WITH DEFICIENCES OF VIEW
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On August 25, the Court of Accounts of the Republic of Moldova (CoARM) examined the Performance Audit Report: "Do the information systems implemented in the public sector contribute to efficient and secure document management?".
The purpose of the audit was to assess the way in which the necessary conditions were created and met to ensure the implementation, management, use and development of the Document Management Information System (DMIS), so that they achieve the intended impact, with the identification of risks and vulnerabilities and the determination of opportunities for improvement to maximize the benefits in this regard. The audit included the activities carried out during 2020-2022 (I quarter), primarily by: the State Chancellery, the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Finance, the Electronic Government Agency, the Information Technology and Cyber Security Service (ITCSS), as well as 22 public entities selected by the audit. At the same time, audit samples were collected and analyzed regarding the way documents are managed through information systems (IS) implemented and used, from 137 surveyed entities.
The implementation of an integrated electronic document circulation system, according to policy documents, is one of the most important mechanisms of e-government. The efficiency of the state's performance of its functions is determined by three components: the efficiency of the internal work of each individual institution; the efficiency of the interaction of public authorities; efficiency of interaction with citizens and enterprises. Thus, the implementation of the Integrated Electronic Document Circulation System (IEDCS) will allow to considerably increase the efficiency of these three links, to optimize the organizational procedures and to make them much simpler and logical.
The results of the audit activities reveal that, although the premises for the establishment and operation of a IEDCS date back to 2007, over the years being planned in policy and strategic documents and certain actions carried out, such a system has not been implemented until now. The audit found that, over the years, public entities have implemented various IS developed on various platforms for the digitization of internal procedures, the respective process not being centrally coordinated/monitored. Moreover, the checks carried out by the audit show that the IS implemented for document management do not have an interconnection between them, not ensuring the electronic exchange of information, which reduces their efficiency.
At the same time, the deficiencies and shortcomings of the normative and regulatory framework related to the ICT field, as well as that which regulates the circulation and electronic archiving of documents, create difficulties and risks in the way of implementation and management of the respective categories of IS, including through the lens of security and data protection requirements processed within these systems. Likewise, it is important to highlight that the relatively low level of use and capitalization of IS implemented in the document management process, often using the traditional, paper-based mechanism, or the duplication of activities and resources in the document management process (electronic and, in parallel, on paper) also diminishes their efficiency, as well as the resources.
The audit checks show certain risks regarding the procurement of the DMIS creation and implementation services, as well as ensuring their administration, maintenance and development, ensuring the continuity and sustainability of the IS, including in the context of: the institutional capacities of the responsible authorities, communication, insufficient and ineffective collaboration between public authorities; insufficient promotion and monitoring of the application of legal provisions in the field, determined by limited institutional capacities and the dispersion of skills in the field; staff turnover, including management staff, within public entities, a fact which, to a significant extent, delayed the implementation of actions, as well as ensuring institutional memory.
It should be noted that the insufficiency of the measures taken to reduce the risks related to ICT management and to remove the deficiencies found by the previous audits of the Court of Accounts conditions their persistence and materialization, the failure to achieve the objectives outlined in the policy documents and the normative framework, respectively, the risk of inefficient use of public funds allocated for this purpose.
The audit findings point to a series of important aspects that require urgent interventions, in this sense the Court of Accounts submitted a series of recommendations to remedy the non-compliances and improve the activity in the audited areas, primarily aimed at:
- elimination of deficiencies and inconsistencies in the normative framework related to the fields of ICT, document circulation and archiving, including electronic ones;
- making the authorities responsible for the capitalization and use of IS for the electronic management of documents;
- ensuring the sustainability of the implemented AIS, including through positive changes in inter-institutional/inter-sectoral communication, which will generate possibilities for the modernization of faster and qualitative public services, etc.
