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3 golden objects Minnesota Legislature

Office of the Legislative Auditor - Financial Audit Division

Report Summary
Department of Finance

Information Warehouse Data Integrity Review

 

Public Release Date: June 4, 1998 No. 98-36

Agency Background

The Department of Finance manages the state's accounting, budgetary, and debt management activities. The department maintains the state's accounting system and monitors controls to prevent unauthorized transactions. The commissioner of Finance, appointed by the Governor, directs the department's operations. Wayne Simoneau was appointed commissioner in October 1996.

Audit Scope and Conclusions

An information warehouse is a comprehensive collection of data that is structured to meet the ad hoc needs of decision makers. The primary goal of an information warehouse is to provide users with timely and flexible access to data. This access, when coupled with a simple reporting tool, gives nearly any decision maker the ability to make information out of vast amounts of data. The state of Minnesota's information warehouse began operations on July 1, 1995, under the direction of the Department of Finance. The information warehouse provides state agency managers with access to a wide array of accounting, procurement, human resource, and payroll data.

Our audit focused on how the Department of Finance controls the integrity of data in the information warehouse. Controlling the integrity of information warehouse data is critical because state agency managers use this data to make strategic and day to day business decisions.

We found that the Department of Finance has controls to ensure the integrity of data in the information warehouse. The department has both manual and computerized procedures to control the movement of data to the information warehouse. The department also has controls to protect information warehouse data from unauthorized changes.

 

Office of the Legislative Auditor, Room 140, 658 Cedar St., St. Paul, MN 55155 : legislative.auditor@state.mn.us or 651‑296‑4708