Blue Rhino tackles SOX with tools on hand

Tamria Zertuche's approach to Sarbanes-Oxley compliance involves getting as much assistance as possible from automated tools.

With an IT staff of 12 people, it's not possible to tackle SOX compliance manually, says Zertuche, who is director of information systems at Blue Rhino. "We’ve had things pretty much automated from the start because we don’t have a large enough staff to rely on elbow grease alone."

She also has insisted on using products that aren't limited to SOX-related tasks. "Tools need to be multidimensional," Zertuche says.

Based in Winston-Salem, N.C., Blue Rhino is the company behind the propane cylinder exchange service that's offered at 27,000 home center, grocery and convenience stores around the country. (It's a division of propane distributor Ferrellgas Partners.)

As Zertuche and her peers at Blue Rhino started addressing SOX compliance, they looked to find a tool that could do double-duty. In addition to addressing Section 404 requirements for documenting internal controls, Blue Rhino was looking for a way to automate its processes and give management greater visibility into how the business is running. For example, Blue Rhino's cylinders are delivered to retailers through a national network of independent and affiliated distributors, and the company wanted a way to keep better tabs on millions of cylinders as they travel through the supply chain.

To tackle both issues, Blue Rhino chose e-Work, a business process management platform from Metastorm. Blue Rhino is automating multiple processes using the platform, ranging from operational and financial to human resources and customer service processes.

"We first looked at e-Work for the supply chain problem we were trying to solve," Zertuche recalls. "When the professional services team came in to show us the product, we immediately saw other items that e-Work could help us with. One of them was getting ready for Sarbanes compliance."

On the operational side, Blue Rhino is using e-Work to automate its inventory procurement process. The system helps keep track of cylinders so Blue Rhino can order and transfer inventory among its 52 distributors. The company also is using e-Work to automate the process of bringing on new hires - making sure all the required paperwork is done and IT resources are provided, for example.

On the SOX front, Blue Rhino is using e-Work for its IT change control management process. The software keeps track of changes to IT systems and provides the documentation Blue Rhino needs to attest to the adequacy of its internal controls.

The self-documenting nature of e-Work is a huge advantage, Zertuche says. "As my developers are developing and using the e-Work change control process, they are generating the documentation we need."

It's especially helpful during audits. "I don’t have to go pull test plans and change control documentation," Zertuche says. "I literally sit the auditor at a computer and say, 'Here's all the change control by application. Pull what you want.'"