1. TELECOMMUNICATIONS AUDIT
VÉRIFICATION DES
PRODUITS DE TÉLÉCOMMUNICATION
That Council direct the Audit General to not undertake an audit of the telecommunications which is utilized by the City of Ottawa to his audit plan to be completed in 2010.
Que le Conseil demande au
vérificateur général de ne pas entreprendre une vérification des produits de télécommunication utilisés par la Ville
d’Ottawa comme avait été ajouté à son
plan de travail pour 2010.
Documentation
1. Audit, Budget and Finance Committee’s report dated 9 February 2010 (ACS2010-CMR-ABF-0002).
2. Extract of Draft Minute, 16 February 2010 to be distributed prior to Council.
Report to / Rapport au:
Audit, Budget and Finance Committee
Comité de vérification, du budget et des finances
and Council / et au Conseil
9 February 2010 / le 9 février 2010
Submitted by / Soumis par: City Council /
Conseil municipal
|
City Wide / À l'échelle de la Ville |
Ref N°: ACS2010-CMR-ABF-0002 |
SUBJECT: TELECOMMUNICATIONS AUDIT
OBJET: VÉRIFICATION DES PRODUITS DE TÉLÉCOMMUNICATION
That the Audit, Budget and Finance Committee consider the following,
as referred by Council at its meeting of 13 January 2010, and submit its
recommendation(s) to Council:
WHEREAS it is seems that there is a
lack of control surrounding the allocation of cell phones, office handsets and
the general telecommunications, which are employed by the City of Ottawa,
AND WHEREAS the Auditor General has
indicated that he has the necessary funds to perform this audit in the 2010
calendar year,
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Auditor General add an audit of the telecommunications which is utilized by the City of Ottawa to his audit plan to be completed in 2010.
Que le Comité de vérification, du
budget et des finances examine ce qui suit, tel que le Conseil l’a déféré à sa
réunion du 13 janvier 2010, et soumette sa(ses) recommandation(s) au Conseil
municipal :
ATTENDU
QUE le processus d’attribution des téléphones cellulaires, des combinés
téléphoniques et des dispositifs de télécommunication en général, qui sont
utilisés par la Ville d’Ottawa, n’est pas suffisamment régi;
ATTENDU QUE le vérificateur général a indiqué qu’il disposait de fonds suffisants pour procéder à cette
vérification durant l’année civile 2010;
PAR CONSÉQUENT, IL EST
RÉSOLU QUE le vérificateur général
ajoute une vérification des produits de télécommunication utilisés par la Ville
d’Ottawa à
son plan de travail pour 2010.
In considering the above-noted item, Motion 77/11 was introduced and, through Motion 77/12, was referred to the Audit, Budget and Finance Committee:
Moved by Councillor B. Monette
Seconded by Councillor R. Bloess
WHEREAS it is seems that there is a lack of
control surrounding the allocation of cell phones, office handsets and the
general telecommunications, which are employed by the City of Ottawa,
AND WHEREAS the Auditor General has indicated that he has the
necessary funds to perform this audit in the 2010 calendar year,
THEREFORE BE IT
RESOLVED THAT the Auditor General add an audit of the telecommunications which
is utilized by the City of Ottawa to his audit plan to be completed in 2010.
REFERRED
by the following motion:
MOTION
NO. 81/7
Moved
by Councillor J. Harder
Seconded
by Councillor B. Monette
That Motion No. 81/6 be referred to the Audit, Budget and Finance
Committee for consideration.
As such, the Audit, Budget and Finance Committee is required to consider this matter and report back to Council with its recommendation(s) on same.
CONSULTATION
This item will be advertised in the local dailies as part of the Public Meeting Advertisement on Friday preceding the Committee meeting.
Auditor
General’s Office
Should
Council approve the request for this audit, it will be conducted as part of the
2010 work plan within the existing budget of the Office of the Auditor General
and at no additional costs to the City.
Information Technology Services Department
The Information Technology Services (ITS) department has developed eligibility criteria to guide managers in determining the most cost effective approach to mobile communication:
|
Cell
Phone Allocation Criteria |
BlackBerry
Allocation Criteria |
|
Does the job require the employee to be away from
their primary work site more than 20% of the time? |
Does the job require the employee work away from
your primary work space more than 50% of the time? |
|
Does the nature of the position require the employee
to be available for consultation via a cell phone on an immediate and/or
continuous basis? |
Does the nature of the position frequent, real-time,
mobile access to your calendar, e-mail and contacts. |
|
Have you determined that a cell phone is the most
efficient and effective method of mobile communication vs. alternatives such
as voice mail, pager, and/or 2-way radio? |
|
In addition, there are purchase controls in place as all cell phone orders require the approval of a Manager while BlackBerry devices require the approval of a director.
The Responsible Computing Policy outlines the use of City of Ottawa information technology assets and services in a manner that supports City programs, services and activities; protects, preserves and avoid waste of these resources; maintains the appearance and substance of the City’s good public reputation; and complies with laws and regulations.
At year end 2009, the City had 2,856 active phones (20% of all of City FTE’s), including 883 cell phones with MIKE 2-way radio capabilities, and 561 BlackBerry smart phones with a total air time expenditures of $1,500,101.24, an average spend of $43.77 per month per device.
ITS does monthly reviews of billings to indentify to departments those users that have incurred one of long distance, roaming or text messaging charges greater than $5.00. In a typical month, 200 billings get flagged (7% of all active phones).
As part of its management practices and annual operational planning activities, the ITS department conducts industry recognized telecommunications expense management (TEM) practices to ensure proper controls are in place.
In 2009, the ITS department performed the following TEM activities:
o Vendor must provide the City pricing better of equal what is offered to the Province of Ontario.
o Voice plans include:
§ Local unlimited free evening and weekends use, meaning that local personal calls during evenings / weekends are not charged to the City.
§ Standard pooled 250 minutes during a given month. That means if minutes are not used by one cell phone user can be consumed by another without incurring overage charges.
§ Free local calling between City of Ottawa cell phone users.
§ Per-second billing vs. traditional per-minute billing.
§ Unlimited inbound text messaging, free 100 outbound text messages.
o Data plans are unlimited.
o Free standard accessories with each new activation.
o Free recycling / security wiping of old devices.
o Free BlackBerry BES client access licenses.
o Free delivery of devices to any City facility.
o Free ad-hoc client training by vendor.
In 2010, the ITS department is planning the following TEM activities:
· Implement reduced cell phone rates based on newly established Government of Ontario pricing.
· Use the same independent, 3rd party telecommunications billing expert used in 2009, to review air time billings.
· Consolidate and automate land-line billing to further reduce handling of paper invoices and facilitate monthly reviews.
· Further automate the monthly air time audit process.
· Perform an air time account rate optimization review.
· Further enhance user education by providing, with each new unit, a leaflet summarizing acceptable of use of cell phones.
FINANCIAL
IMPLICATIONS
Refer to the Auditor
General’s comment above
LEGAL / RISK MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS
There are no legal/risk management impediments to
implementing the recommendations in this report.
RURAL IMPLICATIONS
N/A
Staff to implement Council’s decision.