Start with the task the product supports
AUSTRAC suggests assessing a product’s fit with Australian obligations, your industry and existing procedures. It also recommends understanding its limits and support. Its general RegTech factsheet predates the current reforms. Ask the supplier to identify the current requirements its product supports and the functions outside its scope. AUSTRAC does not recommend or endorse a specific RegTech product.
Sources: AUSTRAC: Page 1: selection considerations; AUSTRAC: Page 1: explanation of limitations and implementation support.
- Describe a case
Use fictional information and an expected result.
- Run the test
Include missing data and failed checks.
- Inspect the record
Retrieve the decision history and export.
- Record the gap
Separate tested functions from promises.
Test the product before buying
Invented example. Suggested review structure. Completing these steps does not confirm compliance.
Follow the process from top to bottom.
Suggested demonstration: follow one case
Prepare fictional cases before the demonstration. Include a straightforward individual, a more complex customer relevant to your business and a case with missing information. Ask staff to enter the case, correct a mistake, pass it to a reviewer and retrieve its history. Write the expected result before the supplier runs the test. This is a suggested purchasing exercise, not a regulatory test suite.
Sources: AUSTRAC: Page 1: selection considerations; AUSTRAC: Page 1: explanation of limitations and implementation support.
Test a failure as well as a successful check
Ask what staff see when an external check times out or returns an uncertain result. Can they tell the difference between a completed check and a failed request? Ask the supplier to demonstrate that difference. For a screening feature, ask how a possible match reaches the person who must assess it. A reassuring colour on a screen is not an explanation of the result.
Sources: AUSTRAC: Page 1: selection considerations; AUSTRAC: Page 1: explanation of limitations and implementation support.
Inspect configuration and records
Ask who can change a rule, whether approval is needed and how staff can see earlier settings. Request a sample export using fictional records. Open it outside the product and examine whether the case history still makes sense. Ask which attachments, reasons and dates are included. These are suggested checks. Assess the record requirements that apply to your business separately.
Sources: AUSTRAC: Page 1: selection considerations; AUSTRAC: Page 1: explanation of limitations and implementation support.
- Fictional case
Create a sample case with evidence, a decision and an attachment.
- Export
Request the case history and supporting records.
- Independent reading
Open the export outside the product. Examine whether the reasons, dates and evidence remain understandable.
Test the exported record outside the software
Invented example. Read this visual with the source conditions and explanation in this section.
Follow the process from top to bottom.
Compare the full operating cost
Request a price for the same sample workload from each supplier. Separate licence fees from checks, additional users, setup, support and exit assistance. Ask what happens to read access and exports when the contract ends. Record any promise that is not included in the written offer. Keep future product features separate from functions you have tested in the current release.
Sources: AUSTRAC: Page 1: selection considerations; AUSTRAC: Page 1: explanation of limitations and implementation support.
Invented example: an incomplete customer file
A practice tests a fictional customer whose information is incomplete. The product creates a task, but the demonstration cannot show who receives it. The practice records an unresolved requirement and asks for a second demonstration with an assigned reviewer. It does not treat the presence of a task feature as proof that its staff can operate the process. The same test can be used when comparing products without publishing a vendor ranking.
Sources: AUSTRAC: Page 1: selection considerations; AUSTRAC: Page 1: explanation of limitations and implementation support.