The provincial auditor found that a new Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) computer system is facing problems and is expected to cost about three times the original budget, reaching $240 million.The Administrative Information Management System (AIMS) was made to handle tasks like managing the salaries, personnel, work schedules, and finances for healthcare workers.Since 2018, AIMS has been under development and the project was expected to cost $80 million.AIMS was to start operating in November 2022 but had to be halted because problems emerged, including issues with staff scheduling, recording work hours for payroll, and other problems.Provincial auditor Tara Clemett said the cost of AIMS has significantly increased and is now expected to reach $240 million despite no changes to the project's original plan.Clemett stated that it is important to create a report to understand what went wrong with AIMS and to find ways to prevent similar issues from happening in the future.“The key here is this IT system project implementation has not gone well for the Saskatchewan Health Authority and they definitely need to do a lessons learned report because we have other significant IT projects that are ongoing in government,” said Clement.The auditor's report explained that the AIMS executive steering committee took “appropriate steps” to recognize the factors that led to the implementation failure in November 2022 and communicated this information to the SHA.In the report, the provincial auditor highlighted the necessity to divide "incompatible duties" for staff. It pointed out that SHA employees used journal entries to record payroll, capital asset additions, and cash receipts, which should be handled separately.“Separating incompatible duties decreases the risk of not catching errors and situations where expected processes are not followed,” said the report.“In addition, involving more than one individual in making purchases and paying employees decreases the risk of undetected fraud.”Clemett mentioned that resolving the issue of incompatible duties would be one of the many problems fixed by implementing the new system.“I think they [SHA] need to relook at their governance model as such, figure out a new plan and figure out how they drive forward,” Clemett told the media.“AIMS, at the end of the day, is a key system for the SHA overall. Everything right now is a bit siloed and they do need that integrated system.”There is no new launch date for AIMS from the provincial government.
The provincial auditor found that a new Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) computer system is facing problems and is expected to cost about three times the original budget, reaching $240 million.The Administrative Information Management System (AIMS) was made to handle tasks like managing the salaries, personnel, work schedules, and finances for healthcare workers.Since 2018, AIMS has been under development and the project was expected to cost $80 million.AIMS was to start operating in November 2022 but had to be halted because problems emerged, including issues with staff scheduling, recording work hours for payroll, and other problems.Provincial auditor Tara Clemett said the cost of AIMS has significantly increased and is now expected to reach $240 million despite no changes to the project's original plan.Clemett stated that it is important to create a report to understand what went wrong with AIMS and to find ways to prevent similar issues from happening in the future.“The key here is this IT system project implementation has not gone well for the Saskatchewan Health Authority and they definitely need to do a lessons learned report because we have other significant IT projects that are ongoing in government,” said Clement.The auditor's report explained that the AIMS executive steering committee took “appropriate steps” to recognize the factors that led to the implementation failure in November 2022 and communicated this information to the SHA.In the report, the provincial auditor highlighted the necessity to divide "incompatible duties" for staff. It pointed out that SHA employees used journal entries to record payroll, capital asset additions, and cash receipts, which should be handled separately.“Separating incompatible duties decreases the risk of not catching errors and situations where expected processes are not followed,” said the report.“In addition, involving more than one individual in making purchases and paying employees decreases the risk of undetected fraud.”Clemett mentioned that resolving the issue of incompatible duties would be one of the many problems fixed by implementing the new system.“I think they [SHA] need to relook at their governance model as such, figure out a new plan and figure out how they drive forward,” Clemett told the media.“AIMS, at the end of the day, is a key system for the SHA overall. Everything right now is a bit siloed and they do need that integrated system.”There is no new launch date for AIMS from the provincial government.
