Audit Report on the Development And Implementation of the Paperless Office System By The Human Resources Administration

AUDIT REPORT IN BRIEF

We performed an audit on the development and implementation on the Paperless Office System (POS) by the Human Resources Administration (HRA). The goal of the system was to act as a single data entry point for several Department programs, and to automate the process of determining and re-certifying public assistance eligibility.

Audit Findings and Conclusions

Despite following formal systems development methodologies and spending more than $47 million on system design and development, POS, which according to the Fiscal Year 1996 Mayor’s Management Report (MMR) was to be implemented citywide by April 1998, is not complete and does not meet the Department’s initial business and operating requirements. In addition, while we found that POS’ design allows for future enhancements and upgrades we could not determine whether POS, as a finished product, meets the overall goals stated in the system justification description because, as stated, the system is not complete.

Furthermore, the Department’s disaster recovery plan is inadequate to ensure that critical agency operations can be restored in the event of a disaster and POS has not been incorporated into such a plan. Moreover, although we determined that 22 consulting contracts were appropriately procured, we could not determine whether six contracts were procured in accordance with applicable City Charter provisions and PPB rules. As previously stated as a scope limitation, the Department did not provide us with complete documentation of all POS contracts-some Department files were missing, others had incomplete information about the manner in which the contract was procured.

Finally, our survey of POS users disclosed that 76 percent would like to see changes made to POS to improve response time, reporting, and data accuracy; the Department lacks written policies and procedures to ensure that POS user accounts are adequately controlled; and the information presented about POS to the public in the MMRs that were reviewed gave the false impression that POS development was progressing smoothly.

Audit Recommendations

To address these issues we recommend that HRA should:

• Complete and make operational all missing functional items including all computer links identified in this report.
• Enhance the system to include various information such as testing results, user-acceptance certificates and corresponding acceptance criteria, and a complete project management log.
• Successfully complete testing before implementing all subsequent portions of the system.
• Employ an independent quality-assurance consultant to oversee and monitor the entire development process from its inception.
• Maintain complete documentation related to all contracts including pre-solicitation reviews, contract specifications, source-selection criteria and evaluations, price-cost analyses, bids and proposals, Vendex questionnaires, recommendation for awards, contract registrations, in accordance with PPB rules.
• Establish a comprehensive agency-wide disaster recovery plan in accordance with applicable provisions of Directive 18 and incorporate POS into the plan.
• Ensure that the user concerns identified in the report are addressed. In this regard, the Department 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.
• Develop written policies and procedures for tracking system users and terminating inactive user-IDs. In addition, the Department should periodically review the status of inactive user accounts and terminate access, where appropriate.
• Ensure that it provides complete and reliable information to the Mayor’s Office of Operations for inclusion in the MMR.