information and communications technology
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the _Perishable Products Export Control Board
_The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) department >> continues to support the PPECB’s digital /strategy through robust infrastructure, cloud adoption, :implementation of cloud applications, sound governance, and a: highly skilled and competent ICT_team.
ICT Governance
The PPECB’s ICT is governed by the Board, which oversees all strategic ICT issues and governance. An internal committee, the Strategic Projects Steering Committee (Steercom), provides executive-level governance over the strategic projects and, in particular, provides oversight for the TITAN 2.0® and the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) projects. This committee meets monthly to ensure the projects’ strategic goals are achieved.
The PPECB continues to embrace the international Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies (COBIT) governance framework to maintain appropriate ICT governance, which provides guidelines for best practices, standards, and methodologies. The COBIT 2019 framework has been implemented and annual reviews are conducted. The PPECB also subscribes to the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL). The ICT governance framework and operational plan was approved by the Board in the 2022/2023 financial year.
The objective of ICT governance is to harmonise the architectural requirements of the PPECB into an understandable set of policies, processes, procedures, and standards – all to ensure the PPECB’s visions and standards are aligned with its actual business requirements.
ICT Objectives and Achievements for the Year Under Review
ICT Infrastructure
With the advent of loadshedding, backup power for stage two for all ICT equipment was implemented at targeted PPECB sites to ensure connectivity during unplanned power outages.
The PPECB’s virtual estate was upgraded with Microsoft operating systems reaching their respective end of life and end of support periods. All virtual servers were successfully upgraded to 2019 Server and SQL versions.
All aforementioned initiatives have allowed ICT to adhere to the internal Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with PPECB business units.
TITAN 2.0®
Development of the cold chain modules on TITAN 2.0® continues while the container inspection module is in external user acceptance testing. Further upgrades to the export notification module enabled the capturing of European Union (EU) citrus phyto requirements for container loading, thus improving the accuracy of information required before a phyto certificate is issued. All the minor audit findings were successfully remediated. TITAN 2.0® successfully integrated into the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development’s (DALRRD) Tracking Unit Manager (TUM).
Introduction of the Operations Integration Service as the interface between TITAN 2.0® and the finance system, made the integration between the two systems easier and thus it will be simpler to integrate all future TITAN 2.0® modules.
ICT Data and Analytics
The PPECB has established a reporting platform, Intellex, to enable reporting access to external stakeholders. Data accessibility is critical to supporting day-to-day operational activities and decision-making.
The PPECB landscape is dynamic, with new applications and modules delivered as part of the digital journey. The reporting landscape is ever increasing to integrate with ERP, TITAN 2.0® and Master Data to incorporate a wider range of quality data and strengthen the PPECB’s data analytics’ strategic objective.
ICT Cybersecurity and Asset Management
Cybersecurity is a key focus area, together with ensuring compliance with the Protection of Personal Information Act (Act No. 4 of 2013) (POPIA) and the Promotion of Access to Information Act (Act No. 2 of 2000) (PAIA). We continue to enhance our cybersecurity posture and protect the PPECB from cyber vulnerabilities by proactively safeguarding the organisation. The following initiatives were focused on:
- To further enhance the cybersecurity posture, new tools from the Microsoft agreement are in the process of being implemented;
- The CIS (Center of Internet Security) benchmarks for servers and workstations have been implemented and the tablets will be completed in the next few months;
- Vulnerability management has been improved, with an average of 98% compliance across the business;
- Automation and digitisation are a focus in cybersecurity and manual processes and paper forms have been automated and changed to online forms; and
- The two bi-annual disaster recovery tests were successfully completed and documentation was updated where there were changes in the business.
- The asset management processes in ICT were updated, monthly verification was implemented, as well as a quarterly physical asset verification; and
- Consequence management is also applied, via the High Value Asset Committee, where employees are held accountable for any loss or damage to company ICT assets.
Monitoring the Effectiveness of Technology and Information Management
ICT continues to provide insight and reporting to its stakeholders to create awareness of information and technology projects, initiatives and issues being addressed.
Quarterly reports are produced for the Board, highlighting key projects, risks, strategic issues, investments and ICT expenditure. Moreover, suppliers are managed to ensure that contractual obligations are fulfilled. Internally, numerous forums have been created to facilitate engagement on projects, issues and other ICT matters to keep the business appraised of progress. Regular internal audits are also conducted.
Outlook: Key Focus Areas for 2023/2024
The following objectives will be the focus of the coming year:
- Continue to enhance the Intellex platform and other tools to provide data and analytics to support insight for business efficiencies and planning;
- Continue with data governance and assurance with the implementation of the strategic projects to enable data correctness and integrity, which benefits projects and stakeholders;
- Continue to deploy the cold chain modules on our mobile technology application (ie TITAN 2.0®) and other digital services and functionality to the industry by focusing on container loading; releasing the container inspection and cold storage inspection modules; and continuous enhancements to the product inspection and export certification module;
- Review and enhance the COBIT 2019 objectives for the 2023/2024 financial year;
- Continuously enhance the PPECB’s cyber threat intelligence to ensure it provides secure services to the industry, by implementing a zero trust framework across the PPECB;
- Improve controls in the ICT asset management function to secure high value ICT assets;
- Increase the uptake of TITAN 2.0® for minor products and the cold chain modules;
- Plan to archive the legacy financial systems once the ERP project is successfully implemented;
- Continue to integrate the enterprise master data framework into all PPECB applications to utilise a single repository of shared data; and
- Continuously review and improve overall architecture and technologies to reduce costs and create further efficiencies in the business.
Yanesh Ramiah
Chief Information Officer
PPECB
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