Audit report faults data input, customer care at Arms Ltd

Arms Ltd is lacking three key elements - Customer Care, Human Resource Management and Revenue Assurance, the Auditor-General said today.

In a report to parliament today on the setting up and operations of the company, commissioned after last year's wave of customer complaints, the Ombudsman says this project included replacement of critical software in use by Enemalta and the WSC (for their billing), addition of new technological aids, and a nation-wide change-over to smart meters.

It was found that Arms Ltd is still facing difficulties clearing problematic accounts which do not get invoiced.

Although the company is making use of performance indicators to gauge its output, the indicators deployed merit revisiting to depict a more holistic and truer picture of operations.

The project deploys state of the art software and hardware solutions. However, the report says, "data input needs to be up to scratch to enable meaningful and useful output."

Critical deficiencies in data quality checks prior to migration and a breakdown in data matching controls in two major modules were the cause the problematic situations last year.

"Arms Ltd lacks three key dedicated functions - Customer Care, Human Resource Management and Revenue Assurance," the Auditor said.

"The National Audit Office acknowledges the progress registered since the change-over to the new system. However, any material return on the very significant investment made can only be obtained once smart metering is implemented.

The Report may be accessed from the NAO website - www.nao.gov.mt