MITS*is led by the Chief Technology Officer (CIO). The CTO reports to the Commissioner of the*Internal Revenue Service*(IRS).*MITShas nine subordinate offices:
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The IRS needs to improve management practices over end-user computer server storage to ensure effective and efficient utilization of storage and budget resources.**In Fiscal Years 2003 through 2006, the Modernization and Information Technology Services (MITS) organization spent $19.9 million to purchase server storage capacity and support.**However, only 27 percent of the available storage was being used on the 2,253 servers we reviewed.**In addition, the IRS had not established policies and procedures for monitoring end-user computer server storage usage, including both end-user infrastructure and application server storage.**As a result, it may not have most efficiently used its resources.
SynopsisThe IRS requires a large and complex computer environment, which includes computer servers managed by several functions within the MITS organization to process and store taxpayer, financial, and administrative data.**On May 14, 2006, the MITS organization began centralizing under the Enterprise Operations organization the management of all servers in both the Enterprise Operations and the End User Equipment and Services organizations.**Other MITS organizations continue to manage their own servers.**In Fiscal Years 2003 through 2006, the MITS organization spent $19.9 million to purchase server storage capacity and support.**It planned to spend an additional $9.3 million in Fiscal Years 2006 and 2007; however, the $9.3 million was redirected and put to better use on higher priority information technology infrastructure needs (see Appendix IV).
Although the MITS organization began centralizing server management and reallocated budgeted storage funds, policies and procedures did not ensure effective and efficient storage utilization.**In Fiscal Years 2003 through 2006, the MITS organization spent $19.9 million to purchase server storage and storage support.**However, only 27 percent of storage capacity was being used...
Only*27 percent of the available storage was being used on the 2,253 servers we reviewed.*Based on the unused storage rate of 73 percent, $14.6 million[2]*of the $19.9 million spent on the purchase of storage capacity and support*during Fiscal Years 2003 through 2006represents an inefficient use of resources (see Appendix IV).MITS organization management did not have an accurate inventory of all available server storage space.**The number of servers shown in the different systems varied, with 2,256 servers in the*Tivoli®*inventory system, 3,478 servers in the Enterprise Systems Management Organization Master Server Database, and 4,783 servers in the*Information Technology Asset Management System.**In a prior audit report,[3]*we recommended mismatches between records on the*Tivoli®*inventory system and the*Information Technology Asset Management System*be resolved.**The IRS closed the corrective action on March 3, 2006; however, only 47 percent[4]*of the servers inventoried in the*Information Technology Asset Management System*were identified in the*Tivoli®*inventory system records during this review.