Summary
In 2010, Alberta Pension Services Corporation initiated the next generation project to replace its aging pension payroll and member services systems. The project started with a request for information in 2010, followed by a detailed business requirements analysis study and a request for proposal in 2011 to replace these systems.
A leading Canadian pensions and benefits service provider and systems integrator1 was selected to provide its pension administration system as the solution. The project is a business transformation initiative. The project has two main phases—planning and design (phase 1) and development and implementation (phase 2). The new systems and processes will be implemented in three stages between July 2014 and November 2015.
Objective and Scope
We examined the quality and completeness of the design of project controls (documented plans and procedures) as an early indicator of management’s ability to manage the risks of implementing the new system into its operations. We interviewed key project participants, including senior management, and reviewed project documents and deliverables related to the corporation’s project risk management systems.
Conclusion
We found that APS has well-designed project controls for the next generation project to help manage the risks associated with its business change management, project management and project governance activities.
Our audit was a point-in-time audit that focused on the design of project controls only. Our findings indicate that there are no significant project control weaknesses at this time that could cause the project to fail or not meet its plans and objectives. This does not guarantee that the project will be a success, only that we did not find any significant weaknesses that require immediate attention from management.