Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance
Office for Technology
New York City Human Resources Administration

Welfare Management System: General and Application Controls Over New York City Data

Public assistance programs in New York City are overseen by the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA), and are directly administered by the New York City Human Resources Administration (HRA). In its administration of these programs, HRA relies on the automated Welfare Management System (WMS), which is managed by OTDA and OFT (the State Office for Technology). We examined the adequacy of the controls over the New York City data on the WMS and identified a number of serious weaknesses. We were unable to confirm the accuracy of WMS data relating to individuals’ eligibility for public assistance, because HRA was unable to locate many of the supporting case file records. We determined that WMS data was not always consistent with the case file information that was available. We also found that, because certain data was incorrectly entered by HRA, 8 of the 58 public assistance grants that we verified were either understated (seven) or overstated (one). We further determined that improvements were needed in WMS security and disaster recovery procedures. We made several recommendations aimed at strengthening controls over the New York City data on the WMS.

For a complete copy of Report 2002-N-1 click here.
For a copy of the NYCHRA 90-day response click here.
For a copy of the OTDA 90-day response click here.
For a copy of the associated follow-up report click here.