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Issued: May 2002

SUMMARY

This report presents findings and recommendations from our audit of Citywide information technology project management.

The City Departments’ management of information technology (IT) projects is uneven in quality and lacks minimum levels of corporate guidance.

We found that IT projects in the City of Austin were managed inconsistently across departments. In addition, the City is not consistently exercising due diligence over resources allocated to IT projects. Mechanisms for monitoring IT projects and ensuring that IT projects support corporate IT goals are missing. By looking at projects across the City and mechanisms for corporate guidance, we found:

• Four projects (out of 33), with a combined value of approximately $106 million (out of $146 million) scored perfectly across at least 3 of the 4 project management elements. Two of these projects scored perfectly across all of the project management elements, while two scored perfectly across three of the four project management elements. The remainder of the projects had mixed performance in the four key project management element areas: user requirements, project plan, risk management, and change management. Overall, project ratings scored higher in the area of user requirements and received lower ratings in the area of managing risks.
• Financial resources related to IT projects are not systematically budgeted and tracked. It is nearly impossible to determine the actual cost of City IT projects. We identified an estimated $200 million planned, underway, or implemented projects between FY 00 and FY 05. The performance of budget to actual expenditures was mixed for IT projects reviewed.
• Corporate involvement is critical to maximize return on investment and align IT projects with City goals. Overall, most department managers do not know if an IT project has achieved its expected business value upon implementation. Additionally, the City does not have an overall IT inventory to monitor project status and risk. One reason is that the City does not use a corporate IT strategic plan to guide the selection, prioritization, development, and execution of City IT projects. The adoption of a common project management methodology can mitigate many risks associated with IT projects.

Click here to go to our audit request form to request a hard copy of this report (Report No. AU01301) or download the entire text of the Citywide Information Technology Project Management audit (Size: 877 KB) in Adobe Acrobat. You will need Adobe's Acrobat Reader to view these files.

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