An e-mail message or memorandum requesting service is allowable. A policy to standardize requests for MIS services has not been implemented. A methodology should be developed and consistently used to document requests for MIS services, in either hard copy or electronic form, which would not violate the City's retention and document management policies. We noted during our review of, and interviews on, the automated system that data and values are not consistently input into the various fields and file screens in the HTE modules. Fields designated for certain data are not always used.
Data sometimes appears to be stored haphazardly.
In addition, it appears that the various modules are not integrated. For example, no one Finance division has responsibility for setting up a master file for each module under Finance Department control. Therefore, a customer can have variations of the same name in the different modules, making research technically difficult. Inconsistencies are not limited to the Finance Department. Variables in how data is managed have been noted in modules affecting other City departments.