Montana Online Tax and Reporting System (MOTRS), Department of Transportation : EDP audit

24 Pages·1998·0.46 MB·English

by  Montana. Legislature. Legislative Audit Division

352.439 Legislative Audit
L72inotrsOivision
1998 V'ontana Online
Tax and Reporting
System MOTRS
Departme(nt of )*
Legislative Audit Division
State ofMontana
Reportto the Legislature
EDP
March 1998 Audit
STATE DOCUMENTS COLLECTION
APi^ 1993
MONTANA STATE LIBRARY
1515 C 6th AVE.
HELENA, MONTANA 39S20
Montana Online Tax and Reporting
System (MOTRS)
Department ofTransportation
Thisreportprovidesinformationregardingsystemdevelopmentcontrols
overMOTRS. Itincludesrecommendationsforimprovingcontrolsto
ensuredevelopmentresultsmeetdepartmentexpectations. Auditissues
address:
* Completingabusinessareaanalysis.
• Documentinguseracceptancetestingproceduresandresults.
» Completingprogramandoperationsdocumentation.
^J^
Directcomments/inquiriesto:
LegislativeAuditDivision
Room 135, StateCapitol
PO Box201705
98DP-04 HelenaMT59620-1705
MONTANASTATELIBRARY
3 0864 0010 3936 4
EDPAUDITS
Electronic Data Processing(EDP)auditsconductedbytheLegislativeAuditDivisionare
designedtoassesscontrols inan EDPenvironment. EDPcontrolsprovideassuranceoverthe
accuracy, reliability, and integrityofthe informationprocessedandreponed. Fromtheaudit
work, a determination ismadeasto whethercontrolsexistandareoperatingas designed. In
performingtheauditwork, theauditstaffusesauditstandardssetforth bythe UnitedStates
General Accounting Office.
MembersoftheEDPauditstaffhold degreesindisciplinesappropriatetotheauditprocess.
EDPauditsareperformedasstand-aloneauditsofEDPcontrolsor inconjunction with
financial-complianceand/orperformanceauditsconductedbytheoffice. Theseauditsaredone
undertheoversightofthe Legislative AuditCommittee which isabicameral andbipartisan
standingcommitteeoftheMontana Legislature. Thecommitteeconsistsofsix membersofthe
Senateandsix membersoftheHouseofRepresentatives.
MEMBERS OFTHE LEGISLATIVE AUDITCOMMITTEE
LEGISLATIVE AUDIT DIVISION
ScottA. Seacat,LegislativeAuditor DeputyLegislativeAuditors:
JohnW.Nortiiey,LegalCounsel JimPellegrini,PerformanceAudit
ToriHunthausen,IT&OperationsManager JamesGillett,Financial-ComplianceAudit
March 1988
STAre DOCUMENTS
e8LLICTI0N
n
APR 1998
MONTANA STATE LIBRARY
HELEN1A5,15MEO.N6TtAhNAAVE5.9S20
TheLegislativeAuditCommittee
oftheMontanaState Legislature:
ThisreportisourEDPauditoftheDepanmentofTransportation'ssystemdevelopment
controlsrelatingto itscomputer-basedMontanaOnlineTaxand Reporting System
(MOTRS). Wereviewedthedepartment'ssystem developmentcontrolsasrelatedtothe
MOTRS developmentcontract. Thisreportcontainsrecommendationsfor improving
developmentcontrolsandcontractcompliance. Writtenresponsestoouraudit
recommendationsare included inthebackoftheauditreport.
Wethankthedepartmentpersonnel fortheircooperationandassistancethroughoutthe
audit.
Sincerely,
ScottA. Seacat
LegislativeAuditor
Room135,StateCapitolBuilding POBox201705 Helena,MT59620-1705
Phone[phone] FAX[phone] [email protected]

Legislative Audit Division
EDP Audit
Montana Online Tax and Reporting
System (MOTRS)
Department ofTransportation
Membersoftheauditstaffinvolved inthisauditwereReneSilverthorae,
Rich McRae, andLonWhitaker.

Table ofContents
AppointedandAdministrativeOfficials ii
ReportSummary S-1
ChapterI Introduction 1
Introduction and
Background OrganizationofReport 1
SystemBackground 1
AuditObjectives 2
AuditScopeandMethodology 2
Compliance 3
ChapterII- System Introduction 5
Development
SystemDevelopmentConclusion 5
BusinessArea Analysis 5
DocumentationofAcceptanceTesting 6
ProgramandOperationsDocumentation 7
Agency Response DepartmentofTransportation 11
Page
i
Appointed and Administrative Officials
Department of Marv Dye, Director
Transportation
Bill Salisbury, Administrator, Administration Division
Darreil Zook, Chief, Accounting Services Bureau
Marcia Ala, Chief, Licensing and Permitting Bureau
Dave Gait, Administrator. Motor Carriers Division
Pageii
Report Summary
Introduction This isanauditoftheMontana OnlineTaxandReporting System
(MOTRS)atthe DepartmentofTransportation(DOT). Theaudit
reviewedsystem developmentcontrolsandrelateddevelopment
contractcriteria. Currentlyunderdevelopmentbyaprivate
contractor, thedepartmentintendsMOTRS to serveasa
comprehensiveautomated information managementsystemto
processstatewidefuel taxandmotorvehiclecarrier licensing data.
BackgroundinformationisincludedinChapterI. Theaudit
conclusionand issuesaresummarizedbelowanddiscussedfurther in
ChapterII.
System Development SystemdevelopmentcontrolsoverMOTRSshouldbeimproved.
Conclusion Theauditreviewedcontractoranddepartmentcompliancewiththe
developmentcontractand identifiedconcernsoversystem develop-
ment. Thecontractorhasnotprovidedall requireddeliverables
althoughtheIRPandIFTAmoduleshavebeenplacedinto
production.
Business Area Analysis The developmentcontractrequiresthecontractortocompletea
businessareaanalysisforeachcomponentoftheMOTRSproject,
includingareviewofthedepartment'scurrentbusinessprocesses
andadeterminationofkeybusinessrulesto incorporateinto
MOTRSprograms. Thecontractorhasnotcompletedabusiness
areaanalysisforremainingMOTRS modules, althoughthemodules
areunderdevelopment.
AcompleteanalysisforMOTRSmodulesstill underdevelopment
wouldallowthedepartmentto defineexpectationsandassess
developmentresultspriorto implementation. Withoutananalysis,
developmentresultsmayfail tomeetdepartmentneedsandrequire
additional systemmodifications.
Documentation of Industryguidelinessuggestmanagementcompleteacceptancetesting
Acceptance Testing beforeauthorizingfinal acceptance. Wefounddevelopmenttasks
wereclosedbeforethedepartmentcompletedacceptancetests. In
addition, thedepartmenthasnotdocumented itsacceptancetesting
methodsandresults. Industryguidelinessuggestacceptancetesting
proceduresandresultsbedocumentedtoensurevalidtestsare
completed.
PageS-1
Report Summary
Improvedcontrol overtestingproceduresandtheacceptancelog will
enablethedepanmenttoensuredevelopment resultsmeet
expectationspriorto final acceptance. Inaddition, documented
testingresultscanfacilitatesubsequenterrorresolutionprocedures.
Program and Opera- Thedevelopmentcontractrequiresthatthecontractorprovide
tions Documentation programandoperationsdocumentation, andusermanualsforeach
MOTRSmodule. Thecontractorhasnotprovidedacompleteusers
manual forthe IFTAapplicationortechnical documentationforany
oftheMOTRS systems.
Industryguidelinessuggestmanagement requiretechnical anduser
documentationandestablish formal proceduresto definethesystem
atappropriate levels. Withoutcompleteoperationsorprogram
documentation, systemusershavenocleardirectionforsystem
operation. Systemdocumentationwill helpreducepotential delays
intesting, approval, andprocessing.
PageS-2