Collins Harp Enterprises Background
You You are the th e new IT audit specialist at the accounting firm of Townsend Townsend and Townsend Townsend LLP. LLP. One of the audit partners, Harold Mobley ased you you to e!aluate the effecti!eness of general and application IT related controls for a potential new client. "ollins Harp #nterprises which is a pri!ately owned business. business. $uring a round of golf last wee, an e%ecuti!e of "ollins Harp #nterprises ased Harold to ha!e someone with good It training loo at the company& company& s IT systems de!elopment process. Harold recently summari'ed the following information about "ollins Harp&s IT systems de!elopment process based on his recent con!ersations with Linda (eth, IT !ice president at "ollins harp. IT Summary
"ollins Harp #nterprises de!elops most of its computer software applications in house. O!er the past se!eral years, Linda Linda (eth has been able to hire se!eral good software programmers with relati!ely strong programming programming e%perience. (he has assembled a team of fi!e programmers who handle most of the applications and system programming needs. )ecause of these strong bacgrounds, bacgrounds, Ms. (eth in!ol!es all fi!e programmers in new application de!elopment or modifications to e%isting applications and also in!ol!es all of them in operating security, utility and other system software programming and maintenance tass. The staff is relati!ely !ersatile, and any on of them is able to handle the programming demands of most changes. Linda notes that because the programmers are typically more *free+spirited, she prefers to gi!e the programmers relati!ely free latitude in the de!elopment of new applications or modifications to e%isting applications. applications. (he comments that that the programmers lie to !iew their wor as a form of art. -s a result, she notes that the programmers *attac the programming logic, de!elopment using their own, own, uniue programming style and approach. (he belie!es that such *freedom for the programming staff enhances the uality of the application de!elopment. de!elopment. /ew applications are generally initiated by Linda after she identifies suggesting for changes to e%isting applications based on con!ersations with similar IT personnel at other companies. )ecause she regularly attends attends IT de!elopment de!elopment conferences, she belie!es that she is in the best position to identify ways to impro!e current application Page 1 of 3
procedures. Occasionally, non IT personnel 0lie accounting department personnel who wor with the accounting systems1 identify suggested changes. Linda notes that she generally hears about application changes or new application ideas from non IT personnel in informal meetings such as o!er lunch in the company cafeteria or when bumping into people in the office hallways. 2hen that occurs, she maes mental note to tae bac to her programming staff. 2hen applications are de!eloped or changes are made, the assigned programmers generally telephones or emails the non+It personnel primarily responsible for the application to discuss the programmer&s suggested modifications and to get their unofficial *blessing to proceed. Occasionally the programmers meet with the respecti!e personnel, if reuested. Howe!er, the programmers generally feel that such meetings ha!e limited benefit because users ha!e !ery little understanding of the programming logic used. If the programmer is maing a modification to an e%isting application, he or she maes a copy of the current program tape or dis to that they don&t ha!e to reprogram the entire application. )efore beginning, the programmer generally tries to meet with the programmer who was pre!iously in!ol!ed with any programming associated with this application to get a *big picture feel for the application. 3i!en the small si'e of the programming staff, the programmer can generally identify the person last in!ol!ed with this application by taling with the other programmers. The programmer locates documents related to the programming logic maintained in the programming department&s files. 3enerally, this documentation includes a hardcopy of the program logic along with notes made by the prior programmer about the format of the logic used. The newly assigned programmer is able to recreate a trail of the most recent modifications to the application from these notes. Programmers test all application de!elopments and modifications. To increase the independence of the testing, Linda assigns a different programmer to perform the testing of the application before implementation. The test programmer creates a fictitious data set by copying one of the actual data sets used in the rele!ant application. The test programmer performs a test of the new application or modification and documents the results. Linda says that there are tight controls o!er program testing because of her detailed re!iews of all program test results and personal appro!al of each program before implementation into li!e production. -nd, she adds that copies of all test results are maintained in the files for subseuent re!iew. Page 2 of 3
Once Linda belie!es that the program is accurately processing the test data, she appro!es the program for implementation into li!e production. Linda notes that it is a big e!ent for the programmers when their application is ready for implementation. (he comments that the programmers tae pride in the completion of the pro4ect and that all the programmers celebrate once the pro4ect programmer announces that he or she compiled the final !ersion into ob4ect code and forwarded the ob4ect code !ersion to the IT Libraries. REQUIRE!
Identify three deficiencies in the IT (ystems $e!elopment and Program "hange Process. -s part of the audit woring papers documentation, complete the worsheet as follow 0total 56 mars and see below for mars breadown1 7 "orks#eet To Support T#e $udit %indings $nd Recommendations e&iciencies In IT
escription +& T#e
Recommendation To
Systems e'elopment
,oted e&iciency and t#e
/itigate ,oted
$nd (rogram C#ange
Risks-Impact
e&iciency
(rocess
)2 marks eac# to a total
08 mars each to t a total
)1 mark eac# to a total
o& . marks*
of 9 mars1
o& 3 marks*
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