ARCHIVED - Audit of the development of the Expenditure Management Information System (EMIS) - Final Report - Management Response - November 25, 2005

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2. Introduction

2.1 Background

The successful completion of EMIS is critical to support the priorities of TBS and the Government as evidenced by the Budget 2003 announcement for strengthening the Government's Expenditure Management System, reallocation of resources to new priorities, cyclical departmental and horizontal program reviews and linking planning and results management. 

As of March 2004, EMIS' objectives included providing the Government's Budget Office and Management Board with the information and analytical tools needed to deliver on its stewardship functions. The overall objective is to create an environment that supports the integration of analysis of information for effective expenditure management decisions. 

Originally and as a result of a series of reviews conducted in the late 1990s, a Preliminary Project Proposal was developed in November 2000 which provided for the EMIS project an amount of $16.2 million over five years. In order to meet commitments outlined in the Budget 2003, the scope was expanded and approved in March 2004 for the current EMIS project which will result in total costs of $53.5 million.

The EMIS Project is currently in Phase 1 of the project. The budget for Phase 1 of EMIS for 2004/05 is $12.7 million and for 2005/06 is $6.7 million. The EMIS project team has reported to the Steering Committee during the latter part of fiscal year 2004/05 that its overall budget for the two years is on track.

Accomplishments from the EMIS Project during 2004/05 include establishment of the Program Activity Architecture (PAA) and the development of a tool for data gathering from the departments/agencies to support Annual Resource Level Update (ARLU) reporting. However, there were a number of project deliverables that were not completed successfully including a reliable technical environment and infrastructure to support data captured from departments, automation of the Estimates process and a sustainable project team with decreasing reliance on outside contractors.

2.2 Objective

The objective of the internal audit of the EMIS Project (Phase I) is to identify and provide practical feedback and advice regarding significant project management issues. This audit is based on the Treasury Board's Project Management Policy, the objective of which is "To achieve effective and economical management of projects with visible and clearly established project leadership."

The policy requires that projects:

• have well defined objectives within an accountability framework;
• have well defined roles and responsibilities;
• be approved in accordance with project approval requirements as set out in Chapter 2-1;
• employ sound project management principles;
• be adequately resourced;
• have a comprehensive and coordinated definition of the overall scope of the project; and
• be managed in a manner sensitive to risk, complexity and economy of resources.

This audit makes practical recommendations, which if implemented, will assist the project in meeting Treasury Board policy's broad objective above.

2.3 Scope

This audit assessed Phase I of the Expenditure Management Information System (EMIS) Project. The objective of the internal audit is to identify and provide practical feedback and advice regarding significant project management issues. The EMIS project was selected as it represents a highly strategic project for the Government of Canada and in March 2004 an expanded scope was approved. The Internal Audit and Evaluation Committee approved the audit on July 28, 2004. The audit considered the elements of project management and how they apply to the project. The focus of the audit was the current phase and status of EMIS, including the planning for the upcoming phases.

Audits of major systems being developed may have three main components: first, to provide an opinion on the efficiency, effectiveness, and economy of project management; second, to assess the extent to which the system being developed provides for adequate audit trails and controls to ensure the integrity of data processed and stored; and third to assess the controls being provided for the management of the system's operation. The scope of this review focused primarily on the first component: project management processes supporting EMIS to deliver a high quality system and new business processes on time and on budget.

2.4 Criteria

The criteria used for this audit are based on generally accepted criteria and cover the following three general areas:

• Project Management
  • Authorities and Resources
  • Project Scope
  • Project Risk, Complexity and Economy
  • Project Monitoring
  • Business Arrangements
  • Communications
• Business Transformation and Organizational Readiness
  • Multiple Stakeholders and Business Process Change
  • Business Case
  • Accountability of Projects
  • Accountabilities of Multiple Stakeholders
• Technology
  • Common Technology, Tools and Methodology
  • IT Security Resources for Projects

The detailed criteria for these sections and sub-sections are presented in Appendix 1.

2.5 Approach and Methodology

Approach

The approach taken to conduct the audit included the following steps:

• Identified and documented the project management activities and processes used for the EMIS project;
• Identified project management best practices by researching TB policies and guidelines as well as external project management authorities;
• Evaluated the EMIS project against audit criteria and best practices; and
• Identified areas for improvement for the EMIS project.

Based on the above steps, practical recommendations were developed and communicated to the EMIS project leadership.

Methodology

The audit team conducted research of TB policies and guidelines as well as external best practices for systems under development and business transformation projects. Project management criteria were reviewed and approved by the Audit and Evaluation Committee.

The audit team interviewed key members of the project leadership and project management as well as a number of the members of the EMIS Project Steering Committee. Extensive interviews were conducted with EMIS Project team leads, team members, third party vendor and contractors and external stakeholders. A list of interviewees is included in Appendix 2.

Interviews were also conducted with the Secretary, Assistant Secretaries and representatives from the TBS Services Branch and EMIS business directorate (Estimates, ARLU).

A document review of project documentation including TB Submission, project charter, plans and communications, project status reports, and project budgets was conducted.

Being a Systems Under Development audit, preliminary findings were presented to key stakeholders and project leaders as significant issues were identified during the course of the audit.

 

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