Information Technology Cost Estimation Agencies Need to Address Significant Weakness in Policies and Practices
and agencies have appropriately implement costestimating policies an procedures(four caracteristics of a reliable cost estimation: comprehensive, well-documented, accurate, credible). ... To estimate reliable cost for the sucess of an IT program by providing the basis for the informed decision making and realistic budget information. To assess the extent to which selected departments ... IT cost estimation ... Check out what may go wrong with the information technology cost estimation. Results of the US GAO audit can help to identify high risk areas: comprehensiveness of estimations, their documentation ... , lack of adequacy and inadequate implementation.
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Quality of public services in information society in 2010
. Information about the services is still difficult to find on websites and people who use public services must still submit unjustified documents, proof of facts or go to administrative agencies in person ... The National Audit Office found that irrespective of a few positive changes, the quality of provision of public services in information society has not improved significantly in comparison to 2007 ... . A positive example is registration of a person’s place of residence, which has become considerably easier and user-friendlier than in 2007 as a result of the development of the state portal. <br/> 2007 Audit ... ... The quality of public services has been improved but still isn’t good enough ... is still difficult to find on websites and people who use public services must still submit unjustified documents, proof of facts or go to administrative agencies in person. ... Irrespective of a few positive changes, the quality of provision of public services in information society has not improved significantly in comparison to 2007. Information about the services
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Management of State Information Resources
was conducted on the assumption that the audited and other entities provided comprehensive and objective information and copies of the documents correspond to the originals. ... The objective of the audit was to assess effectiveness of the management of the state information resources and of the use of their possibilities: suitability of the chosen state resources management ... model; rationality of the use of the State Budget funds when managing information resources; use of the possibilities of the state information resources to improve the performance of the public sector ... Well targeted requirements, interconnected information resources and broad use - why so difficult to be gained? ... The leading idea of the 'Approach to Management of State Information Resources' programme was to entrench a comprehensive management of data resources. After five years preparations, the desired ... momentum was still not the case. SAI Lithuania analysed roots of the problems: concept, poor use of funds, lack of interconnections, unsatified users.
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VETERANS’ HEALTH CARE - Preliminary Observations on VHA’s Claims Processing Delays and Efforts to Improve the Timeliness of Payments to Community Providers
in geographic location, performance, and workload); reviewed VHA documents and 156 claims from those 4 locations; and interviewed officials from VHA, Medicare, TRICARE, and selected community providers and state ... Due to increases in expenditures and utilization of VA care in the community services in recent years, VHA has had difficulty processing claims in a timely manner. In planning to consolidate its ... existing VA care in the community programs, as required by law, the agency said it will examine strategies for improving the timeliness and accuracy of its payments to community providers.<br ... Data processing hold back by technology limitation, workload and administrative burden ... US GAO analyzed all factors of slower processing and user unfriendliness that occur sometimes to the veterans healthcare. The main focus is data processing - and it has been proved that it can ... be failing not only because of technology, but also because of work-process design, staff and organisation.
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Management and implementation of 1BestariNet
and documents related to 1BestariNet project, data analysis, physical check on the 1BestariNet network, walk through system, visit to the 1BestariNet Data Centre located at the vendor’s premise, interviews ... 1BestariNet Service Project (1BestariNet) is an initiative undertaken by the Malaysian Ministry of Education (MOE) to replace and enhance ICT connectivity in schools. It is an enhancement ... to the SchoolNet service which terminated on 31 December 2010 with emphasis on end-to-end solutions (E2E) network services together with Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). Under this project, 10,000 primary ... ... To answer big risks in IT systems development you need all levels of organisation ... Audit of 1BestariNet is presented by the Malaysian National Audit Department together with other IT projects reviewed. A result is this concise and instructive list of lessons learnt and failures ... to be avoided. To maximize performance and minimize vendor lock-in you need a lot of concerted effort by top and line management, as well as users ready to work with new tools.
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State funds spent on development, operation and using of data centres services
The aim of the audit was to scrutinise the management of funds spent on building and operating the national data centre (hereinafter “STC1 data centre”), including the expenditure of selected ... organisational units of the state on buying hosting, server-housing and other related services. The audited period was between 2010 and 2014; where relevant, the preceding period was also scrutinised. Audited ... entities: Ministry of the Interior (“MoI”); Ministry of Finance (“MoF”); STÁTNÍ TISKÁRNA CENIN, state firm (state banknote printing firm, hereinafter “STC” or “the state firm”). The audit was conducted ... ... Risks steming from uncoordinated strategy ... SAI of Czech Republic analysed consequences of failures in strategic IT management at the state level. Lack of coordination and implementation rules reduced practical role of the ministry whose task ... was to guard high quality standards for all crucial IT systems in the state administration. Next consecquences were (among others) risk of uneconomical results of large IT investment and risk of inefficient ... supply of services, as well as opposite results of workforce reduction.
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Audit of the Government, Government-guaranteed and Municipal Debt Management Information Systems in the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Bulgaria
The main audit question studied during the audit was: Are the government, government-guaranteed (SDMS) and municipal debt management information systems (CMDR) at the Ministry of Finance effective ... ? The audit covered the period from 01.01.2013 to 31.12.2013 and investigated four major areas: IT system strategy and general management; IT security and controls against disasters; Operational controls ... and Documentation; Application Controls. ... ... Even effective and modern IT systems require improvements and updates to ensure their security and accountability ... For the management of the government, government-guaranteed and municipal debt the Ministry of Finance has established an advanced integrated information infrastructure. According to Bulgarian SAI ... the established system is effective and provides updated, complete and correct information. Nevertheless the audit report points out areas of security, application controls as well as documentation as the subjects ... that need further improvement and optimization.
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Cyber Attacks: Securing Agencies’ICT Systems
Cyber crime is an international problem, and it is estimated that in 2012, 5.4 million Australians fell victim to such crimes, with an estimated cost to the economy of $1.65 billion ... . In the government sector, the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD)3 has estimated that between January and December 2012, there were over 1790 security incidents against Australian Government agencies. Of these, 685 ... were considered serious enough to warrant a Cyber Security Operations Centre response. <br/> The protection of Australian Government systems and information from unauthorised access and use is a key ... ... Cyber-security strategy needs consistent implementation and periodic reviews ... List of 35 mitigation controls against cyber intrusions are a basic tool of information security strategy of the Australian Government. Top four are: 1. application whitelisting, 2. patching ... application, 3. patching operating systems, 4. minimising administrative privileges. Analysis by the ANAO helps to fill gaps and to direct next steps.
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Evaluation of the effectiveness of implementation and compliance with regulatory enactments and the legal framework of the project “E-government Portfolio”
The objective of the audit is to evaluate the effectiveness of implementation and compliance with regulatory enactments and the legal framework of the project “Egovernment Portfolio” of the national ... programme of the European Regional Development Fund (hereinafter: ERDF) of the European Union (hereinafter: EU), “Development and improvement of the infrastructural foundation for electronic governance”. ... ... Funds to absorb but no efficient project methodology? Be prepared for troubles ... Wide list of problems that can be met when more care is received by 'absorb funds' objective than by clear vision what and how can be improved. SAI Latvia's analysis shows how dangerous it can ... be for both effectiveness and financial management.
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Management of Information Resources of the Ministry of Agriculture
The Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Lithuania has managed 32 information systems and registers. Of these, 24 ones are managed, developed and upgraded by a state enterprise subordinate ... to the Ministry of Agriculture, the Agricultural Information and Rural Business Centre. The annual amount allocated by the Ministry for the maintenance of the Centre totals LTL 17.5 million on average ... . The objective of the audit was to assess the general and development controls of the information resources of the Ministry of Agriculture. The audit was conducted at the Ministry of Agriculture and the state ... ... Without appropiate IT management  it is hard to achieve reliable, consistent and secure systems for agriculture ... Since 1996 the Ministry has been using information systems of varying complexity for collecting and processing data, including personal data. The Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Lithuania ... has managed 32 information systems and registers. SAI of Lithuania revealed that systems were not well mantained what affected use of funds devoted to the systemsand also their legality and security.
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