Audit Commission : Project Accounting and Management System

Project Description:

The Audit Commission (AUD) of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region developed in-house a standalone microcomputer-based Job Accounting System (JAS) in April 1988, using dBase III Relational Database Management System, to assist management in monitoring the progress of audit jobs. The JAS underwent enhancements throughout the years, including upgrading the software to DOS-based FoxPro. The application was designed to computerize the budgeting, recording and reporting of the time spent by audit staff of different ranks on various audit jobs. It had been aware that an effective project monitoring system along the lines of the JAS was an essential tool for a modern audit organization. However, the JAS did not fully address senior management’s needs for short and easily accessible summaries of key data.

The objective of the Project Accounting and Management System (PAMS) is to redevelop the JAS that can efficiently and effectively support the Commission’s management of staff resources spent on audit jobs.

AUD had selected Arcotect Limited through the Information Technology Professional Services Arrangement (ITPSA) to conduct the Systems Analysis & Design, System Development and Implementation for the PAMS. The project contained three major tasks, namely, System Analysis and Development (SA&D), Implementation of Program of Work, and Implementation of Monthly Processes.

Apart from transforming the previous features of JAS into more user friendly functions, Arcotect also proposed additional elements to PAMS:

a. Flexible functionality

PAMS was designed to incorporate flexible mechanisms such as approval chain, actual man-hour input process, dynamic rank creation and the flexibility for organizational re-structure so that the business operations will not be crippled when facing the dynamic business scenarios and evolving business environment.

b. Quality information

PAMS was designed to maintain the essential information like calendar, work items, data access control, on-loan information, budgeted hours validation, etc which were unavailable / could not be handled properly previously.

c. Timely reports

PAMS was designed to generate the different types of reports instantly to cater for the interests of different levels of staff.

d. Accessible centralized database

PAMS was designed to deploy through a centralized database which serves as the glue for the staff of the Audit Commission to improve collaboration. The information can be shared among all the staff.

e. Adapt to the future computerized process

PAMS was designed to include functions/features that enable users to transit from the previous manual process to the new computerized process. For instance, emails are sent by PAMS automatically to remind users to complete the data entry before monthly deadline.

The major challenges of this project were:

Complexity of maintenance functions:

Sophisticated maintenance functions were required for maintaining system flexibility in modifying organizational structure, staff posting information and retrieving job information by various criteria. The flexible yet sophisticated approval chain enables tighter control and facilitates production of related reports.

Matrix calculations in management reports

Various distributions of work items, user group, calendar days and hours were set as factors for calculation in the management reports.

Our major competitive advantages are: