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3 golden objects Minnesota Legislature

Office of the Legislative Auditor - Financial Audit Division

Report Summary
Department of Public Safety and Minnesota IT Services
MNLARS Quarterly Report Verification
Title Backlogs and System Funding

 

Financial Audit Division Released April 3, 2019


The Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) has completed its second quarterly information technology audit of the Minnesota Licensing and Registration System (MNLARS), as required by Laws of Minnesota 2018, Chapter 101.1

The scope of this audit included an assessment of select performance measures reported by the Department of Public Safety (DPS) and Minnesota IT Services (MNIT) in their MNLARS Quarterly Update reports. Specifically, OLA reviewed performance measure four, Reduction in the Backlog of Vehicle Titles, and performance measure six, System Performance Including Slowdowns, Outages, or Other Performance Issues. OLA also examined the funding model for the continued development, operations, and maintenance of MNLARS.

Conclusion

For the performance measures in our audit scope, DPS and MNIT generally complied with the requirements in Laws of Minnesota 2018, Chapter 101.

Findings

Finding 1. DPS does not have processing time standards for each of its vehicle title types.

Finding 2. DPS uses imprecise methods to develop some information in the MNLARS Quarterly Update reports.

Finding 3. Continued reliance on centralized document scanning and mail services adds time to the title processing workflow.

Finding 4. Barcode data entry errors are resulting in backlogged titles.

Finding 5. MNLARS lacks functionality to effectively manage the unmatched document inventory.

Finding 6. DPS has not been able to keep the title backlog from growing with its current staffing level.

Finding 7. DPS does not include unprocessed titles with deficiencies in the MNLARS Quarterly Update reports.

Finding 8. MNIT payroll costs are not properly split between the MNLARS project and operational budgets.

Finding 9. DPS and MNIT do not have a long-range funding model for MNLARS.

 


1In this report, OLA uses the term MNLARS to refer to the state of Minnesota’s comprehensive information system and its subsystem components used to provide driver and motor vehicle licensing and registration services to Minnesota citizens.

More Information

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