CAG ANNOUNCES FULL OPERATIONALISATION OF OIOS
CAG of India announced the full operationalisation of the One IAAD One System (OIOS) workflow system in the audit offices effective from 1 April 2023. Presiding over an event here today, Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Shri Girish Chandra Murmu declared that “from tomorrow onwards, all new audit work in our institution will take place only through OIOS and physical paper-based workflow must cease. From tomorrow onwards, the digitisation process would be irreversible”.
OIOS is an enterprise wide end-to-end IT application. OIOS is web-enabled solution with support for multiple languages with offline functionality and a mobile app.
Shri Murmu said that, “the OIOS roll out process involved work relating to master data, audit design, audit execution, legacy data migration, knowledge management system, quality assurance, quality control, audit products, communication and follow-up”.
Shri Murmu stated that, “The institution of the CAG has always been one of the first Government organizations to adopt new technology in its working model. Be it digitizing the accounting and entitlement process, adopting IT enabled audit, using data analytics in facilitating audit, work flow automations, OIOS is a step in that direction which strengthens our Audit officers to continue to provide independent and credible assurance on public resources and be a global leader in public sector auditing”. He appreciated efforts of the Organisation of about 130 odd audit offices spread all over the country for embracing this digital initiative.
Mr Murmu emphasized that to audit the technology used by the Government in delivering services as well as ensuring equity, efficiency, effectiveness, and ethics in such delivery, auditors, need to be one step ahead of the government. Government of India has forged ahead with the Digital India programme through which it has used technology extensively in every sector of economy and governance. Extensive use of Artificial Intelligence in all fields is an inevitable outcome of government policies. IAAD is working towards building infrastructure and processes for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning and harnessing the potential of these technologies for delivering audit products more effectively.
Shri Murmu shared that SAI India as the Chair of SAI 20 under G20, has taken several initiatives in the area of responsible AI. SAI India is working towards formulating data policy, governance principles, access protocols and security policy to give assurance to auditee for data safety and legitimate use. The role of auditors is going to be critical in such a context since AI is still a little understood technology, mostly opaque in its operations and needs to be evaluated in terms of ethics and responsibility.
The Journey of developing this OIOS application was presented by K. R. Sriram, Deputy CAG (CRA). AM Bajaj Chief Technology officer spoke regarding infrastructure and way ahead. The event ended with Vote of Thanks by Shri BK Mohanty, DG Information System. The event was attended by officers of IAAD in New Delhi as well as web-casted to all 180 offices across India.