Audit Report on the Development and Implementation of the Client Tracking System by the Department of Homeless Services

AUDIT REPORT IN BRIEF

We performed an audit on the development and implementation of the Client Tracking System (CTS) by the Department of Homeless Services (Department). The purpose of CTS was to replace three subsystems of the Department’s "Prime" computer environment—the HOMES, HOMEBILLS, and SCIMS subsystems. HOMES was used to manage family shelters; HOMEBILLS system was used for provider billing management; and SCIMS provided for single-adult shelter management. According to the Department, CTS was to be developed in two phases. The first phase, which has been completed and is the focus of this audit, resulted in the development of two new subsystems—the CTS (Families) and CTS (Billing) systems. These systems replaced the HOMES and HOMEBILLS systems, respectively.

The first phase of CTS satisfied the Department’s initial business and system requirements; the system design allows for future enhancements and upgrades; and the system was procured in accordance to the provisions of §3-09 of the PPB rules. In addition, system users reported that CTS meets their needs. However, the Department did not comply with the provisions in the Intergovernmental Procurement Transactions—Interim Process memorandum when procuring consulting services from the companies that developed CTS in conjunction with the Department’s in-house staff. This memorandum outlined an interim process for making such purchases, which was agreed to by the Mayor’s Office of Contracts, the Law Department, and the Comptroller’s Office. Further, the Department did not develop CTS according to a formal system development methodology, and it did not engage an independent quality-assurance consultant as recommended by Directive 18. Finally, CTS operations have not been included in the Department’s disaster recovery plan.

To address these issues, we recommend that the Department:

• Comply with the now-established Intergovernmental Procurement Transaction process when procuring goods or services costing in excess of the small purchase limits using vendors on State contracts. In addition, the Department should not split purchases as a means of ignoring this process.
• Employ a formal system-development methodology and engage an independent quality-assurance consultant when undertaking the development of new computer systems or making major changes to existing systems, using either in-house resources or external system-development and integration services.
• Update its disaster recovery plan to include CTS operations.
• Ensure that the user concerns identified in this report are addressed. In addition, the Department should periodically conduct user surveys to identify user concerns.
• Review the status of all CTS users and terminate access, as appropriate.