A Performance Audit
An Audit Report on Performance Measures at the Juvenile Justice Department
August 2018
Summary Analysis
The Juvenile Justice Department (Department) had significant weaknesses in a system that it uses to manage its youth population. Those weaknesses were a result of the Department not following a change management process when implementing a change within its Correctional Care System (CCS).
As a result of that change, certain data in CCS was unreliable. While auditors observed youth and verified that the current location recorded in CCS was correct for a sample of youth, auditors identified certain errors in other key data fields such as youth admission dates.
The Department also uses information from CCS to calculate and report certain key performance measure results into the Automated Budget and Evaluation System of Texas (ABEST). As a result, factors prevented certification for six of the nine key performance measures audited.
The Department also reported inaccurate results for two key performance measures audited due to errors in the information it used to calculate and report the performance measure data. One key performance measure tested was certified with qualification.
The Department did not follow a change management process when it implemented changes to its Correctional Care System (CCS). As a result of changes the Department made to CCS, certain data in that system was not reliable. The Department implemented a process to fix the data errors for reporting purposes; however, it could not ensure that the process identified and corrected all errors for performance measure reporting.
The Department reported unreliable results for eight key performance measures tested for fiscal year 2017. Specifically, factors prevented certification for six performance measures and the Department reported inaccurate results for two performance measures tested.
Furthermore, three of those eight performance measures were required to be reported on a quarterly basis. For the first quarter of fiscal year 2018, factors prevented certification for two of those performance measures, and the Department reported inaccurate results for the third performance measure tested.
In addition, the Department did not have adequate policies and procedures or perform adequate reviews for the eight performance measures tested.
The Department accurately reported the results for the Turnover Rate of Juvenile Correctional Officers performance measure for fiscal year 2017, which represents the termination rate of Juvenile Correctional Officers within the fiscal year. That measure was certified with qualification because the Department did not have policies and procedures in place for the first eight months of fiscal year 2017.
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