The Challenge
IT risk management has to be demonstrable. For this reason, the Netherlands’ Internal Controls Department (InB), which is responsible for the ICT facilities of the Tax and Customs Administration in the country, investigates the design and operation of control measures in critical processes in the provision of information. However, this department is young and the working method is still developing. Eraneos was asked to come in and help strengthen the department by participating in investigations and coaching the employees in their development. The goal? For the IV to guarantee the continuity of its tax and customs administration for the future.
“Eraneos knows how to name difficult topics well and helps to solve them.”
The approach
The project began with us focusing on the professionalization of the IV’s working method. In the first step, we created templates for research assignments, refined reports, and incorporated a Cobit framework for measuring process maturity into the standard control work program. Next, we improved the steering information, putting a stronger focus on the progress of investigations. Finally, we established the process for demand-driven surveys while the employees were coached to critically consider and expand their own contribution to the department’s success.
Overall, Eraneos took the lead in the design, implementation, and reporting of the investigations into six critical IV processes, including an investigation into agile change management in collaboration with the Central Government Audit Service. In addition, four projects were examined to directly help IV further in its development. The aim of this was to identify the causes of less effective actions, formulate recommendations and have them addressed to prevent any reoccurrences.
The Information Provision (IV) organization is responsible for the ICT facilities of the Tax and Customs Administration in the Netherlands. The majority of the applications are currently being developed by IV itself and maintenance and management take place in its own data center. The applications in the ICT landscape comprise more than 480,000 managed function points. With this, IV enables the Tax and Customs Administration to collect approximately one billion euros per day and to pay out one billion euros per month in allowances.
The result
The professionalization rolled out at IV enables the employees of the Internal Control department to conduct research in a more advanced manner into the design, existence, and operation of control measures in critical IV processes. The change management study has set the tone for the department, allowing it to tackle General IT Control investigations in the context of the tax authorities’ annual accounts more effectively and efficiently. The project-oriented studies have also led to recommendations aimed at improving cooperation between IV and its partners within and outside the Tax and Customs Administration.
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