On-time fulfilment of auditor document requests in Deloitte Omnia fell from 80% to 65% this busy season. Why?

Introduction

Omnia is Deloitte's cloud audit platform, where audit teams plan engagements, analyse client data and document evidence. A crucial part of every audit is the request process: Deloitte teams ask clients for documents such as bank statements, invoices, contracts and reconciliations, and clients upload them. In this scenario, the share of auditor document requests that clients fulfil on time fell from 80% to 65% this busy season (the January–March year-end period for December year-end US companies). Late evidence delays fieldwork, pushes teams into overtime, and risks missing filing deadlines. I'll clarify, rule out external causes, map the journey, break down the metric, test hypotheses and propose a resolution.

Step 1

Clarifying Questions (3 minutes)

• How is "on time" defined, and has that changed?

• Why it matters: A change in how due dates are set can create a fake drop.
• Hypothetical answer: Evidence uploaded and accepted on or before the due date set in Omnia. Due dates are set by audit seniors.
• Impact: Check whether due dates were set differently this season.

• Is the drop across all clients and request types?

• Why it matters: Narrows the search.
• Hypothetical answer: Not yet analysed; overall drop observed in US audits.
• Impact: Segmentation is the first step.

• Did anything change in Omnia or in the audit process?

• Why it matters: Timing clues.
• Hypothetical answer (assumption): A redesigned client request portal launched in November, and a new audit methodology update increased the number of standard requests for some areas.
• Impact: Two strong candidate causes.

• Did request volume change?

• Why it matters: More requests in the same time window can overwhelm clients.
• Hypothetical answer: Average requests per audit rose about 18%.
• Impact: Volume is a likely contributor.