Evaluating software controls for electronic data interchange

A number of attempts have been made to quantify the problem of control evaluation in computer-based information systems. This problem is particularly difficult in electronic data interchange systems where controls are primarily in the software, and undetected errors can quickly lead to severe consequences. An integer programming formulation provides a formal means of evaluating the cost-effectiveness of various control combinations. However, progression to testing its validity in practice has been slow due to computational limitations. Presented here is an alternative model which obtains the same objectives, is computationally efficient and has the capability of handling problems of realistic size.