About First Focus Organization

In the past history of Australia, First focus is one of the largest organisations that offer it services to mid sixed business. They work on the motive of delivering services by maintaining the security. Their aim is to deliver high quality services in a secure manner. They offer various technical solutions by focusing on the demand of customers. It is one of the fast growing organisations that delivers end to end business support with a reliable connection.

The services that are offered by first focus are a hybrid cloud solution that allows a person to work on a platform that has a high level of security with a backup support. They also offer services by transferring information to public cloud and enhancing the performance (Herbert, 2017). They offer services of data acquisition so that high level of security is attainted by managing the flexibility.

The main aim of First focus is to make sure that security is maintained while offering the operations. There are various tools that are used to secure the operations. First focus makes sure that all the operations are completed in a reliable condition without breaching the security (Herbert, 2017). They develop intellectual solutions to make sure that information is not leaked. The business operations are designed so that the result comes out to be positive. This is done by protecting the system from all the bugs and errors by identifying the risk and then undertaking proper mitigation steps (Farrell & Gallagher, 2015). This can be achieved by installing firewalls, security endpoints and internet service provider so that they scan the network thoroughly. This is done by checking the end points of the network so that no bugs penetrate in the network (Grant, 2016). They assure that no vulnerabilities hit the system by using antiviruses and various security architectures.

General management control makes sure that all the operations in an organisation are completed in an effective manner. In every organisation, GMCs are used to organise the performance of operations by building a strong relationship between the staff. These are important for every organisation as they make sure that all the assets and resources are used at its maximum limit (Hristov & Ramkissoon, 2016). It covers the cost accounting system along with human resource system. They are basically used to achieve the goals by defining responsibility to every individual so that better outcome can be achieved. General management control are used are basically used to improve the performance (Rijamampianina & Carmichael, 2018). They are used to design polices so that goals can be achieved without breaching security concerns. The general management controls are used to deal with the different culture in the society so that conflicts could be resolved. GMC supports in maximizing the profit margins so that performance could be improved. There are many people at the workplace everyone having a different perception, thus GMC makes sure that decision could be made by resolving the conflicts (Yourarticlelibrary, 2017). General management control helps in achieving the goals smoothly by having coordination between the employees so that conflicts could be resolved. They bring up new motivation ideas so that performance of employees could be improved. The future plans of organisation could be improved as they work on measuring the current performance and comparing it with the defined goals (Yourarticlelibrary, 2017). The plans are designed to meet the difference between the goals set and goals achieved. Apart from that, First focus works on removing the difference so that actions plans could be used to eliminate the consequences.

Services Offered by First Focus

The application control differs from general management controls. They are used to maintain the security of a particular application or process (Lowe & McInnes, 2015). Various types of application controls are:

• Input Control- It verifies that the input entered in the system is valid or not, this can be done by checking that data is integrated and secure for all the business application.
• Processing Control- Once the input is checked, application control makes sure that operations are compete on time. This is used to make sure that operations are carried out by authorised user and are completed in an accurate way (Firstfocus, 2017). It is important to define who can access the data otherwise there are chances that information gets leaked.
• Output Control-This is used to check that the output that is obtained is same as the desired output. If there is a difference in the expected output the errors need to be found to make the system secure and error free.
• Audit control-This is used to monitor the system regularly so that errors are identified and proper solution could be taken (Watson, 2017).

Every organisation should take application controls into consideration as they deal with every application and process individually (Watson, 2017). If there is a change in the application, processor software these control measures make sure that changes are adapted effectively. Companies can directly rely on Application control at time of change. They assure that security of every application is met and they complete the operations in less duration as compared to others. Application control make sure that data packets are accessed only by authorised users, no invalid user can access the information as it will breach the privacy of the company. (Sinnema, 2018) An access list is defined in which list of valid users are defined so that privacy is controlled.

The general management control differs with application control as GMCs deal with all the policies and procedures related to an organisation (Sinnema, 2018). On the other hand, application control deals with the security of a particular application or process. General management control look at all the data centres wherever the information is stored by making sure that sensitive data is not accessed by everyone. Thus, an access control list is defined so that only valid users get eth right to access the sensitive data. Apart from that, application control deals with the bugs in a particular application or ambiguity that arises in any software (D’Arcy & Brogan, 2010). They define rules and regulations for an application so that confidentiality, integrity and availability are maintained. They monitor all the IS operations that are taking place over the network. They are basically used to verify the input, output and processing unit of the network. The motive of both these control measures is to maintain the security (Berry,  Broadbent & Otley, 2016).  In case of, application control security is maintained of a particular process wherein general management control is used to resolve all eth basic complication in an organisation related to human activities. Application control checks the system on the basis of input, output and processing unit.

While comparing both the control measures for IS, it can be stated that general management control deals in various fields of the company. In First focus, GMCs are applied in all the areas whereas application control deals with a particular application security (Bromiley, McShane, Nair & Rustambekov, 2015). The general management control deals with data storage, acquisition of data and access control. Apart from that, application control deals with security and privacy issue of a particular process. The transaction between the software is validated and information is kept in a sensitive way. These control measures are important as it helps in building the trust among the customers. It also improves the image of an organisation in the market (Hopkin, 2018). Application control allows only valid user to access the data.  

General Management Controls in First Focus

Every organisation has set of plans to overcome the failure. Similarly, First focus has also defined some risk management plans so that security is maintained. This can be accomplished by maintaining the confidentiality, availability, reliability and integrity of information.

• Reliability- It is important factor that make sure that quality of operations are maintained. This is used to avoid the risk by dealing with all the failures (Cloudtango, 2017). The consistence of operations needs to be maintained.
• Confidentiality- The information stored over the network is sensitive, thus it is necessary that information is accessed by valid users. The overall security can be maintained by defining an access list (Cloudtango, 2017).
• Availability- First focus has grown in the global market, it is important that information can be accessed at anytime from anywhere.
• Integrity- It assures that the application and software are secured and it is used accessed by nay invalid user (Cloudtango, 2017).
• Security- The security of an organisation is maintained by assuring that sensitive information is not leaked and is accessed only by valid user.

To make sure that risk of an on organisation can be is mitigating. Some of the actions plans are developed. The first step is identifying all the bugs and errors so that it doesn’t affect the system future. The identification of risk can be assessed by finding the source through which error or bugs entered in the system. Once the bug is found an action plan is taken so that it does not cause failure to the network. Risk assessment plans are used to assure that no information is lost and operations continue to work. Risk can be mitigated by taking proper backup of the information so that in case of failure business continues to work.

The motive of IS auditing is to check the information and assure that only accurate information is processed in the software’s. All the possible threats related to the software are mitigated so that risk can be minimised. The auditing helps in making all the business operations transparent so that decisions could be made accordingly. The auditing checks all eth operations individually by making sure that confidentiality, integrity and availability is checked. It makes sure that data packets are not visible to unauthorised user and only valid users can access the data (Bedford,  Malmi & Sandelin, 2016). The threats that could exist in the system are identified beforehand so that privacy is maintained. The plans are designed so that risk can be managed.

The audit plans covers a set of predefined strategies that need to be followed by an organisation so that security is maintained. It identifies all the misconception so that risk does not penetrate in the system. The audit plans are beneficial as they minimise the overall time that is taken to complete an operation (Bedford,  Malmi & Sandelin, 2016).  The audit plans are once defined then the employees in an organisation are made aware by plan. This can be done by organising a meeting or conference so that the impact about the decision is also analysed. The audit process supports that security of an organisation is maintained.

Conclusion

It is important to maintain the sensitivity of data as companies rely on network for their data. The security of an organisation needs to be maintained so that customer’s satisfaction is improved. In this report, the organisation that is discussed is first focus, the general management control and application controls that are used by the organisation are listed. The controls measures are designed so that risk can be mitigated and data can be safeguarding are listed. The difference between both these control measures is listed. It is recommended that the audit plans should be designed in such a way that confidentiality and privacy of data is maintained. Thus, there should be a backup plan so that it case of failure system could be recovered easily.

References

Bedford, D. S., Malmi, T., & Sandelin, M. (2016). Management control effectiveness and strategy: An empirical analysis of packages and systems. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 51, 12-28.

Berry, A. J., Broadbent, J., & Otley, D. T. (Eds.). (2016). Management control: theories, issues and practices. Macmillan International Higher Education.

Bromiley, P., McShane, M., Nair, A., & Rustambekov, E. (2015). Enterprise risk management: Review, critique, and research directions. Long range planning, 48(4), 265-276.

Cloudtango. (2017). primarily on delivering excellent Managed IT Services and cloud-based services across Australia. Published on: January 31, 2018 Top 20 Managed Service Providers in Australia. Retrieved from https://www.cloudtango.org/topMSPs/AU/.

D’Arcy, S. P., & Brogan, J. C. (2010). Enterprise risk management. Journal of Risk Management of Korea, 12(1), 207-228.

Farrell, M., & Gallagher, R. (2015). The valuation implications of enterprise risk management maturity. Journal of Risk and Insurance, 82(3), 625-657.

Firstfocus. (2017). Case Studies. Retrieved from https://www.firstfocus.com.au/about-us/case-studies/.

Grant, E. M. (2016). Designing carceral environments for indigenous prisoners: A comparison of approaches in Australia, Canada, Aotearoa New Zealand, the US and Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat).

Herbert, J. (2017). Listen to the Voices: Informing, Reforming, and Transforming Higher Education for First Nations’ Peoples in Australia. Handbook of Indigenous Education, 1-22.

Hopkin, P. (2018). Fundamentals of risk management: understanding, evaluating and implementing effective risk management. Kogan Page Publishers, 1-13.

Hristov, D., & Ramkissoon, H. (2016). Leadership in destination management organisations. Annals of Tourism Research, 61, 230-234.

Lowe, E. A., & McInnes, J. M. (2015). Control in socio-economic organisations: a rationale for the design of management control systems (Section II). International Journal of Critical Accounting, 7(5-6), 411-426.

Rijamampianina, R., & Carmichael, T. (2018). General Issues in Management. Management, 3, 1.

Sinnema, R., EMC Corp (2018). Risk-adaptive access control of an application action based on threat detection data. U.S. Patent 9,992,213.

Watson, I. (2017). Combatting cultural ‘nerve gas’: maintaining traditional media and culture through local media production in Australia, Canada and Mexico. Journal of Alternative and Community Media, 2, 1-13.

Yourarticlelibrary, (2017). Management Control System: Definition, Characteristics and Factors. Available from https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/accounting/company-accounts/management-control-system-definition-characteristics-and-factors/52963 Accessed on 07 aug 18