When auditing the annual consolidated financial statement of the state (ACFSS) for 2019, the State Audit Office has paid special attention to the processes related to the initiated administrative-territorial reform (ATR). Therefore, the State Audit Office compiled information on municipal information technology (IT) management, which can serve as a basis for decision-making in the process of merging the cluster. The information obtained during the case study will provide an insight into one of the many areas that need special attention in preparation for the work after the municipal reform.
The State Audit Office has studied IT management in local and regional governments and concluded that the level of information and communication technology (ICT) governance and the provision of ICT services in local and regional governments vary a lot ranging from full centralisation to full decentralisation. Therefore, ATR will become the decisive motivation to decide on the further provision of ICT governance in a local or regional government, whether it will be centralised, decentralised, or semi-centralised. The State Audit Office views that centralised ICT governance will allow optimising personnel, financial, and ICT infrastructure resources in the long run. At the same time, the State Audit Office stresses that neither total centralisation nor total decentralisation should become an end in itself. Any decision on the chosen direction must rely on specific calculations, considerations of alternatives, but most importantly, the desired direction must be sustainable.
The State Audit Office has also collected information on the amount and costs of ICT resources, software used in local and regional governments to provide primary and support functions, server rooms, specified information system security classes, outsourcing, user support and computer network management, as well as other data.
Before taking over ICT resources, which will take place during the reform, the State Audit Office recommends updating the register of used software in each local and regional government, identifying the ICT resources to be taken over in the new local and regional government and their location, especially data centres established in local and regional governments, and outsourcing agreements signed. Assessing whether licenses certifying the right to use software will be taken over simultaneously with ICT resources is also important. The State Audit Office calls for consideration of the possibilities of optimising hardware resources by choosing the most economically justified solution for the placement of those resources while maintaining an appropriate level of security.
When merging local and regional governments that use different information systems (IS) and software, the State Audit Office recommends evaluating which IS or software one would use in the future, including by estimating how many financial resources one will require for purchasing additional licenses and training users, and assess the performance of hardware and other infrastructure after the systems are interconnected.
So that the newly formed local and regional governments could perform their functions successfully, including calculations of the real estate tax, population registration and residence registration, provision of social assistance, as well as so that the work of local and regional governments in accounting, record keeping, and HR management systems would run smoothly and uninterrupted, the State Audit Office encourages local and regional governments to develop a plan and make other preparations currently so that the municipal ICT management would be ready to work in a unified environment after the ATR. For this purpose, the State Audit Office is ready to provide each new local or regional government with the information collected during our audit on the ICT management in the regions forming that regional government.