|
 The
preliminary results from the 2000 Annual Retail Security
Survey conducted by the University of Florida indicates
that 44.5% of shrink is now caused by employee theft
and fraud. Employee theft has increased from 41% in
the 1997 survey and from 38% in the 1996 survey.
Aspect's LossPREVENTION solution is aimed at this 44.5%.
Providing
data for this client is a server, such as an IBM RS6000
or Sun server, an AS/400, or an IBM mainframe.
A database on the server contains sales data collected
regularly from the main retail system.
The
LossPREVENTION system is, in some respects, an Expert
System: it incorporates the rules of thumb and statistical
methods used by loss prevention specialists for many
years, but is capable of applying these to large volumes
of data in a timely manner.
The
basic approach of the LossPREVENTION system is that
certain activities are high risk. These activities in
themselves do not necessarily indicate fraud, but an
employee who performs more than the usual amount of
them would probably be under suspicion.
The kind of activities noted by the LossPREVENTION solution
include the following:
• No sale following a cash void
•
Price overrides
•
Under-ring of keyed items
•
Returns without a receipt
•
Employees ringing their own purchases
•
Employees ringing their own returns
•
Voids of own purchases
•
Voids of other employees' purchases
•
Voids before opening or after closing
•
Multiple charge voids of the same account,
or by the same employee, or on multiple dates
•
Charge returns in excess of the charge purchases
by account number over a period of time
•
Multiple refunds for the same original transaction
•
Refunds rung at registers other than the service desk
•
Layaway cancellations other than at the service desk
•
Excessive line item voids
•
Manual entry of credit card numbers
This
list is by no means complete. There are presently
over 700 defined queries available. Each successive
release of LossPREVENTION contains new queries and
features, based on the experience of our customers
and Aspect. Additionally, we offer customization
services for those of our customers who want to add
extra capabilities unique to their environment.
Recognizing
and tracking these high-risk transactions over time
and across the retail organization forms the foundation
of the LossPREVENTION system.
Having detected a suspicious pattern, LossPREVENTION
allows you to zoom in on a particular area of interest.
For
example, you can focus on:
• a particular store
• a group
of stores
• a district
• a group
of registers
• a particular
time of day, such as lunch time, or end-of-shift
• a particular
employee
• a group
of employees
• an account
number
• transactions
above a specified value
This
information is displayed on the PC screen, output as
printed reports or with the report control functions
allow, designing reports that meet your company’s
needs.
Additional
investigative tools include:
• Employee
scoring
• Incident
analysis
• Top ten
store reporting
• Transaction
analysis
Next:
The User Interface (Two
Example Investigations)
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