More than 24 years after the federal government admitted that aging systems were a problem, two-thirds of its software is considered in poor condition and still needs modernization.
This is the conclusion of the Auditor General of Canada, Karen Hogan, whose reports were tabled Thursday. “The longer these systems take to modernize, the more likely it is that they will break down and Canadians will not be able to access the services they need,” she wrote in her review.
The Auditor General’s investigation reveals that of the approximately 7,500 applications (term used in the report, synonymous with software) from 45 departments and agencies, two-thirds were obsolete.
An expert from the Office of the Auditor General of Canada confirmed Duty that the sample of 45 departments and agencies analyzed does not include the entire federal government, but remains very representative.
There are also more than 560 pieces of software considered “essential to the health, safety, security or economic well-being of Canadians” that still require modernization.
Target out of reach
Despite many years since the problem was first reported, progress has been slow. The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat had established a target that 60% of all information technology applications should be in good condition by 2030.
However, the target could be out of reach: the percentage of applications in good condition increased from 33% to 38% between 2019 and 2023. If progress continues at the current pace, only 45% of applications would be in good condition. here 2030.
And even if the target were reached, 40% of applications would still be in poor condition, 31 years after the government recognized the problem.
In the report, the Phoenix payroll system project is cited in particular as an example of what can “go wrong” when monitoring of a modernization project is insufficient.
A few years ago, the Phénix system had caused thousands of overpayments, missed pay for months, unpaid bonuses and other failures, not to mention stress, anxiety and financial and physical health problems. and mental health among affected workers.
Payment failure
The problem of aging software even extends to the systems that ensure the payment of benefits, such as Old Age Security, the Canada Pension Plan and Employment Insurance. These computer systems – whose payments are intended for more than 10 million Canadians – are also several decades old and are not immune to possible breakdown.
The Auditor General noted in particular that the system on which the employment insurance system depends had still not been modernized. A 2010 audit report on aging information technology systems already warned at the time that the system was at risk of failure.
The migration of the employment insurance program to the new platform should take place between 2025 and 2028.
For its part, Employment and Social Development Canada had originally estimated that the full migration of Old Age Security to a modern platform could occur as early as 2023, but this date could be pushed back to December 2025.
“Delays increase the risk of a significant outage that could interrupt the payment of benefits to Canadians who rely on them to meet their daily needs,” writes the Auditor General.
In her reports, the Auditor General of Canada also concluded that the federal government is not taking the problem of growing antibiotic resistance seriously enough, or that institutions like the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are not sufficiently monitoring their workplace inclusion programs.