task Re-assignment: Ability to reassign actions in case of absence or role changes.

Governance Workflow Automation

Automation of key governance processes to increase efficiency, ensure compliance, and reduce manual work.

Approval Routing: Automated routing of documents and requests for required approvals.
Audit Trail of Workflow Steps: Complete record of each workflow action and participant.
Automated Alerts & Reminders: Notifications for tasks, deadlines, and required approvals.
Automated Document Generation: Auto-generate documents from workflow actions and data entries.
Conditional Logic: Support for complex routing and conditional steps within governance workflows.
Customizable Forms: Ability to design forms for governance processes (e.g., requests, declarations).
Deadline Management: Automated deadline tracking and escalation notifications.
Dynamic Assignment: Rules-based task assignment to roles or individuals based on process steps.
Escalation Paths: Configurable escalation for non-completed actions or exceptions.
Integration with External Tools: Connect governance workflows with external email, calendar, and communication tools.
Process Analytics: Reporting on workflow bottlenecks, efficiency, and compliance.
Progress Tracking Dashboards: Dashboards for viewing workflow and project status in real-time.
Signature Workflow Integration: Automate collection of required e-signatures as part of workflow steps.
Workflow Builder: Intuitive tool to design and visualize governance workflows.
Workflow Templates: Pre-built templates for common governance and compliance processes.

Integration & Interoperability

Features supporting seamless integration with external systems, legacy applications, and cloud services.

API Availability: Availability of well-documented APIs for exchanging data with other systems.
Audit Logging of Data Transfers: Audit trail for all data exchanged with external systems.
Calendar Integration: Sync platform events with individual or shared calendars in real time.
Custom Integration Toolkit: Resources for custom integration development (SDKs, sandboxes).
Data Export Frequency: The maximum number of data exports possible per day.
Data Import/Export: Bulk import/export of data to/from external platforms and legacy systems.
Directory Service Integration: Synchronize user accounts and groups with enterprise identity systems.
Email System Integration: Bi-directional communication with corporate email systems.
Integration with Cloud Storage: Connect platform to cloud storage services (e.g., SharePoint, Dropbox, Google Drive).
Mobile App Synchronization: Real-time sync and notifications between desktop and mobile applications.
Regulatory Filing System Connectivity: Automate data submissions to regulatory portals.
Single Sign-On Integration: Seamless login integration with enterprise authentication solutions.
Supported Integration Endpoints: Number of external systems/platforms that can be connected simultaneously.
Webhook Support: Real-time external event notification via webhooks.
Workflow & Automation Tool Integration: Integrate with external workflow automation (e.g., Zapier, Power Automate).

Policy & Document Management

Capabilities supporting the storage, versioning, distribution, and lifecycle management of governance-related documents and policies.

Activity Audit Trails: Record activity, changes, and access events for all documents.
Centralized Document Repository: Single, secure storage location for all governance and policy documents.
Contract & Legal Document Management: Specialized workflow and security for managing contracts and sensitive legal documents.
Document Acknowledgment Tracking: Track which members have read and acknowledged receipt of documents.
Document Encryption: In-transit and at-rest encryption for all stored documents.
Document Expiry & Review Dates: Automated tracking and notification of policy expiration and scheduled reviews.
Document Retention Scheduling: Automated purging and archiving based on retention policies.
Document Version Control: Track changes, maintain prior versions, and manage approvals for documents.
E-signature Integration: Ability for stakeholders to electronically sign documents securely.
External Document Sharing: Secure sharing features for documents with external advisors or regulators.
Multi-format Document Support: Support for popular document formats (PDF, Word, XLS, etc.).
Policy Workflow Automation: Automate drafting, approval, and publishing workflows for governance documents.
Role-Based Document Access: Access controlled via roles and permissions, supporting confidentiality.
Searchable Document Index: Advanced search capabilities across document types and content.
Template Management: Pre-defined templates for common policy and governance documents.

Reporting & Analytics

Reporting tools and dashboards for governance, compliance, and performance monitoring.

Audit and Compliance Reporting: Pre-built templates for regulatory, audit, or compliance reporting.
Automated KPI Monitoring: Continuous monitoring of key performance indicators with alerts for threshold breaches.
Automated Scheduled Reports: Auto-generate and distribute reports on a regular schedule.
Custom Report Builder: Design, save, and schedule custom reports from governance and compliance data.
Dashboards: Configurable, real-time dashboards for monitoring key governance metrics.
Data Visualization: Charts, graphs, and visual aids for performance and compliance trends.
Drill-through Analytics: Navigate from summary dashboards to detailed report data.
Export to Multiple Formats: Download reports in PDF, Excel, CSV, or other useful formats.
Filter and Search Capabilities: Advanced filter and search on report data.
Historical Data Analysis: Compare current and past governance/compliance performance data.
Integration with BI Tools: Connect platform data to external business intelligence tools.
Interactive Data Exploration: Users can interact with report visualizations in the browser.
Maturity & Benchmarking Reports: Compare governance maturity or compliance benchmarks against peers.
Report Access Controls: Restrict access to sensitive reports based on user roles and permissions.
Scheduled Distribution Lists: Auto-email scheduled reports to distribution groups or individuals.

Security & Data Protection

Capabilities ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of sensitive governance information.

Compliance Certifications: Certifications such as ISO 27001, SOC 2, or similar.
Customer Security Portal: A portal for customers to review security operations and documents.
Data Encryption At Rest: Encryption of all stored data in databases and backups.
Data Encryption In Transit: Encryption standards applied to data during transmission.
Data Residency Options: Choice of data storage location to comply with national regulations.
Disaster Recovery & Backups: Automated backup and recovery policies for all data.
Granular Access Permissions: Fine-grained access control for sensitive content.
Incident Response Procedures: Documented and tested plan for managing security incidents.
Penetration Testing: Regular independent security testing and vulnerability scanning.
Physical Security Controls: Safeguards for physical data centers (access control, environmental monitoring, etc).
Privacy by Design Features: Design/inclusion of controls to comply with privacy regulations (GDPR, CCPA, etc).
Real-time Threat Monitoring: Continuous monitoring and alerting for security events.
Secure File Transfer: Methods for securely transferring files to and from the platform.
Secure Mobile Access: Data protection for mobile users and devices.
Time to Restore from Backup: Maximum platform recovery time from backup in case of disruption.

Usability & Support

Features ensuring platform users can efficiently and effectively operate the software, with robust support resources.

Accessible Design (ADA, WCAG): Accessibility and compatibility for users with disabilities.
Customizable Workflows: Users can tailor governance workflows to their organizational needs.
Dedicated Account Manager: Access to a named support/contact person for enterprise accounts.
Email and Ticketing Support: Support available via email or online ticket submission.
In-app Help and Tutorials: Built-in user guides, tooltips, and access to help resources.
Intuitive User Interface: User-optimized design supporting quick learning and efficient task completion.
Live Chat Support: Real-time assistance from support staff.
Multi-lingual Support: Ability to use the platform in multiple languages.
Onboarding & Training Services: Structured programs for training new users and facilitating rollout.
Phone Support Hours: The number of hours per day phone support is available.
Responsive Design: Platform adapts to any device (desktop, tablet, mobile).
Role-based Dashboards: Different dashboards tailored to user roles (trustees, managers, admins, etc).
Self-service Knowledge Base: Users can search and find solutions to common issues.
User Communities or Forums: Access to peer support through online communities.
User Feedback Mechanism: In-platform tools for submitting ideas and improvement suggestions.

User & Access Management

Security and governance features related to user identities, access controls, and role-based administration.

Access Request and Approval Workflow: Automate and document the approval process for user access changes.
Account Lockout Policies: Security measures for failed login attempts and account lockouts.
Bulk User Management: Support for bulk upload or changes to user permissions and accounts.
Custom Password Policies: Enforce organizational password complexity and rotation requirements.
Delegated User Administration: Allow designated personnel to manage users in subgroups or committees.
Group and Committee Memberships: Easily manage group affiliations and role memberships.
Guest/External User Access: Secure, time-limited platform access for external advisors, auditors, or consultants.
Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Support for MFA to enhance security of user accounts.
Role-Based Access Controls: Granular permissions management based on organizational and governance roles.
Session Timeout Configuration: Adjustable limits for user session activity and automatic logoff.
Single Sign-On (SSO) Support: Integration with SSO providers for streamlined, secure login.
User Access Review Reporting: Generate reports for periodic access reviews and audits.
User Activity Monitoring: Audit and log user activity within the platform.
User Directory Synchronization: Integration with enterprise directory systems (e.g., Active Directory, LDAP).
User Provisioning and De-provisioning: Automated onboarding and offboarding of users based on roles.

Governance Management Platforms features explained

for Compliance and Governance