Halifax AG says municipality's website riddled with problems after 2017 launch

Halifax's auditor general has outlined several problems with the launch of the most recent iteration of the municipality's website.

Evangeline Colman-Sadd presented the report to the municipality's audit and finance standing committee on Tuesday.

She found that the website, which launched in 2017, went live before several known problems were fixed, including broken links, missing pages and a faulty parking ticket payment system.

Colman-Sadd blamed insufficient testing on some aspects of the site prior to its launch.

"With the paid parking portion of the site, there wasn't enough testing done," she said. "It just didn't work properly."

The report said the system experienced errors in processing credit card payments and reconciling paid tickets. It also said management believed it was necessary to get public feedback by launching the site before fixing the outstanding problems.

Website problems were initially being fixed as complaints came in from the public. The city's information, communication, and technology division is now running software to detect and fix broken links on the site.

Colman-Sadd said a new payment system will be implemented later this year.

Part of Tuesday's presentation was made behind closed doors, but Colman-Sadd would not comment on that portion of the meeting.

"It's not a matter where there's a fraud," she said.

The report said two senior managers had not signed off on testing prior to the site's launch.