An Audit Report on the ReHabWorks System at the Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services
July 2012
Report Number 12-045
Overall Conclusion
The Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services (Department) did not fully complete the ReHabWorks System as it reported in August 2010. The ReHabWorks System is a case management system intended for two Department divisions: the Division for Rehabilitation Services and the Division for Blind Services.
The Department deployed the ReHabWorks System in its Division for Rehabilitation Services in February 2011. The Department is scheduled to deploy the ReHabWorks System in its Division for Blind Services in April 2013.
Based on Department documentation regarding the development of the ReHabWorks System, auditors determined that, as of August 2010, the ReHabWorks System was not yet a consolidated case management system capable of serving all customer cases for the Division for Rehabilitation Services and the Division for Blind Services because it did not yet have all the functionality of its predecessor systems.
The Department classified as maintenance costs more than $2.2 million in direct contractor costs it incurred between September 2010 and March 2012 to continue the development of the ReHabWorks System. The Department did not request capital authority from the Legislative Budget Board to continue funding the project.
The Department was originally appropriated $2.4 million in federal funds for the development of the ReHabWorks System for the 2006-2007 biennium, with a completion date of August 2007. The Department modified the project scope twice, extending the completion date to August 2010.
The Department did not originally report approximately $10.9 million in indirect costs related to personnel participating in the development of the ReHabWorks System in the Biennial Operating Plan it submitted to the Legislative Budget Board. As a result, on March 7, 2012, the Legislative Budget Board requested that the Department amend its Biennial Operating Plan to include all project costs and accurate estimates for project completion. As of May 2012, the Department estimated in its amended Biennial Operating Plan that project expenditures will total $18.3 million when the project is completed in April 2013.
The Department exceeded the budget and time line for the development of the ReHabWorks System primarily because the development effort lacked sufficient planning, change control monitoring, and project documentation. Weaknesses in the process to establish system requirements resulted in insufficient development of the project scope, budget, and time lines.
Auditors also determined that data was not reliable for purposes of this audit in the following sources of information:
- The change control portal the Department used to document the priority, description, and status of change requests and decisions related to the ReHabWorks System.
- The cost tracking tool the Department used to record, calculate, and report costs for the ReHabWorks System.
- The employee training system the Department used to track training provided to ReHabWorks System end-users.
Auditors communicated other, less significant issues to the Department's management in writing.