Totalizator system standards - Operational requirements

1. General management requirements. a. Programming. (1) A totalizator company shall develop and maintain written procedure manuals that outline structured programming methods used by the programmers. The manuals must give the programmers sufficient information to understand the programming methodologies, base operating systems, and maintenance procedures. (2) The totalizator company shall develop and maintain a written systems development life cycle that requires signoffs at pertinent checkpoints. It must address all the following or the equivalent as acceptable to the commission; (a) A procedure for accepting written requests for systems design or major program changes from users and a method for handling and recording these requests. (b) The feasibility study stage. (c) The general systems design stage. (d) Detailed systems specification. (e) Program testing. (f) System testing. (g) Conversion. (h) Systems acceptance by the totalizator company. (3) A totalizator company must develop and follow procedures to manage all program changes without regard to the complexity of the modification. The procedures must do all of the following: (a) Establish controls to prevent unauthorized and potentially inaccurate program changes from being incorporated into the production environment. (b) Regulate both scheduled and emergency changes to ensure the integrity of the computer system. (c) Permit revisions of computer programs submitted on a sequentially numbered basis. (d) Require program changes to be developed, tested, and compiled only in a test environment that is not connected to an online totalizator network. (e) Require all program changes to be thoroughly tested, reviewed, and approved pursuant to procedures adopted by the totalizator company before being placed into operation. (f) Maintain a written or electronic log, to be made available to the commission upon request, when programmers have physical access to the totalizator room or electronic access to the operation environment. (4) Before a totalizator company may place a major programming revision into production or transfer any data affected by the revision from the test environment to the production environment, the totalizator company must follow the procedures required by subdivision d of subsection 4 of section 69.5-01-11-13. b. Totalizator operations. A totalizator company shall maintain a written operations manual for the totalizator system. The manual must clarify the authority, duties, responsibilities, and lines of communication. The manual must contain sufficient detail to ensure totalizator personnel understand their job duties. The operations manual must include complete documentation for operation of the totalizator system and its software, including all of the following: (1) The duties described in subsection 2. (2) Clearly defined restrictions for totalizator room access. (3) General block diagrams of program options (menu tree) available to totalizator operations. (4) A glossary of terms used in reports, including formulas for calculating the displayed results. (5) The relationship, if any, between information contained in reports. (6) Startup and shutdown procedures. (7) General operating procedures. (8) Restart and recovery procedures. (9) Emergency procedures, including a list of individuals to notify if a system requires an emergency revision. 2. Personnel requirements. a. General requirements. (1) A totalizator company must provide necessary personnel to perform the duties described in the rules. The totalizator company shall employ a sufficient number of personnel to ensure an adequate segregation of duties to avoid collusion. The totalizator company may use job titles different from those in the rules. (2) All totalizator personnel assigned to work on totalizator operations in North Dakota must be licensed by the commission. (3) The totalizator company shall have procedures and documentation that show the verification of totalizator position applicants' experience and education as indicated on their job applications. The totalizator company must prescribe and maintain job descriptions containing the experience, education, and organization training requirements for all of the following totalizator positions, if necessary: (a) Network manager. (b) Programmer or software engineer. (c) Systems analyst. (d) Totalizator operator. (e) Technicians. (4) The totalizator company must certify in writing annually that its personnel are properly trained to program, manage, operate, and maintain the totalizator system. The totalizator company must provide ongoing training to its personnel and document the training. (5) The totalizator company is responsible for the actions of its personnel relating to the operations and use of the totalizator system. The totalizator company shall designate an individual to act as a point of contact for communications between the commission and the totalizator company. (6) A totalizator company employee may not hold a position of programmer and totalizator operator simultaneously unless approved by the commission. (7) A totalizator company employee is prohibited from wagering at any time at any location where the company provides service. (8) The totalizator company shall have a policy of mandatory time away from the job for each totalizator personnel within each calendar year. b. Network manager. The duties of a network manager shall include all of the following: (1) Coordinate the totalizator company's totalizator systems operating in North Dakota or at a specific site in North Dakota. (2) Ensure each totalizator operator follows proper procedures when operating the totalizator system. (3) Determine the onsite and offsite storage locations for the backup media. (4) Provide information and prepare any report requested by the authorized pari-mutuel wagering entity, the commission, or the tax commissioner, if appropriate. (5) Ensure a current list of personnel is maintained, all totalizator operators are qualified, and the appropriate pari-mutuel information is maintained within the operating system and application programs. c. Totalizator operator. The duties of a totalizator operator shall include all of the following: (1) Maintain the communication links and ensure data is transmitted accurately. (2) Consult with the pari-mutuel manager and the commission or duly appointed representative, if available, when a problem occurs in determining a pool or calculation, and suggest alternatives for continued operation, including possible temporary restrictions on or suspension of the communication links. (3) Perform necessary daily performance testing, system initialization, monitoring of wagering operations, and system shutdown. (4) Execute established procedures to shut down system software and hardware in emergency situations including loss of communication between computers or peripheral devices, power surges or failures, operating with a partial system, and restarting the system during a performance. (5) Perform necessary system maintenance. (6) Perform daily backups required by subdivision c of subsection 4 of section 69.5-01-11-13. (7) Ensure information is entered in the tote maintenance log detailing all repairs or modifications to the totalizator system. (8) Provide to the commission an initial incident report within twenty-four hours of the incident, with a final report submitted as necessary, detailing each unusual occurrence during totalizator system operations, including a description of the probable cause of the occurrence and the corrective action taken. (9) Maintain a copy of the incident report or enter information about each unusual occurrence in the system incident log. (10) Consult with the commission or duly appointed representative regarding any other operational issues encountered. d. Technicians. The duties of technicians shall include all of the following: (1) Service and maintain the totalizator. (2) Perform maintenance on wagering devices and the tote board. (3) Record in the totalizator maintenance log all maintenance and repair activities performed. 3. Totalizator network. Common pools must be merged and calculated at the site the totalizator company designates as the network computing center. In a tote-to-tote network or at remote sites, the totalizator company must use the inter-tote system protocol endorsed by the association of racing commissions international or another inter-tote communication protocol prescribed by the commission. 4. Data transmission protocols. An authorized pari-mutuel wagering entity using a wagering device-to-tote network may use whatever communications protocol it wishes. A remote site is considered part of a tote-to-tote network and is subject to the requirements of subsection 3 of section 69.5-01-11-13. If the failure to compile pools or payout winning prices is isolated to a remote site, the stopping of wagering or the manual cashing and accounting of tickets need only occur at the affected site. The relevant information must be transmitted between the central processing location and the remote site through the established communication links or facsimile machine and must be verified.