Arbutus Analytics

Introduction

The Arbutus Analytics Platform is a data analytics environment designed for professionals working in audit, compliance, risk management, and internal control. It enables organisations to analyse large and complex datasets, automate repeatable testing procedures, and identify anomalies or potential risk indicators within their data.

The software is developed by Arbutus Software Inc., a specialist provider of analytics tools for assurance functions. Sepia Solutions supports organisations in implementing and using the Arbutus platform effectively within their audit and governance environments.

What is the Arbutus Analytics platform?

The Arbutus Analytics platform consists of a set of complementary tools that allow organisations to access, analyse, automate, and manage data from a wide variety of systems.

The platform supports both technical users, such as data engineers or analytics specialists, and functional users, including auditors, compliance officers, and risk professionals.

Organisations use Arbutus to:

• Analyse large datasets from enterprise systems
• Perform repeatable audit analytics
• Automate routine data testing
• Support continuous monitoring
• Identify anomalies and potential control weaknesses

Typical users of Arbutus Analytics

The Arbutus Analytics platform is used by a range of professionals involved in analysing data, developing analytics procedures, or reviewing the results of automated testing.

Different roles interact with the platform in different ways, from designing analytics procedures to reviewing the results of automated tests.

Typical users include:

• Internal audit teams performing data-driven assurance and audit analytics
• Compliance and regulatory monitoring functions analysing transactions and control activities
• Risk management and internal control professionals monitoring operational or financial data
• Data analytics specialists developing and maintaining analytic procedures and scripts
• Business users reviewing results produced by predefined analytics, often through reports, email outputs, or web-based access via tools such as WebConnect
• Public sector organisations, including tax and revenue authorities, performing large-scale transaction analysis and fraud detection

Components of the Arbutus platform

The Arbutus Analytics platform consists of several components that can be used individually or combined as part of a broader analytics environment. The following sections provide a short overview of each component.

Ecosystem and supporting resources

The Arbutus platform is supported by a broader ecosystem that includes documentation, training materials, user groups, and professional expertise.

Arbutus Software Inc, regional partners, and organisations such as Sepia Solutions contribute to this ecosystem by providing implementation support, knowledge sharing, and practical guidance on the use of analytics in assurance environments.

Further information on these resouces can be found in the Resources section of this website.

Why organisations use Arbutus

Organisations adopt Arbutus Analytics for several reasons:

• Ability to analyse large and complex datasets
• Support for repeatable audit analytics
• Integration with existing audit and governance processes
• Flexibility to scale from individual users to enterprise deployments
• Control over data processing within the organisation’s own infrastructure
• The platform ranges from individual desktop use to larger enterprise analytics frameworks

How the platform fits together

The different components of the Arbutus Analytics platform can be combined to support a structured data analytics workflow, from initial data access to the review of results.

A typical workflow may include the following steps:

1. Access data
   Data can be accessed directly from enterprise systems or files using Analyzer and the available Data Connectors.
2. Explore and analyse data
   Within Analyzer, users can profile datasets, perform analytical procedures, and develop scripts for repeatable testing.
3. Deploy, automate and share analytics
   Analytics procedures can be shared across teams or automated using Arbutus Hub, allowing organisations to centralise and schedule analytics processing.
4. Provide controlled and simplified access to results
   Results and approved analytics procedures can be accessed by other users through via WebConnect, allowing auditors, analysts, or other authorised users to run analytics or review outputs without requiring full desktop installations (or data analytics skills).
5. Run repeatable analytics as part of continuous monitoring
6. Review analytic results and exceptions
   Results generated by analytics procedures can be reviewed, stored and emailed, but can also be processed using Results Manager, providing a structured way to examine and follow-up on identified exceptions.

This approach allows organisations to move from ad-hoc data analysis towards more repeatable and scalable analytics processes within their assurance or monitoring activities.

Examples of use

Organisations across many sectors use Arbutus Analytics to support data-driven assurance, monitoring, and analysis activities.

Typical use cases include:

• Continuous monitoring of financial transactions, helping organisations detect unusual patterns or control deviations
• Fraud detection and investigation, analysing large volumes of operational or financial data to identify anomalies
• Data validation during system migrations or conversions, ensuring that information has been transferred accurately between systems
• Compliance and regulatory monitoring, supporting testing of transactions against defined rules or control requirements
• Risk-based audit analytics, enabling internal audit teams to focus their work on areas of higher risk or materiality

These approaches are used in both private and public sector organisations, including financial services, utilities, government agencies, and large corporate environments.

Examples of how such approaches have been applied in practice can be found in our Case Studies section.

Supporting services by Sepia Solutions

Sepia Solutions supports organisations using Arbutus Analytics through services such as:

• Implementation and configuration
• Training
• Workshops
• Coaching
• Consultancy
• Automation and development
• Ongoing support

Further details on these services can be found in the Services section of this website.