The Roads & Transport Authority - Manal Khalid: The Internal Audit Dep't at the Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) has recently reviewed with a delegation from the Dubai Police General HQ the best practices adopted in auditing in general and auditing IT environment in particular as per the best practices applicable worldwide.
Abdullah Al Jawi, Director of RTA Internal Audit, said: "Multiple visits exchanged between various government entities across the UAE have considerable contribution towards gaining the best expertise needed for leveraging the performance and delivering excellent & innovative services. The Dep't is therefore making ceaseless efforts to apply the best global & local practices in this field in a bid to enhance the diffusion of corporate governance.
"The Internal Audit Dep't is keen on dispatching its employees to various international institutes specialized in audit and control in order to back RTA's efforts in achieving its set targets, particularly as we are fully aware of the importance of these institutes in empowering them to keep abreast of all developments accruing to the nature & principles of work that ought to be constantly accommodated in order to broaden the horizon and uplift the performance levels," added Al Jawi.
The meeting was interceded by two visual presentations; the first focused on the mechanism of internal audit in general, and the other revolved on auditing the IT environment. The Dubai Police General HQ was keen on reviewing this aspect in particular to grasp the techniques in use as well as the roles & responsibilities assigned, as it tantamount to a critically important auditing approach.
Through the first presentation, Aysha Al Sulaiti, Manager of Governance at Internal Audit Dep't, shed light on the expertise of the Dep't by reviewing its position, organization chart and key strategic drivers. She also touched on the core processes highlighted by developing an annual audit plan built on assessing risks classified according to the probabilities of their occurrence, along with their impact on setting audit priorities. She also reviewed the technological systems used in managing audit processes, and made a reference to the key initiatives adopted by the Dep't as well as the best technological practices in use such as the e-Library, recommendations management system (GFM) in addition to other programs & applications such as ACL and Team Mate.
The other visual presentation focused on auditing the IT environment through casting light on the roles & responsibilities assigned to the Section and covered the assessment of the risks engulfing the IT environment, drawing up a periodic audit plan built on sound risk assessment methodology, ensuring that IT services of the RTA agencies & sectors reflect their objectives efficiently & effectively, and upgrading the technological systems associated with the internal audit tasks.
Such tasks also include assessing the IT protocols including projects, applied systems and associated infrastructure which are also linked with the information security. The Section also submits reports about suggestions and improvement potentials related to plans & projects of RTA IT environment in line with the highest international practices. It also attends to assessing the effectiveness & competency of this environment along with the strategic & operational plans, policies and work processes.
The presentation also spotlighted the specialized organization unit and the importance of establishing it within the Internal Audit Dep't in order to audit the IT environment, particularly in agencies & entities concerned with large-scale use of technological operational systems involving huge investments with a view to auditing the operational expenses on IT, the significance & security of electronic data, and contribution of these systems in realizing the objectives of the strategic plan.
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Press Release 2012
