Inadequate Business Intelligence Reporting Capabilities in the Integrated Financial and Acquisition Management System

The OIG is conducting an audit to determine whether VA’s Financial Management Business Transformation Service identified and addressed issues with a new IT system following its initial deployment at the National Cemetery Administration (NCA). The Integrated Financial and Acquisition Management System will be used throughout VA to manage budgetary, financial, and contracting activities. The OIG issued a management advisory memorandum to share observations from the ongoing audit and expects to publish the final report in fiscal year 2022. The audit team found that NCA was experiencing significant challenges with the system’s ability to produce business intelligence reports that it needs to make well informed, mission critical decisions. Although the Financial Management Business Transformation Service attempted some corrective actions, issues persisted as of July 8, 2021, or about eight months after go-live. As of this date, NCA did not have a comprehensive report showing the total amount of funds available for the administration. This was despite the fact that NCA leaders informed the Financial Management Business Transformation Service in April 2019 that the report was the administration’s highest priority and needed to identify funding available at every level of the budget. Other high priority reports used to track and forecast payroll and full-time equivalent employees were also not available for NCA’s widespread use. These reports would allow staff to monitor how much has been expended in payroll and project the funding required to pay employee salaries throughout the fiscal year. NCA staff noted that they spend considerable time trying to understand and validate reports by extracting data from other reports and queries and manipulating that data in spreadsheets. The OIG requested that the Office of Management inform the OIG what action, if any, the Office of Management takes to address the issued identified.