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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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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Activities of the state in implementing the e-health system - Do the state, doctors and patients benefit from ehealth?
and social services and patients are also becoming more and more demanding about the volume and quality of the services provided. The more extensive and systematic implementation of e-health solutions helps ... make the health system more efficient, improves people’s health via more effective prevention, raises the awareness of patients and also contributes to the more reasonable use of health resources ... encountered in the development and implementation of e-health and the reasons for these problems were also studied. ... ... Why state, doctors and patients do not benefit from e-Health as much as they could? ... The report reviews whether the objectives set to the e-Health – ambitious multiyear program of Estonian Government - have been achieved. They are: higher quality of the health service and more ... efficient organisation of health care. As SAI Estonia found out, wide range problems started from two basic points: lack of strategic manager and unrealisitc schedule.
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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 ... 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 ... 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 ... E-health is a step forward in right direction, but not all objectives will be reached! ... 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. ... 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
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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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Peering Point Betriebs GmbH
In 2004 the Peering Point Betriebs GmbH was established to provide an effective and secure IT network for the operation of the e-card (a smart card which replaced health insurance vouchers ... in the course of the introduction of the electronic administration system) and other services in health care. Since its foundation the company has suffered losses. Net losses were covered by the two owners ... – the Main Association of Austrian Social Insurance Institutions and the Austrian Medical Chamber – to 50 % each, and since 2011 in a proportion of 60 to 40. The Main Association failed to give an objective ... ... Safe but expensive ... Network safety of a healthcare e-card system has been provided at a high cost. As the Austrian Court of Audit discovered - there was no concept to reduce the expenditure.
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Effectiveness of development of broadband network or high-speed internet
The National Audit Office audited whether the state has made every effort to ensure that everyone can have unlimited access to fast internet connection by 2020. The National Audit Office also ... analysed whether the network of fibre-optical cables or the basic broadband network, which is built with European Union support and should guarantee high-speed internet connection, has helped to achieve ... this goal. ... ... ... Slower broadband paid by customers ... The Estonian Information Society Development Plan foresees that high-speed internet of 30 Mbit/s should be accessible to all people in Estonia by 2020 and that 60% of the population will be using ... superfast internet of over 100 Mbit/s. To achieve these goals, the state, with the help of European Union support, decided to establish a broadband network which is not further than 1.5 km from 98% of homes ... and institutions. Private companies have not entirely met the Government's expectations. The Estonian SAI has looked for an answer: Why?
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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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The development and use of identification services in public administration
The audit examined the implementation and coordination of projects aimed at developing identification services in public administration, cooperation among authorities in this area and compliance ... with legislation in procuring services. The audit also examined development, control and monitoring structures regarding identification services. The audit focused on electronic identification services that are used ... in public administration's electronic transactions. ... ... Unhealthy competition linked with lack of coordinatnion and with procurement irregularities ... See what may go wrong with the IT public procurement. Check out what is the basis to avoid irregularities or omissions in complying with public procurement legislation. National Audit Office ... of Finland identified also risks resulting from lack of horizontal coordination.
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Results of the development of the state’s information systems
, 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 ... 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 ... 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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