National Audit Office

National Audit Office (NAO)

Managing the risk of legacy ICT to public service delivery Read full summary in English

2013 report HC 539

The cross-government report describes the case studies from four public services (state pension, Value Added Tax collection, prescription payment and consumer credit licensing services) selected to illustrate the range of approaches that small and large government bodies are taking to address the issues arising from legacy ICT (defined as "systems and applications that have been operationally embedded within a business function but superseded by newer and more effective technologies or changed business needs").

In the report page 10

- Operating the legacy ICT

- Higher security vulnerability

- Lock-in to uncompetitive support arrangements with a single supplier

- Difficulties to meet the changing business needs

In the report page 8,9

- Well managed legacy ICT systems

- Additional interfaces increase complexity

- Well planned strategic investments

- service continuity and an extended system lifespan

- additional functionality

- legacy ICT has limited adaptability, but provides service continuity and potential reduction in full service cost

In the report page 9,10

- Investing in a new system

- more cost-effective replacement for its legacy ICT system

- improved capacity processing

- support for changing business needs

The risk cases visible on this page are collected and described by the e-Government Subgroup of the EUROSAI IT Working Group in contact with author Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI). In the same way, analytical assumptions and headings are chosen by the Subgroup. We encourage you to read the original texts by SAIs - to be found in the linked files.