Oman: The Information Technology Authority (ITA), represented by the Governance and Compliance Division, organized yesterday morning, an awareness workshop on the Government Compliance Program at its headquarters in Knowledge Oasis, aimed at introducing the program and its activities to IT managers, internal audit managers and information security specialists in various government entities.

Rasha Bint Saud Al Abdali, Acting Director, Compliance Department at ITA, started the workshop with an overview about the governance and compliance Division in the ITA as the division responsible for issuing policies, standards, frameworks and guidelines related to information technology, as well as developing the government compliance program.

Mohammed Bin Salim Al Araimi, Compliance Specialist at ITA, introduced the government compliance program, by saying “this program aims to insure that government entities comply with the circulars and policies issued by ITA in the field of information technology and its various areas through self-assessment and field audit activities. It also aims at supporting the eTransformation in the Government entities, as well as regulating the information IT sector through the development of policies, frameworks and legislation governing this sector in the Sultanate.”

"There are a number of activities that fall under the government commitment program, including self-assessment and awareness workshops, as well as field audits,” he added.

Rasha Al Abdali also spoke about the self-assessment phase, in which government entities evaluate themselves to measure their compliance with the policies and standards issued by the Information Technology Authority (ITA) to enable government entities to improve and develop their IT works with the requirements of IT policies in the Sultanate. It also prepares government entities for the field audit phase.”

Mohammed Al Arimi then talked about the field audit phase, which follows the self-assessment phase. “ITA team selects a sample of government entities to conduct the audit activities on them and to verify their compliance with the policies and standards issued by ITA,” he says. “this is done through interviewing the concerned teams with prior coordination with the internal audit departments within the selected government entities as well as reviewing the list of requirements and ensuring compliance with them along with obtaining the necessary evidence, and making observations and reviewing them with the concerned team and submitting the reports so that the necessary corrective actions will be taken.”

At the end of the workshop, Rasha Al Abdali presented the government compliance program guide, which aims at determining the scope of work, identifying roles and responsibilities, and the audit activities of the compliance program in the different government entities and outlining the reporting mechanism as well as introducing Audit mechanisms for the regular reports.

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For more information or media clarification, please contact:
Sheikha Mahmood Aljasssasi, Media and Communication Specialist
Information & Awareness Division
Telephone: +968 2416 66769
GSM: +968 9900 4332
Fax: +968 2416 6604
Email: Sheikha.aljassasi@ita.gov.om 

© Press Release 2019

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