| Public Release Date: February 9, 1996 | No. 96-07 |
The mission of the Department of Administration is to provide business management and administrative services that improve the productivity and quality of Minnesota government. The department services both state and local government agencies. Its programmatic areas include Operations Management, the Intertechnologies Group, Facilities Management, Administrative Management, the Information Policy Office, and Management Analysis. Elaine Hansen serves as the commissioner of the department.
Our audit scope was limited to those activities material to the State of Minnesota's Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the year ended June 30, 1995. We also reviewed selected statewide computer facility general controls, including logical security, disaster recovery, and critical file backup.
We concluded that the Intertechnologies Group is generally controlling access to data and computer resources on the state's two central computers. However, Intertech needs to ensure that agency security officers and liaisons have sufficient technical training to make informed security decisions. We also concluded that, although Intertech provides data processing services, including files backup, storage, and disaster recovery planning, critical state computer applications and data files have not been identified and included in Intertech's disaster recovery testing.
Finally, it is unclear whether Central Motor Pool has complied with Minn. Stat. Section 16B.54, Subd. 8(b), which limits the amount of funds it is allowed to retain. The department needs to seek clarification of the statute to ensure that it complies with the law relating to excess funds.
