FEMA Needs to Address Management Weaknesses to Improve Its Systems
Controls in emergency management GAO audited the agency of the Department of Homeland Security, responsible for federal efforts to mitigate, respond to, and recover from disasters. American auditors recommend that the agency fully define its investment board’s roles and responsibilities and procedures for selecting and overseeing investments, update its strategic plan and complete plans for IT modernization, and establish time frames for completing workforce planning efforts. The agency should also establish policies and guidance for implementing key IT management controls.
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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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Business Continuity Management
Business Continuity Management is a process whereby all necessary measures are taken to ensure that a company can accomplish its core tasks on time even in extraordinary situations. The Swiss Federal ... Audit Office (SFAO) previously carried out a cross-section audit in 2009 on the BCM measures at nine administrative units of the central Federal Administration. This year’s audit focused ... on the decentralised Federal Administration as well as the Swiss Federal Railways (rail transport and ticket sales) and Swiss Post (PostFinance, Swiss Post Solutions, PostBus). ... ... A cross-section audit on business continuity management (BCM) ... The audit points, among others, at a necessary but difficult process chain: Policy - Analysis - Strategy - Planning - Training.
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Coordinated Audit on Information Technology Governance
IT governance needs awareness and SAIs' support The OLACEFS auditors found that the greatest challenge for the SAIs is to raise the awareness of the audit institutions about the importance of IT governance and the benefits that could be obtained by improving its degree of maturity. The audit was conducted by 11 SAIs and coordinated by TCU of Brasil. They concluded: 'It is important, even urgent, to invest resources to implement or enhance: the IT committees; the IT planning process; strategic IT planning; monitoring the IT contracting process; the business continuity plan; the designation of a responsible person or unit to manage security information; a risk management process; an asset inventory process; an information security committee; and a policy for access control.'
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Improved Planning and Performance Measures Are Needed to Help Ensure Successful Technology Modernization
Massive modernization effort needs coordination Social security issues can touch lives of many. Information technology in this area are increasingly costly and difficult to maintain. GAO is recommending to develop comprehensive metrics to effectively gauge modernization progress; complete comprehensive strategic planning, including its enterprise architecture; and define the new roles and responsibilities to help ensure effective oversight.
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