How to Protect the Long-Term Health of IBM Controller
By Vicky Stonham, Operations Director
If your organisation relies on IBM Controller for statutory consolidation and group reporting, it’s likely business-critical. Over time, however, even well-designed Controller systems can become harder to manage as workarounds are introduced, key individuals move on, or new updates are applied.
That’s where a Controller Health Check can make a real difference.
At Aramar, we recommend carrying out a Controller Health Check periodically to help ensure your system remains secure, well governed, and fit for the future.
What is a Controller Health Check?
A Controller Health Check is a structured review of your existing IBM Controller configuration, benchmarked against current best practice.
The aim isn’t to make changes or disrupt your system. Instead, it provides clear, independent insight into how your system is set up today, where risks or inefficiencies may exist, and what opportunities there are to improve performance, governance, and resilience.
We’re often asked questions such as:
- Are we using Controller as effectively as we could be?
- Is our configuration still aligned with best practice?
- Are there risks to data integrity or governance we should be aware of?
- How well will our current setup support future changes or projects?
A Health Check is designed to answer exactly these types of questions.
What do we review?
During a Controller Health Check, we assess key areas of your system, including:
- Base configuration and core dimensions
- Automated intercompany and investment eliminations
- Automated cashflow
- Web client usage
- Governance around data loads and reconciliations
- Change control and structural updates
- Workflow design and month-end processes
Each area is reviewed against best practice, with practical recommendations tailored to your data and business needs.
What do you get?
Following the Health Check, you’ll have the opportunity to discuss findings and recommendations with an experienced Controller specialist.
There’s never any obligation to act immediately. Many customers use the insight as a roadmap, prioritising improvements over time as part of their wider Controller strategy.
Why we recommend doing this periodically
Controller systems often evolve organically. While this flexibility is one of the platform’s strengths, it can also introduce hidden risks if configurations are left unchecked for long periods.
A Health Check helps safeguard both your data and your future reporting capability, ensuring Controller continues to support your organisation as it grows and changes.
Want to explore this further?
If you have any questions or would like to discuss whether a Controller Health Check is right, feel free to get in touch.
If you’re looking for practical guidance, tips, and explanations on how IBM Controller works and how to get more from it, you may also find our Controller Knowledge Centre helpful.