Secure File Transfer Using SSH Plus Additional Audit & Automation - FSA Reporting

In order to meet regulatory and corporate compliance requirements reporting members will require a cost effective solution that may be installed at one side of the data transfer without being tied to any proprietary protocol.

Considerations include:

- is it designed for use in most enterprise environments?

- is it flexible & adaptable to suit an unlimited range of needs for secure file transfer internally and externally?

Functionality and benefits should include:

+ can easily be adapted

+ Automatic transfer to single or multiple destinations of any file.

+ Monitor an 'inbox' directory for a file, or wait for a triggering event.

+ Take a copy of the file and generate a checksum.

+ All actions audited

+ Alerts raised for specified conditions รขโ�ฌโ�� including email

+ Option to retrieve a response file after a successful upload

+ Date and timestamp added to avoid duplicate names

+ Pre and post processing available for transfers

+ solution runs as a service

+ All files archived with a date & time stamp.

Transferring data to the FSA using System to System Interface

The Financial Service Authority (FSA) is in the process of implementing the interfaces for Transaction Reporting System (TRS) Product Sales Data (PSD) and Securities Trades Reporting (Markets) XML documents using the System to System Interface.

The FSA has not recommended any specific tools for this transfer, but has provided links to web resources which can be used to identify appropriate SFTP client tools and recommends that additional automation is used.

The current choice of tools for SFTP transfers is very large, but generally these are designed for interactive use, and provide little in the way of automated operations or audit trail for the client.

To address this need reporting members will require automation and auditing for SFTP clients.

Any solution should provide an easily configured service, which will transfer files using SFTP to predefined destinations. It also has the ability to collect response files, with configurable names and time intervals. With a combination of trusted open source tools and a flexible, configurable controlling service it should be ready for the FSA launch and adaptable for future requirements.

Solutions that have been designed to meet these and other requirements, and have sample configurations provided for both the FSA and Council for Mortgage Lending (CML) reporting environments. It is designed to be easily configured for future systems from these and other regulators (such as NYSE & NASDAQ) as well as corporate requirements (for secure file transfer internally and with business partners) and compliance with HIPAA, SOX, Privacy and Data Protection laws.

ProAtriaรขโ��ยข http://www.proatria.com

Pro:Atria was established in 2001 as a specialist consultancy and distributor for enterprise software products with a focus on multi-platform solutions and include solutions for Network Performance and Diagnosis, Identity Management & Provisioning, Managed File Transfer, Enhanced File Transfer, Secure File Transfer & SFTP, SOA & Web Services integration of legacy with J2EE & java applications.

Development & Technical support skills are available in the UK as well with the product vendors. These skills, together with listening to customer needs, have led to the development of SFTPPlus - enhanced SFTP. Programming skills include all important options.

Consultancy and Meetings. We are often called upon to offer consultancy and advice on the best way of achieving the objectives and the best solution.

UK customers include some of the largest names from Banking, Stockbroking, Consultancy, Outsourcing, Insurance, Government and Local Authority, Travel, Engineering, Retail, Accountancy, etc.

How to Save You Time In Your Small Business with Microsoft Word Templates!

One of the issues that most small business owners overlook when building starting out in business is the use of technology. Whilst computer technology may require a significant investment when starting out; Overtime, if your systems are built correctly they will in fact save you very large sums of money, in particular in the area of staff wages.

When I first started my business, One-on-One Personal Computer Training, I started out with a $3,000 Credit Card, which when you talk to any business adviser or business-coach is absolutely the worst thing you could do. One of the issues I have been most conscious of is the cost of having a large number of staff. The way I achieved a high level of efficiency in such a competitive market was to automate as many of the day-to-day tasks as I could. The best tasks for automation are those that are repetitive.

As soon as I mention the word Business Automation, most technophobes will put up a barrier and go into a minor or major fit. Business automation can be as simple as creating just a few Microsoft Word templates. Business automation doesnรขโ�ฌโ�ขt necessarily mean hiring a huge plethora of software developers and toiling day and night to build some monsterous and complex system. It can and should be simple so that you as a business owner can in fact do it yourself. Let me explain!

Microsoft for all its good and bad issues, has provided business one of the most awesome tools - Microsoft Word allows you to build templates that you can reuse as many times as you wish.

What Is A Microsoft Word Template?

Essentially, a Microsoft Word Template is like any traditional word document, the difference is that it is designed to be reused as many times as you require. Why not create a normal word document then. Well, the difference is that when you use a Microsoft Word Template, you can store the template under the New dialogue box, so that each time you want to use the document you go to that one point and it will be available.

Did you know that you can even create your own folders in the New dialog box? For our team at One-on-One Personal Computer Training, we have created our own tab called One-on-One which is where we store all of our templates for our staff to use.

What Sort Of Templates Might You Need?

This is one of the key questions I get asked the most. The most common templates I see small businesses require are items like Sick Leave Forms, Leave Applications, Order Forms, Sales Letters, Purchase Order Forms and so forth.

One of the reasons why I chose to build Microsoft Word Templates in my business was to ensure a level of continuity of contact with our customers. By building a series of Templates such as:

- A Company Letter Head
- A Company Fax Sheet
- A Company Leave Application
- A Company Thank You Letter
- A Company Weekly Timesheet
- A Company Sales Letter
- A Company Visitor Sign-in Sheet
- A Company Purchase Order Form
- A Company Order Form

By having these forms in a central place I have ensured that my staff donรขโ�ฌโ�ขt need to be recreating these styles of documents each time they have to send a letter or fax. Further to this, I know that certain sales letters used by my staff will achieve the sales outcomes that I am looking for. By using a Microsoft Word Template, they know that when they get and enquiry that they can simply fill-in the customer details and the letter is done.

In our sales letter templates we use Microsoft Wordรขโ�ฌโ�ขs Fill-in field to prompt our staff for key information like the Customers Name, Address and Company Name ensuring that the information does get put into the letter. Once they have completed that they simply press the Print button and its ready to go to the customer. As a business owner, knowing that thatรขโ�ฌโ�ขs all my staff have to do to achieve the sales makes me feel far more comfortable than them having to write their own customised letters each time a customer enquires about our training.

Microsoft Word templates are an incredibly useful tool in automating common documents that your staff maybe creating and I believe that this is the first process that all business owners should be using in automating their business.

Chris Le Roy is the Managing Director of One-on-One Personal Comptuer Training. He is a Microsoft Office Specialist Master Instructor and MCSE and has written a range of training material to help individuals become Microsoft Office Specialists. To find out more visit - http://www.1-on-1.biz or online shop at http://shop.1-on-1.biz. One-on-One Personal Computer Training also offers a Free online help forum for Microsoft Office Issues at http://help.1-on-1.biz