Audit Report on the Development and Implementation of the Legal Tracking System by the Administration for Children’s Services

AUDIT REPORT IN BRIEF

This office performed an audit on the development and implementation of the Legal Tracking System (LTS) by the Division of Legal Services (DLS) of the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS). The goal of the system is to create a comprehensive, integrated system for DLS, with one shared database and separate modules for each unit.

Audit Findings and Conclusions

The procurement process for LTS generally complied with the existing practices in effect at that time, and its design allows for future enhancement and upgrades. However, because the system is not complete we could not determine whether LTS, as a finished product, meets the initial business and operating requirements or the overall goals as stated in the system justification description. ACS has spent $9.2 million and LTS should have been operational by April 2005, nevertheless, ACS has completed only Phase 1 and 2 of a three-phase development. Although some components of Phase 3 are in process, other components have been put on hold—specifically those dealing with how ACS (and other, similar agencies) makes decisions about a child’s permanent placement in compliance with the Adoption and Safe Families Act and the New York State Legislation, Chapter 3 of the Laws of 2005, commonly known as the Permanency Law.

In addition, although LTS was designed and developed according to a formal systems development methodology, deficiencies in following that methodology led to delays in development and to increased project costs—the cost increased from an estimated $5.6 million to $9.2 million as of March 2005. ACS indicated that in Fiscal Year 2006 it needs to spend an additional $718,853 on LTS Phase 3 development, although it could not provide us with an estimate of the amount needed to fully complete Phase 3 since, as previously stated, some Phase 3 components have been indefinitely put on hold.

LTS generally functions reliably and contains accurate current information; however, access controls need improvement, and data converted from a prior system were often found to be inaccurate and lacking certain data. ACS has also not incorporated LTS into its disaster recovery plan. Finally, our survey of LTS users disclosed that 33 percent of the users who responded to the survey were happy with LTS, while 67 percent were somewhat satisfied with LTS but would like to see changes made to the system, to enhance user screens, and to improve the accuracy of the data.

Audit Recommendations

To address these issues, we recommend that the ACS:

• Ensure that business and system requirements are adequately defined for the remaining LTS development.

• Continue to serve as project manager for the final phase of the development; however, ACS must implement our recommendation, which follows, to employ an independent quality-assurance consultant.

• Ensure that all information recorded in LTS is thorough and accurate.

To ensure that the problems identified in this report do not beset future development projects, ACS should:

• Employ an independent quality-assurance consultant to oversee and monitor the entire development process from its inception.

• Develop written policies and procedures for tracking system users and terminating inactive User IDs. In addition, ACS should periodically review the status of inactive user accounts and terminate access, when appropriate.

• Terminate inactive accounts identified in this audit.

• Update the disaster recovery plan to include LTS, conduct a comprehensive test of the plan, and schedule annual tests, as required by Comptroller’s Directive #18.

• Ensure that the user concerns identified in the report are addressed. In this regard, ACS should work towards shortening system-response times, increasing application availability, standardizing screens and modes of completing action, isolating errors, improving handling of reported problems by the help desk, and providing more frequent training.

• Conduct periodic surveys of users to ensure that their concerns are addressed.