Treasury
Inspector General for Tax Administration
Office of Audit
THE APPLICATIONS DEVELOPMENT FUNCTION’S QUALITY
ASSURANCE PROGRAM OFFICE CAN MAKE ITS PROCESSES MORE EFFECTIVE
Issued on February 17, 2011
Highlights
Highlights of
Report Number: 2011-20-007 to the
Internal Revenue Service Chief Technology Officer.
IMPACT ON TAXPAYERS
The mission of
the Applications Development
function’s Quality Assurance Program Office is to assure product compliance,
drive process improvement, and promote quality awareness. Ensuring the quality of development
activities helps the Modernization and Information Technology Services (MITS) organization deliver services and
solutions that drive effective tax administration to ensure public confidence.
WHY TIGTA DID THE AUDIT
This audit was initiated at the request of
the MITS organization. The overall objective
was to determine whether the Applications Development function’s Quality
Assurance Program Office ensures development projects implement a coordinated
set of activities that conform to organizational policies, processes, and
procedures that meet the standards of the Software Engineering Institute’s Capability
Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) - Development maturity level 2.
WHAT
TIGTA FOUND
The Quality
Assurance Program Office generally meets the CMMI-Development maturity level 2
requirements. The Applications
Development function updated the role of the Quality Assurance Program Office
in April 2007. The update resulted in a directive
that established authority and responsibility for the performance of quality
assurance activities across the Applications Development function.
The Quality Assurance Program Office implemented a comprehensive plan to assess the Applications Development function’s products and services. It employs qualified specialists to perform its audits and provides the Applications Development function feedback about its organizational practices.
Currently, the Applications Development function is the
only activity in the MITS organization with a Quality Assurance Program
Office. Transitioning to a MITS-wide
Quality Assurance Program Office will help the MITS organization achieve its goal
of reaching CMMI-Development maturity level 3.
The products and documents created generally met the
Quality Assurance Program Office guidelines.
However, the guidelines do not require approval signatures and dates on
the products by the appropriate Applications Development function
managers. Also, the Quality Assurance
Program Office did not effectively maintain all necessary documentary evidence
to assess and support the reported audit results.
WHAT TIGTA RECOMMENDED
TIGTA recommended that the Chief Technology Officer: 1) expand the scope of the Quality Assurance
Program Office to provide coverage across the MITS organization; 2) implement
procedures to officially approve its products and guidance documents; 3)
improve the guidance to include requirements that assure an informative,
accurate, and appropriate perspective in reporting; and 4) further develop the peer
review guidance to help ensure audit reports are supported by sufficient,
competent, and relevant evidence.
In
their response to the report, IRS officials agreed with TIGTA’s
recommendations. The IRS plans to: 1) evaluate expanding the scope of the Quality
Assurance Program Office; 2) modify its reporting procedures and templates to include approvals; 3) strengthen the language
relative to the reporting of the audit findings and ensure, when possible, that
the audit’s results are input into the database; and 4) strengthen the language
relative to the peer review process and analyze the checklist to ensure it
includes all appropriate issues for review.
READ THE
FULL REPORT
To view the report,
including the scope, methodology, and full IRS response, go
to:
http://www.treas.gov/tigta/auditreports/2011reports/201120007fr.html.
Email Address: inquiries@tigta.treas.gov
Phone
Number: 202-622-6500
Web Site: http://www.tigta.gov