Uganda`s Ministry of Finance, Planning and Development (MoFPEP) and HP have announced the completion of the first phase of a multimillion-dollar integrated financial management system (IFMS).
The system, which was implemented at six government ministries and four local government bodies, aims to support the improvement of public sector budgeting, financial management and accounting, and allow disparate departments and systems to share information seamlessly.
"The system allows for increased access to information on financial and operational performance, internal controls to prevent and detect fraud, access to information on the government`s economic performance, and the ability to demonstrate accountability to donors and the people of Uganda," says Professor Semakula Kiwanuka, minister of state at MoFPEP.
"Because the solution had to offer around-the-clock global availability and the capacity to accommodate multiple functions simultaneously, numerous critical factors had to be considered in the design," says Olivier Suinat, MD for Africa at HP.
"These spanned the mission-criticality of the applications and database, the ability and availability of technical consultants to maintain the system, the training and transfer of skills to the government of Uganda personnel and the delivery of a total solution and services offering."
Sub-contractors to the project included Oracle for treasury applications software, Computech Uganda for hardware infrastructure, venture Communications Uganda for networking infrastructure, RPC Data Uganda for application functional training and support, and UTL Uganda and MTN Uganda for telecommunication services.
"We are now looking forward to the roll-out phase, which will include implementing the IFMS at a further 21 public sector sites and the setting up of a disaster recovery centre in Kampala," says Kiwanuka.
There are no definite plans for the system to be implemented in other countries. However, those involved in the project believe its success is a good guideline for African countries that wish to improve their financial management systems.
"It is great to see such a successful capacity building for government services in Uganda, in line with Nepad`s objective and the much-discussed recommendations for the G8 Commission for Africa report," Suinat says.
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