10 Data control. The data control group ensures that source data have been properly approved, monitors the flow of work through the computer, reconciles input and output, maintains a record of input errors to ensure their correction and resubmission, and distributes systems output.
It is important that different people perform these functions. Allowing a person to do two or more jobs exposes the company to the possibility of fraud. For example, if a erase her car loan balance while conducting the test. Likewise, if a computer operator has access to programming logic and documentation, he might, while processing the company payroll program, be able to alter the program to increase his salary.
In addition to adequate segregation of duties, organizations should ensure that the people who design, develop, implement, and operate the company’s information system are qualified and well trained. The same holds true for those in charge of system security.
Project Development and Acquisition Controls
It is important to have a formal, appropriate, and proven methodology to govern the development, acquisition, implementation, and maintenance of information systems and related technologies. The methodology should contain appropriate controls for management review and approval, user involvement, analysis, design, testing, implementation, and conversion. The methodology also should make it possible for management to trace information inputs from their source to their final disposition or from their final disposition bake to the original source (the audit trail). The methodologies used to develop or acquire systems are discussed in more detail in Chapters 18 through 20.
Examples abound of poorly managed projects that have wasted large sums of money because project management controls were ignored. For example, the Oklahoma State Insurance Fund terminated a software development contract when the project fell several months behind schedule and went $1 million over budget.
To minimize failures and reduce cost overruns, while substantially improving system efficiency and effectiveness, the following principles of control should be applied to systems development:
1 Strategic master plan. To align an organization’s information system with its business strategies, a multiyear strategic master plan is developed and updated yearly. It shows the project that must be completed to achieve lone-range company goals and addresses the company’s hardware. software, personnel, and infrastructure requirements.
2 Project controls. A project development plan shows how a project will be completed, including the modules or tasks to be performed and who will perform them, the dates they should be completed, and project costs. The plan should specify project milestones-or significant points when progress is reviewed and actual and estimated completion times are compared. Each project should be assigned to a manager and team who should be held responsible for the success or failure of the project. A performance evaluation of project team member should be prepared as each project is completed.
3 Data processing schedule. To maximize the use of scarce computer resources, all data processing tasks should be organized according to a data processing schedule.
4 Steering committee. A Steering committee should be formed to guide and oversee systems development and acquisition.
5 System performance measurements. For a system to be evaluated properly, it must be assessed using system performance measurements. Common measurements in include throughput (output per unit of time), utilization (percentage of time the system is being productively used), and response time (how long it takes the system to respond).