Item - 2013.AU13.14
Tracking Status
- City Council adopted this item on November 13, 2013 without amendments and without debate.
- This item was considered by the Audit Committee on October 31, 2013 and adopted without amendment. It will be considered by City Council on November 13, 2013.
AU13.14 - Emergency Medical Services - Payroll and Scheduling Processes Require Strengthening
- Decision Type:
- ACTION
- Status:
- Adopted on Consent
- Wards:
- All
City Council Decision
City Council on November 13, 14, 15 and 18, 2013, adopted the following:
1. City Council request the Chief and General Manager, Emergency Medical Services, to develop a process for timely review and adjustment of outstanding payroll variances. The process should be documented and communicated to respective staff. Further, documentation should be updated to include staff responsibilities and time lines to ensure required pay variance adjustments are performed on a timely basis.
2. City Council request the Chief and General Manager, Emergency Medical Services, to develop an action plan with timelines to expedite the implementation of the Internal Audit report recommendation to review and adjust existing accumulated pay variances.
3. City Council request the Chief and General Manager, Emergency Medical Services, to develop a process to ensure divisional consistency in attendance management procedures. Attendance records including overtime and time off requests should be adequately supported with documentation reflecting supervisory review and approval, and maintained in accordance with legislated record retention requirements.
4. City Council request the Chief and General Manager, Emergency Medical Services, to develop a process for periodic analysis and reporting of staff overtime and absenteeism.
5. City Council request the Chief and General Manager, Emergency Medical Services, to review scheduling staff turnover and develop policies and guidelines to retain experienced schedulers. Where and if appropriate, new schedulers should be selected based on their ability to perform on a long term basis.
6. City Council request the Chief and General Manager, Emergency Medical Services, to develop a process for periodic review and reporting of shift exchanges, particularly staff with a high shift exchange frequency.
7. City Council request the Chief and General Manager, Emergency Medical Services, to expand monitoring processes to new paramedic schedules in relation to emergency service call volume patterns and make scheduling modifications as needed.
8. City Council request the Chief and General Manager, Emergency Medical Services, to develop a process for periodic review of information technology user access to ensure system access aligns with related job duties.
9. City Council request the Chief and General Manager, Emergency Medical Services, to evaluate whether transactions entered using shared IDs or by system users not authorized to enter transactions identified during the audit require further analysis to determine if transactions were valid and properly authorized. Reports should be developed to identify such transactions on an ongoing basis for review and action.
10. City Council request the Chief and General Manager, Emergency Medical Services, to communicate information technology policies and procedures relating to user ID and password confidentiality. In addition, the practice of using generic or shared IDs should be discontinued. Valid users should have a unique information technology user ID.
11. City Council request the Chief and General Manager, Emergency Medical Services, to develop a process to log user access changes with respective effective dates.
12. City Council request the Chief and General Manager, Emergency Medical Services, to upgrade the history log in the scheduling module to track deletions and changes by user ID, date and time.
Background Information (Committee)
https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2013/au/bgrd/backgroundfile-62712.pdf
AU13.14 - Emergency Medical Services - Payroll and Scheduling Processes Require Strengthening
- Decision Type:
- ACTION
- Status:
- Adopted
- Wards:
- All
Committee Recommendations
The Audit Committee recommends that:
1. City Council request the Chief and General Manager, Emergency Medical Services, to develop a process for timely review and adjustment of outstanding payroll variances. The process should be documented and communicated to respective staff. Further, documentation should be updated to include staff responsibilities and time lines to ensure required pay variance adjustments are performed on a timely basis.
2. City Council request the Chief and General Manager, Emergency Medical Services, to develop an action plan with timelines to expedite the implementation of the Internal Audit report recommendation to review and adjust existing accumulated pay variances.
3. City Council request the Chief and General Manager, Emergency Medical Services, to develop a process to ensure divisional consistency in attendance management procedures. Attendance records including overtime and time off requests should be adequately supported with documentation reflecting supervisory review and approval, and maintained in accordance with legislated record retention requirements.
4. City Council request the Chief and General Manager, Emergency Medical Services, to develop a process for periodic analysis and reporting of staff overtime and absenteeism.
5. City Council request the Chief and General Manager, Emergency Medical Services, to review scheduling staff turnover and develop policies and guidelines to retain experienced schedulers. Where and if appropriate, new schedulers should be selected based on their ability to perform on a long term basis.
6. City Council request the Chief and General Manager, Emergency Medical Services, to develop a process for periodic review and reporting of shift exchanges, particularly staff with a high shift exchange frequency.
7. City Council request the Chief and General Manager, Emergency Medical Services, to expand monitoring processes to new paramedic schedules in relation to emergency service call volume patterns and make scheduling modifications as needed.
8. City Council request the Chief and General Manager, Emergency Medical Services, to develop a process for periodic review of information technology user access to ensure system access aligns with related job duties.
9. City Council request the Chief and General Manager, Emergency Medical Services, to evaluate whether transactions entered using shared IDs or by system users not authorized to enter transactions identified during the audit require further analysis to determine if transactions were valid and properly authorized. Reports should be developed to identify such transactions on an ongoing basis for review and action.
10. City Council request the Chief and General Manager, Emergency Medical Services, to communicate information technology policies and procedures relating to user ID and password confidentiality. In addition, the practice of using generic or shared IDs should be discontinued. Valid users should have a unique information technology user ID.
11. City Council request the Chief and General Manager, Emergency Medical Services, to develop a process to log user access changes with respective effective dates.
12. City Council request the Chief and General Manager, Emergency Medical Services, to upgrade the history log in the scheduling module to track deletions and changes by user ID, date and time.
Origin
Summary
The Auditor General’s 2013 Audit Work Plan included a review of controls over payroll and scheduling processes at the City Emergency Medical Services Division (EMS). This review was selected due to:
· the significant amount of funds involved
· the number of complaints received by the Auditor General’s Fraud and Waste Hotline
This report identifies a number of opportunities to strengthen payroll processes. Implementation of the 12 recommendations contained in this report will improve controls over the administration and management of EMS scheduling, payroll and information technology processes.
Background Information
https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2013/au/bgrd/backgroundfile-62712.pdf