The Queensland Auditor-General has called on State Government Agencies to be more open when information and communication technology (ICT) projects are cancelled.
In his report Effectiveness of the State Penalties Enforcement Registry ICT reform, Auditor-General Brendan Worrall also calls for more oversight of ICT projects by the newly created Office of Assurance and Investment.
“While this report focuses on the State Penalties Enforcement Registry (SPER) ICT project, there is a need for greater disclosure by Agencies when ICT projects are cancelled,” Mr Worrall said.
“In recent months, I received two referrals from Members of Parliament asking me to audit specific ICT projects that have either been cancelled or have experienced significant cost overruns and/or service delivery issues,” he said.
“One of the referrals relates to the Training Management System project at the Department of Employment, Small Business and Training.”
“The Department ended this project in 2018.”
He said the other referred to the new SAP S/4HANA implementation at Queensland Health and the hospital and health services.
Mr Worrall said that in view of the heightened interest in ICT projects, he planned to
prepare insights reports to Parliament covering significant ICT projects.
“The purpose of these reports will be to develop insights and to share learnings from significant projects across the public sector,” he said.
“The information within these reports will be over and above what Departments currently report through the Government’s digital projects dashboard.”
The Auditor-General’s 5-page report on the ICT reform at the SPER can be accessed at this PS News link.
