Getting Down to Business - Have You Identified the Pieces and Started Putting Them Together?

This blog is the third in a four part series How to Solve a Puzzle.

I cannot believe this series is almost over. Out of all the steps, this step is my favorite. It is all about identifying an object and finding the pieces for that part of the puzzle and putting them together. It is exciting because you start seeing the fruits of your labor. The puzzle comes to life in this step. This is also the step in the investigative process when most of the work is performed.

I have been diligently working on the puzzle by myself. As you can see from the picture, I still have a good bit of work to do. Without the help of my daughters, I have serious concerns about whether I will be able to finish the puzzle before posting next week’s blog. But I’m hopeful they’ll help me this week since this is the most fun part of puzzle solving. They’ll surely want to be in on the action when we complete the puzzle.

The photo above shows step three—the most exciting one. The picture on the front of the puzzle box shows several brightly colored large signs. I picked the large yellow Shell sign first and scanned the puzzle pieces for ones that had yellow in them. It didn’t take long to identify about 10 pieces and then I started putting them together. Next, I picked the green Quaker State sign and repeated the same process. I am currently following this process to put the various signs together working from the prominent colors and large pictures within the puzzle, all based on the picture provided on the puzzle’s box. This process keeps me from becoming overwhelmed by all the pieces and helps me remain focused. Setting smaller goals of focusing on specific areas of the bigger puzzle helps me reach my ultimate goal of completing the entire puzzle.

Generally, I follow this same process when managing a fraud investigation. However, because in a fraud investigation we don’t have a picture to guide us, we must develop a hypothesis (remember the scientific method). Your goal is to gather enough evidence to test the hypothesis, analyze the data, and draw a conclusion.

A fraud investigation usually has more than one task, and the process discussed above helps. Splitting up the tasks, like the signs in my puzzle, is an easy way to manage the larger investigation. Each task has a specific purpose. The purpose could be to gather evidence, to quantify losses from a particular scheme, or to rule out areas that may not have been impacted by fraudulent activity. While completing these tasks, you may discover the need to develop and complete additional tasks.

The goal of every task should remain focused on the overall goal of the investigation. I constantly reevaluate the tasks and results to make sure everything aligns with the goal. If things aren’t aligning or the results differ from my expectations, then I reassess and revise the plan if necessary. Flexibility is a key component when planning and conducting fraud investigations.

Finally, sometimes you just can’t answer all the questions or solve the puzzle. This can happen for a variety of reasons, but is usually because you don’t have enough evidence to test your hypothesis. Being prepared for this at the onset can help manage or mitigate your disappointment.

I hope my daughters will pitch in to help with the puzzle this week. Stay tuned to see if we can get it done in time!