The Office of the Ombudsman launched its first-ever Data Migration System (DMS) for its case records management system on 22 August 2017. Top officials from the Office of the Ombudsman, the United States Embassy in Manila, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and institutional partners graced the event.
The DMS is a project initiative of the Office of the Ombudsman together with the INL and USAID, which aims to digitize the case records of Ombudsman area and sectoral offices. The project takes off from the data migration project for the Central Office and is envisioned to strengthen the Complaint and Case Monitoring System developed in-house to ensure completeness, accuracy and security of case records.
In her message of commitment, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales stated that, “I cannot overemphasize the importance of data integrity. It is an intangible tool for any public institution to effectively perform its mandate.”
She added that “the Ombudsman values the delivery of information in real time, anytime, all the time, as information without integrity is a waste of time and other resources.”
For his part, Ambassador Sung Kim expressed the United States government’s commitment in supporting the mandate of the Office by providing technical assistance programs such as the DMS, noting that “the DMS program is a prime example of a strong partnership among agencies and institutions based on unified anti-corruption goals.”
As part of the project’s implementation, Ombudsman Morales created a committee for the institution-wide physical inventory of cases; and an information technology governance committee mandated to provide policy recommendations on all IT–related concerns of the Office.
She also added that “these parallel and complementing actions demonstrate our firm resolve to maximize available technology in harnessing reliable and timely data in the fight against corruption.”
The launch was attended by Director Brandon Hudspeth of the INL, Director Jeff Lehrer of the Office of Economic Development and Governance (USAID Philippines), representatives of World Bank, International Development Law Organization, Commission on Audit, CD Technologies Asia and other development partners. ###