The VMware End User Computing Security Curriculum

The VMware End User Computing Security Curriculum and more sophisticated applications are being put into the hands of the front-line users who are delivering new business value - but security risks are evolving in new ways. The risks associated with End User Computing (EUC) have been present ever since users were given the power to create their own spreadsheets and databases to do their job. With today's Increasing appetite for agile, cloud-based applications, such as business intelligence, marketing automation and sales CRM we are experlencing a rapid growth of custom, user deflned data. More The following is a list of considerations you need to make when creating the best possible EUC policy for your organisation. Definition of EUC In order to manage EUC in your organisation, you need to have a clear definition of what EUC means. This may be as simple as user maintained spreadsheets or complex queries in cloud-based reporting applications. EUC is generally defined as giving the end user the power to create their own applications to view or action business data. For a great and detailed definition of EUC, see Deloitte's paper on EUC, here: http://bit.ly/1eoTcUD End User Computing Application Deployment Do all of the users in your organisation need all of the data and tools? Risk can be mitigated by only giving access to those who need it. For example, in the case of a fast moving marketing environment like front-line sales, the sales representative is now entering data on-site in order to create lead generation data. In this case, they may only require data entry access to their front end forms, rather than the ability to change application-level reporting functions. This VMware Mirage white paper gives some good examples of deployment: http://bit.ly/1HFDAEU Training Allowing end users to access and modify business data can lead to inconsistencies that might cause problems further down the line. This risk can be mitigated by ensuring that users who have the power to change data have the correct training for both tools and processes within the business. For example, a field engineer may need to modify a database query in order to get access to a more complete data set. Ensuring that he fully understands the logic of SQL will save him time and reduce the potential for human error. For more information on the impact of EUC on personnel, see this research from Gartner. http://gtnr.it/1oyByBd Control Inconsistencies and errors in end user created applications such as databases can accumulate over time, just as they can with any software. Lack of vis bility of changes made to these applications can make it hard to find out what went wrong. The IT department should take control of archiving and diting of End User Ccomputing App applications that may affect the business process, it's absolutely essentlal to maintain verslon control. With This whitepaper from PWC explains version control of EUC applications in more detail: http://bit.ly/1iiP6y2 Backup Backing up business critical data is a given, but agile cloud-baseds applications also need protection. Localised systems are at risk from user errors and corruption. For example, procurement teams may need to create custom applications for updating stock levels and from time to time they will evolve based on the needs of the business. Ensuring these apps are backed up alongside the data they use is key to mitigating the risk of data loss. To help improve your EUC backup and recovery process, check out the great resources on the VMware blog: http://bit.ly/OzSaMd For more information relating to End User Computing and to join the debate on hot topics in enterprise cloud computing, join the VMware Consulting & Integration Partner Community on LinkedIn:In http://linkd.in/ldvZ2VG vmware