Information technologies in the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation

2024: Director of Digital Transformation of the Accounts Chamber moved to work in ВЭБ.РФ

As TAdviser found out in January 2024, Mikhail Petrov, who has worked as director of the digital transformation department of the Accounts Chamber since 2018, joined ВЭБ.РФ.. He took the post of executive director of the information technology unit. Read more here.

2023

How is the digital transformation of the Accounts Chamber going. Results of the year

In 2023, the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation carried out 332 inspections, which revealed 4849 violations and shortcomings totaling 2.11 trillion rubles. At the same time, 26.4 billion rubles were returned to the budgets of all levels of Russia and the budget of the Union State. Such data are provided in a report released on March 18, 2024.

The document says that the priorities of the digital transformation of the Accounts Chamber in 2023 were the introduction of new information systems and solutions based on data, as well as the development of employees' competencies in using new tools. The complex of software tools included in the Digital Platform was modernized, which made it possible to increase the level of integration of individual elements and the degree of automation of audit procedures as a whole.

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The agency is introducing artificial intelligence technologies. In particular, an AI tool has been developed to search for violations in the field of public procurement: it is able to identify deviations from requirements and norms in the texts of state contracts presented in the register of the portal of the Unified Information System (UIS) in the field of procurement. In addition, a system was created to analyze the accounting postings of the audited object: it allowed a continuous analysis of over 4.4 million accounting postings according to the criteria determined by the inspection staff.

In 2023, the Accounts Chamber carried out work on the creation of various digital systems: 112 digital products and 217 digital solutions have been developed and are functioning, which are used in conducting control and expert analytical measures. At the same time, 189 employees implemented digital analytical developments using advanced analytical tools created in the Python programming language or in the PolyAnalyst data analysis software platform.

Specialized solutions are created to automatically find risks of violations. Such tools made it possible to analyze the risks in terms of government assignments, interbudgetary transfers, capital construction projects, and the federal targeted investment program. The system helped to reduce the number of final documents requiring the attention of the inspector: this was achieved by creating a register of only those documents with which the corresponding identified risks were associated. As a result, the complexity of the inspection has significantly decreased.

It is noted that in 2023, 22 projects were implemented in the field of organizing the collection, download and processing of data. Automatic loading of budget and financial reporting forms to form 55 data sets is provided.

The key tool for developing the competencies of employees of the Accounts Chamber is the internal educational platform, which by the end of 2023 has hosted more than 100 training courses, webinars, modular programs developed by competence centers. As of the end of 2023, 1,084 employees were trained. In total, 109 educational events were held in 2023 (73 internal and 36 external). The digital product "Control Panel" has been introduced, which allows each employee to have in real time convenient access to the most important internal information for his work.

The report said that in 2023, 1,040 positions of the federal state civil service were replaced in the apparatus of the Accounts Chamber. The average age of civil servants is 44 years, and about 35% of specialists are under 40 years old. Women make up 61%, men - 39%.^[1]

The Accounts Chamber will spend 120 million rubles on a backup data center for its IT systems

In early June 2023, it became known about the decision of the Accounts Chamber to build a wooden data center for the operation of its IT systems. To implement this project, the department launched a tender for the purchase of processors. Read more here.

2022: How the digital transformation of the Accounts Chamber took place

At the end of December 2022, the director of the digital transformation department of the apparatus of the Accounts Chamber of the RFMikhail Petrov spoke about the introduction and development of information technologies in the control and supervisory authority in 2022.

In 2022, the digital platform of the Accounts Chamber (working name - "Digital Inspector") was launched into full-scale industrial operation after development and implementation over three years.

Director of the Department of Digital Transformation of the Apparatus of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation Mikhail Petrov

During this time, employees of the Audit Chamber on the basis of the tools of the digital platform independently implemented more than 120 digital products and solutions. Employees of audit areas often develop analytical models without the help of IT specialists, create dashboards for visual data analytics and even build their own neural networks to solve some problems, Petrov said. According to him, the result of the project was the saving of working time, which previously spent on such routine operations as data collection and structuring.

Also in 2022, new processes of interaction between the Department of Digital Transformation and structural divisions of the Accounts Chamber were launched at full capacity. A special tool was introduced - a data management system. Within the framework of the service, an institute of so-called data stewards was created - representatives of audit units in charge of working with data. Data stewards plan and certify the data necessary in the work of their directions, create requests for connecting sources or downloading data sets, and based on these requests, the digital transformation department loads the corresponding data sets into the data lake of the Accounts Chamber, creates data storefronts and updates them in real time.

Building of the Accounts Chamber in Moscow

The director of the digital transformation department of the apparatus said that in 2022 the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation pays special attention to the problem of data protection. Several projects were implemented on modern anti-virus protection tools, tools for detecting computer attacks, and preventing vulnerabilities in information systems.

In 2022, the KKM SP-Audit software package was modernized, supporting the main processes within the framework of state audit procedures, expanded the functionality of the module "Analysis and Audit of Corporations and State Companies," which allows analyzing the activities of organizations with state participation, including state corporations, state-owned companies, public law and other companies.

In 2022, more than 90 data sets were uploaded and constantly updated to the data storage platform ("Data Lake") of the Accounts Chamber, more than 80 data storefronts were created.

In 2022, a two-year cycle of mass training of employees of the Accounts Chamber using modern digital tools was completed. The department has developed and conducts training courses "Practice of Digital Transformation" for employees of the Accounts Chamber. At several levels of complexity and focus of these courses, audit staff are trained in an extensive range of data management: data analytics theory, specific digital tools, practical sessions for data stewards, and much more.

In short, the current [2022] year is very saturated and effective. We have done almost everything we have planned in 2021. We expected a little big achievements in the field of data management. But this is a very difficult area, and even what has already been implemented has become a huge progress in the digitalization of our sphere of activity, "concluded Mikhail Petrov.[2]

2020

Digital double of the object under control - passport of the object

Prerequisites for digitalization of the "presentation of the object of control"

Large volume of manual routine operations

• manual collection of structured and non-structured information from different sources
• lack of tools for effective data analysis
• preparation of internal reports, their approval, transfer for registration and storage are carried out in the absence of standardization and automation
• the organization of the process requires the constant personal participation of the Inspector

Losses as management decisions

• high subjectivity rate when selecting objects
• risk of errors during automatic processing of large volumes of complex, heterogeneous, non-aggregated and distributed information
• many of the data blocks used in the work do not pass automated validation
• inability to use automated analysis algorithms
• inability to connect online to analyze new external data sources
• difficulties in implementing new audit methods and identifying new violations due to the impossibility of operational development of the used tools and restrictions associated with the current state of data

Module "Object Passport" - part of "Digital Platform"

A set of software tools that provides the user with the ability to work in a "single window" mode with consolidated information on verification objects accumulated in a single data warehouse ("data lake"), using modern analytical tools that implement a risk-oriented approach and predictive analytics

Functions and purpose of "Object passport" module in "Digital platform" CFS

The module "Object Passport" is designed to form a "digital twin" of the control object containing summary information from internal and external sources of information

Module tasks:

• presentation of data in the structure of the "Object Passport" based on data from the information systems of the Accounts Chamber and external sources
• analysis of "similar" documents on detected violations
• high-performance big data processing capabilities
• possibility of analysis of control objects (flexible search, analysis of object relationships, risk assessment)

Digitalization projects of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation: achievements of 2020 and plans for 2021

To achieve this goal, the Accounts Chamber focuses on fulfilling the following main tasks Data of ^[3]

• Promoting the formation of a strategic vision in the leadership of authorities and government organizations through the presentation of an integrated perspective on trends and risks of the country's development;
• promoting more effective management of state resources by correlating the national goals, goals of departments and strategic goal-setting documents with their resource support, improving methods for forming, managing the implementation of state programs and assessing their effectiveness through the transition to an integrated state audit;
• strengthening the culture of publicity and openness of government decision-making processes. Development of accountability of authorities and personal responsibility of management of departments and organizations to society for achievement of goals and objectives;
• To develop a good faith environment by improving anti-corruption measures, as well as legislative and institutional conditions that prevent abuse.

Directions

• Development of the state audit methodology.
• Development of the internal management system, personnel support and organizational culture of the Accounts Chamber.
• Introduction and development of modern digital technologies of state audit

What is done at the end of 2020

• About 15 "pilot" data projects have been implemented and are being implemented (analytical panels on national goals, unfinished construction, waste management, budget execution of national projects, poverty analysis, operational analysis of federal budget execution, funds, monitoring of performance indicators, FTS analysis of anti-COVID measures, classification of violations based on ML, speech recognition system...)
• A digital department model has been developed, a number of digitalization tools have been prepared (for example, 50% automatic generation of a verification report)
• Pilot project on RPA (training process) implemented
• A training program has been developed by levels: primary (junior), middle (middle), advanced (senior), advanced (advanced)
• Prototype of "data lake" created
• Created "Digital Asset" - a community of employees most active and motivated for digital development
• The team of the Accounts Chamber took part in 3 hackathons, and we ourselves organized the I Hackathon Data Audit
• Painlessly switched to "remote" - in May, only 5% of employees were present in the office
• Expanded tool to create PolyAnalyst analytical models

Digital Inspector Architecture

Prototypes launched:

• "Digital Inspector Interface"
• "Object Passport"
• "Document Analysis"
• "Risk Assessment"
• "Project and Assignment Management"
• KPS "KKM SP-Audit"
• "Expert Platform"
• "Platform" data storage

2020 data

Plans for 2020-2021

• New Digital Inspector modules and commissioning:
  • "Knowledge Management"
  • "Analytical Metrics Panels"
  • "IAS Collegium"
  • "Intelligent Assistant"

• Create a Data Quality Management System and a Data Management System
• Create a complete Data Management Service
• Development of the Digital Maturity Project
• Data Contest
• Conducting II Hackathon Data Audit
• Development of the project www.data-in.ru

How to effectively manage your IT assets. TAdviser interview with Mikhail Petrov, CDTO of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation

Transparent accounting of IT assets can be called one of the basic elements necessary to build an effective technological policy and budget this area. Director of the Digital Transformation Department of the Accounts Chamber of RFMikhail Petrova in an open interview at the conference "IT Asset Management " on July 15 told Natalya Lavrentieva, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of TAdviser, about the peculiarities of managing IT assets in the public sector and about the successful experience of organizing this process in his department. Read more here.

Application of digital technologies in audit - experience and prospects

2019

The Accounts Chamber began to disclose the source codes of its programs

In June 2019, the Accounts Chamber announced the decision to publish the source codes of a number of its programs. Available to the public, in particular, will be new projects of the control department to automate the work of inspectors and employees.

The source code is published at code.ach.gov.ru. At the time of the announcement, 12 titles of software are available here, mainly training materials and various data collection and processing scripts.

Ivan Begtin, an expert at the Accounts Chamber, explained to TAdviser that at least hackathon participants, students and teachers can become users of scripts, and in general, the department expects that programmers, designers and analysts will become the main users of the published code.

The Accounts Chamber of the first of the Russian government agencies opens its source codes, the department says " (photo - Artem Geodakyan/TASS) "

At the first stage, the emphasis will be more on the educational function of the repository. Part of the open source contains training materials on working with open financial data. The block of educational resources also has historical archival data: for example, the archive of the bulletin of the Accounts Chamber from 1999 to 2010. They are not on the official website of the department.

In the future, the code storage will be regularly updated and replenished with packages for designers and programmers, the Accounts Chamber says. It is planned to upload a design layout, code of analytical tools and much more there. The information will be updated at least once a month, and then on an ongoing basis. The department clarified TAdviser that at least a dozen more projects will be published.

Since we are now creating our own "data lake," analytics systems are mainly based on open source products, we think that our developments can be used by other government agencies. Therefore, as the relevant projects are implemented, we can also open the code of the systems we create for external users, - said Mikhail Petrov, director of the department's digital transformation department.

The Accounts Chamber told TAdviser that the first code that the department opened was written by employees of the PKU "Center for Expert Analytical and Information Technologies of the Accounts Chamber" and the Information Transformation Department of the Accounts Chamber. Contractors will also write system code that will belong to the Accounts Chamber. The control department will decide to upload this code to the depository.

TAdviser interview with Director of Digital Transformation

Appointed at the end of 2018, Mikhail Petrov, Director for Digital Transformation of the Accounts Chamber, spoke in an interview with TAdviser Editor-in-Chief Alexander Levashov about the main areas of his activities.

2018

Kudrin IT Initiatives

The head of the Accounts Chamber, Alexei Kudrin, in an interview with^[1] Kommersant told what IT initiatives the department is waiting for.

Alexey Kudrin spoke about the IT plans of the Accounts Chamber

So, according to him, the direction of traditional financial audit, which is mainly dealt with by the chamber, can and should be significantly reformed.

I would like half of the audit that the chamber is now conducting to be done automatically, digitally, with virtually no human involvement. So that half of those reports that are written today are written by InformSystem, and would write in more detail and detail. So far, these are only my dreams, which, however, will soon be implemented in the chamber's action plan, "Kudrin said.

When implementing this idea, in his opinion, the department will be able to expand the number of inspection objects, increase audit coverage using digital methods. At the same time, the conclusions may become more complex than now, and there will be more opportunities for analysis.

According to Kudrin, digitalization is underway and step by step changes the practices of public administration itself.

Now, for example, we no longer need to create an electronic budget ourselves. When I left the Ministry of Finance, the government approved our proposals for the creation of an electronic budget system. Today, the Accounts Chamber uses this, for a number of indicators - for budget execution, for deviations from control figures - data are generated automatically. In this sense, the Treasury and the Ministry of Finance are our partners, we have complete mutual understanding here, - he noted, adding that in the near future it will be proposed to significantly increase the possibilities of the electronic budget.

In addition, the Accounts Chamber, according to the official, is monitoring the state of information systems of ministries and departments.

One of the pleasant discoveries for me was that the chamber has unlimited access to the information resource of all ministries. We have all the keys. But in a number of ministries, InformSystems are in an infant state. Despite the digitalization campaign, there are sometimes problems even with real electronic archiving. There are still manual submission and aggregation of reports, "he said.

At the same time, the Accounts Chamber has the right to demand a certain level of data submission, prescribed in laws, regulations and relevant control projects. That is, the department has the right to demand that ministerial databases be improved, become understandable, accessible and reliable.

Despite the fact that a team has already formed in the Accounts Chamber that works with electronic resources and examines databases, according to Kudrin, it is necessary to move forward strongly and quickly. For this, in the near future, the department will have a dedicated head of the "digital office," CDO, who will be responsible for analyzing databases, that is, their comparability, usability, and demand in inspections.

We are ready to work with alternative data. Life itself creates models in which sometimes the data of state and commercial research are no less relevant than those of Rosstat. So, working with the data of the Federal Tax Service, the Pension Fund, we can better assess the situation on the poverty of the population, on the standard of living, on the demand for labor, "the official explained.

Another priority direction for the Accounts Chamber is related to public procurement. According to Kudrin, this is the most difficult and most corrupt sphere.

From the point of view of a ricoriented approach in public administration - this is where you need to start. This understanding in the Accounts Chamber is already there, at the strategic session it is confirmed. So far, I will say that we have good with the openness of data on public procurement, but bad with a systematic analysis of what is happening. It is necessary that society finally see who, at what price and how much it buys in the state. All this publicly available data needs to be processed, analyzed, made modern applications that will make it easier even for an ordinary person to understand what is happening. We began to do this, including in the Committee of Civil Initiatives, which contributes to the promotion of such programs. Here we will be able to do this simply professionally, for the general benefit of "taking advantage of our official position," he explained.

What's to be done

In July 2018, the head of the IT department of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation, Alexei Sklyar, told TAdviser about the results and prospects for the development of information technologies in the department.

The capabilities of the information and analytical system of remote audit of the Accounts Chamber as of 2018 are limited by the level of application of information technologies in control objects. That is, the lack of data in the information systems of federal executive bodies or, in principle, the absence of information systems when performing the function and powers that are the subject of control of the Accounts Chamber does not allow the Accounts Chamber to conduct a remote audit and in an automated way process data.

Thus, in terms of further development, the Accounts Chamber sees the implementation of organizational measures to ensure the availability of the necessary data in the information systems of audit objects of the Accounts Chamber in the required composition and data formats.

For example, you can organize activities by implementing the following activities:

• participation of representatives of the Accounts Chamber in various coordination and other bodies created to implement measures in the field of information technology, for example, the government commission on the use of information technology;

• implementation of the powers of the Accounts Chamber to form recommendations on the composition and procedure for generating data when creating and developing federal state information systems on an ongoing basis and monitoring the implementation by audit entities of recommendations sent by the Accounts Chamber;

• taking the necessary actions within the framework of control and expert and analytical activities on the use of information technologies by federal executive bodies in terms of the availability of data for state financial audit.

2014-2018: What's done

In 2015, an information and analytical system for remote conduct of external state audit (control) (IAS UVGA) was developed and implemented to implement control and expert analytical measures at the location of the Accounts Chamber, for automated data processing, including automated detection of violations by control objects.

IAS UVGA is an information system with the use of which access to information systems of control facilities of the Accounts Chamber (federal executive bodies) and processing of data from these systems is carried out.

This information system made it possible to conduct constant monitoring and control of the activities of the objects of control, ensured the receipt of information with the ability to promptly respond immediately upon the occurrence of relevant events, in contrast to the frequency of obtaining information only on the basis of control and expert analytical measures when leaving the objects of audit and control.

The use of IAS UVGA was carried out in most of the control and expert-analytical measures carried out, says Alexey Sklyar. - For example, a significant increase in detected violations in 2017, which amounted to 6517 violations in the amount of 1.881 trillion rubles compared to 2016, in which 3855 violations in the amount of 965 million rubles were revealed, was primarily due to the use of this information system

Over the past period of 2018, more than 4100 violations were revealed, which was also influenced by the information and analytical system of remote external state audit, adds Sklyar. The information system provided opportunities for a wide scope of coverage of the activities of control facilities, which cannot be provided during on-site control measures and requests information.

At the initiative of the Accounts Chamber in 2014, an order of the Government of the Russian Federation of September 20, 2014 No. 1858-r was adopted, on the basis of which the state information system "Official Website of the Russian Federation in the information and telecommunication network" Internet "was created to post information on the implementation of state (municipal) financial audit (control) in the field of budgetary legal relations "(Portal of state and municipal financial audit), operated by the Accounts Chamber (https://portal.audit.gov.ru).

The portal was put into operation in 2016 and is a unified federal state information system that ensures the automation of planning, accounting for the results of the state (municipal) financial audit (control) in the Russian Federation, including the objects of audit and control taken to eliminate the identified violations.

The main prerequisite for the creation of the Portal of State and Municipal Financial Audit was the absence of a single information resource in the Russian Federation that accumulates information about activities of state and municipal financial control bodies and the ability to carry out operational monitoring and analysis of control and expert and analytical measures carried out within the framework of the implementation of state and municipal financial audit (control) in the Russian Federation.

The introduction of the Portal of State and Municipal Financial Audit made it possible to ensure the publicity of the state and municipal financial audit (control).

The Accounts Chamber also, using the portal, coordinates the activities of all bodies of state and municipal financial control, of which 256 state bodies, as well as 324 municipal control and accounting bodies, are at the federal and budget levels of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

In 2017, all bodies of internal state financial control of the federal level represented by regional departments of the Federal Treasury, as well as a significant part of regional control and accounting bodies, a total of 379 state and municipal financial control.

The Accounts Chamber began to actively interact with citizens using information technologies when performing functions. Within the framework of planning and direct implementation of expert analytical and control activities by the Accounts Chamber on the Portal of State and Municipal Financial Audit constantly conducted surveys of citizens on the quality of their control objects state functions and provision of services to the population.

Surveys have been conducted since April 2016, and during the operation of the service, more than 50 surveys have been posted in the information system in order to determine the subject and objects of control, the problems in the field of activity of which are the most relevant for society.

The surveys allowed the Accounts Chamber to receive an independent opinion of citizens on the activities of control facilities, identify the most relevant, important and "painful" for society issues for formation, clarification of the subject and objects of its control activities, analysis of the results of the activities carried out by the Accounts Chamber in comparison with the results of the relevant surveys, receive subsequently information about the opinion of the population on the change in the situation in a particular area

The Accounts Chamber in 2018, in order to develop interaction with citizens, the portal implemented the service "Messages about audit objects of the Accounts Chamber," designed to generate messages by users of the Portal about the activities of bodies (organizations), which are subject to the control powers of the Accounts Chamber. It is possible to create new messages, as well as support messages created by other users (voting).

Other information systems were also developed and implemented, for example, in 2015, the Internet portal of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation and the control and accounting bodies of the Russian Federation (hereinafter referred to as the CSR Portal) was developed and implemented, which operates at https://portalkso.ru.

The CSR portal is a single source of information on the activities of control and accounting bodies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, the Council of Control and Accounting Bodies and the Union of Municipal Control and Accounting Bodies bodies in order to increase the efficiency of external state (municipal) financial audit (control).

The CSR portal provides the possibility of video conferencing, electronic document management, joint work with documents, formation and use of an electronic library, training, storage of information of the Accounts Chamber and control and accounting bodies and implementation of other services.

One of the necessary tasks was the formation of a "block" of information and technological support for the activities of the Accounts Chamber, which included both the Department and the institution subordinate to the Accounts Chamber, the control and coordination of which was carried out by the Department.

Based on the proposals of the Department of Automation of Information Support of the Accounts Chamber, further the Department of Information and Communication Technologies and analytical support for the implementation of external state audit (control) of the Accounts Chamber in 2014, the creation of the federal state institution "Federal Center for Informatization of the Accounts Chamber" was carried out in order to ensure the operation of information systems operated by the Accounts Chamber, as well as in order to introduce and develop the use of information technologies in the activities of the Accounts Chamber.

Since January 1, 2018, the FCI-SP PKU, in addition to information technology support, was entrusted with other functions to carry out analytical support for the activities of the Accounts Chamber, expert support and information support for the activities of the Accounts Chamber and renamed the Center for Expert Analytical and Information Technologies of the Accounts Chamber into the federal state institution.

Since 2018, the Department has also been entrusted with additional functions of analytical support and renamed the Department of Information and Communication Technologies and Analytical Support for the Implementation of External State Audit (Control) of the Accounts Chamber.

IT passport

{{# ITProj: Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation}}

Notes