Maintenance efficiency in the rail network
The primary objective of railway politics is to contribute to ensure that users of the transport service have good railway options. The Norwegian National Rail Administration is organised under ... the Ministry of Transport and Communications, and its responsibilities include operation, maintenance and development of the State's railway infrastructure. The maintenance activities must safeguard safety ... , fixed assets and operational stability of the railway system. The most important objective for the maintenance is to reduce the scope of operational interruptions, and to facilitate better punctuality ... ... Rail network maintenance - negative balance of costs and results ... SAI Norway evaluated efficiency of the railway maintenance and found that its costs increased nearly 110 per cent in years 2006–2014. Negative development in uptime and regularity dominated the first ... part of the examined period, from 2006 to 2011. It turned positive from 2011, but in 2014 results were still worse than in 2006. The results have lagged behind the Ministry's target figures for most ... of the period.
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Is the project 'E-health in Latvia' a step towards the right direction?
Objective of the audit was to verify efficiency and productivity of the actions by the institutions in charge for implementation of the e-health, as well as to audit economy and productivity of use ... of funds invested in the project for achievement of set objectives and gaining the planned benefits. Audit covered such main questions: 1) Will the e-health policy be able to solve problems and achieve ... the objective? 2) Are the actual activities performed by the National Health Service justified for achievement of the set objectives? 3) Will necessary information security and personal data protection be ensured ... E-health is a step forward in right direction, but not all objectives will be reached! ... Project “E-health in Latvia” supports healthy lifestyle, it will provide valuable and accessible information and will promote more efficient provision of services to patients. It is undoubtedly ... a step towards the right direction then. However, as found the Latvian SAI, the e-health policy will not be implemented within the initially planned scope and deadline and within set data security levels ... , thus the objective of this policy – to promote more effective provision of healthcare services will be attained only partially.
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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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Preparations and realization of the State A-levels
The aim of the audit was to scrutinise the utilisation of the state budget and EU budget funds that had been spent on preparing and implementing the State A-levels examinations. The auditing ... operation was performed from May to November 2011. The audited period extended from January 1, 2005, to June 30, 2011; where relevant, the data from the previous period and the period until the end ... of the auditing operation were also scrutinized. Among the audited bodies were the Ministry of Education, the Education Result Survey Centre, and the National Institute for Further Education. The auditing operation ... ... Begin with good strategy ... Analyzing problems of state examinations system, Czech Republic SAI found that commonplace strategy effected in shortsighted planning, poor procurement and disadvantageous contracting.
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Results of the development of the state’s information systems
The National Audit Office has repeatedly audited the management and development of the state’s information technology (IT) area in the last ten years. The last audit was performed in 2005. After that ... , several measures have been implemented in the state to organise the development better and to guarantee that the systems are compatible. This audit gives an opinion of the results of development project ... management and the state’s coordination mechanism in this process. ... ... Success and failure depend on preparation ... Conclusions of performance IT audit based on a sample of government projects: business portal, land register, e-police, fire safety monitoring system, childcare information system and the document ... management system of the Defence Forces. Key problems and discussion with auditees are presented.
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Incorrect payments in social insurance - Control activities of the Swedish Social Insurance Agency
In 2014 the social insurance system accounted for six per cent of GDP. The long-term sustainability of a system of that magnitude requires that the public perceives its purpose to be important ... , that it is well administered and that it is as free of abuse as possible. It must also be financially stable over time, since major fluctuations impact other areas of the central government budget. When ... these things function as they should, the system is perceived to be legitimate and enjoys public confidence.<br/> According to available estimations, almost SEK 20 billion had been paid out incorrectly from ... Balance of priorities needed to reduce incorrect payments ... Role of social insurance in public finance is so substantial that reduction of incorrect payments' volume is matter of huge savings. The Swedish NAO noted positive initiatives by the Social Insurance ... Agency in this regard. However they found also, that serious problems can stem from giving higher priority to the speed of payment and customers satisfaction. They both are undoubtedly important features ... of each system, still, the prevention of incorrect payments needs strategic support to be really effective.
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The implementation of national IT projects in social and health care
IT management expenditure in public administration totalled about 2.1 billion euros in 2009. IT management expenditure by local authorities and federations of municipalities in the field of health ... care totalled about 270 million euros ino 2009. Health care's share of IT management expenditure in public administration thus amounted to about 13 per cent in 2009. ... ... IT-centred manner of project implementation can harm IT investments' results ... SAI Finland perfomed a vast review of IT projects in health and social protection. Many interesting findings cover structural problems, as 'Many separate systems with no future' and characteristics ... of poor governance, as 'No cost monitoring - unclear objectives - arguable usefulness'.
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The Ministry of the Environment lacks a compact information system and still uses 125 separate information systems and databases
The objective of the audit was to scrutinise the management of funds earmarked for the purchase and administration of ICT within the MoE and selected organisations which come under the management ... of the MoE. The audit identified the following risks: (1) non-existence of the Integrated environmental information system (IEIS) as an independent information system; (2) purchase of ICT, within the budget ... chapter of the MoE, through a state co-funded organisation CENIA which comes under the management of the MoE; (3) utilisation of the information systems. The audited period was 2010 to 2013; where relevant ... ... Ministry of the Environment manages 125 information systems and databases ... The Ministry of the Environment (MoE) has for more than 20 years a legal obligation to administer and manage an Integrated Environmental Information System (IEIS). In spite of this fact, the existing ... systems (more than 125 information systems and databases) are designed, implemented and managed as individual information systems without a direct integration into a joint point of reference.
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