June 26, 1998

To:Audit Committee

From:Commissioner of Corporate Services

Subject:Response - 1997 Over-Expenditure

Former City of Toronto's Information Technology Services Division

I have reviewed the City Auditor's report relating to the 1997 over-expenditure in the former City of Toronto's Information Technology Services Division, and confirm that the actions outlined in the report have been addressed; these are:

Purchase and payment procedures have been implemented, including an interim financial signing authority.

Section managers have been made accountable for their budgets and for maintaining and explaining variances.

A list of licenses and contracts for the former City of Toronto Information and Technology Services Division has been compiled and sufficient funds are available in the 1998 budget to cover these commitments.

Additional rationalization of the data processing costs will be reviewed with the service provider now that the former Metro and City of Toronto are operating in the same production computer environment.

The conversion referenced in the Audit Report was completed on June 15, 1998. The additional costs associated with running on two computer environments will now be avoided.

Procedures are now in place to monitor the Division's 1998 budget expenditures and status will be reported, as part of the Department's variance reporting exercise.

Margaret Rodrigues

Commissioner

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