Optimize Implementations with Government Resource Planning Software
Are you faced with the prospect of lengthy implementations of financial management software for your government?
- Budget planning
- Core financials
- Procurement
- Tax Administration
- Payroll
The good news for government is that it’s possible to accelerate implementations by using Government Resource Planning (GRP) software:
- Designed for government financial management
- Configurable for majority of government needs
- Reduced need for code customization
- Like the FreeBalance Accountability Suite
What is different for implementations is the ability to use agile and iterative processes “on the fly”:
- Configure business rules and workflow
- Adapt language, terminology and help screens
- Create new necessary tables and fields
Background
- GRP systems, developed specifically for government, differ significantly from ERP systems originally designed for the private sector
- Public sector commitment accounting differs from business accounting because government budgets are the legal embodiment of government policy
- GRP systems are primarily configured to support reform changes and adapting to economic shocks
- Configuration capabilities are one of the main reasons that GRP implementations in government succeed much better than ERP implementations
Why it matters is the ability to create a Minimum Viable Product configuration rapidly:
- Progressively activate new functions and processes
- Eliminate the need to document “to-be” processes by outputting configuration blueprints from GRP
- Uncover government processes that were not described in procedures manuals
- Achieve quick wins, demonstrating progress, to reduce change resistance
Methods to reduce complexity and accelerate the time to results include:
- Configure software in government workshops to validate needs
- Deliver iterations as working versions for testing, identifying most valuable needs
- Train government project teams on built-in GRP capabilities to eliminate unnecessary customization
- Evaluate scope changes by analyzing value and eliminate “poor practices”
- Monitor progress, problems, risks, and changes on physical or virtual agile boards
By the numbers: GRP systems have half the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), on average, from ERP in government over 5 years, based on competitive bids.
Why it matters for public finance? Financial sustainability, and reform sustainability:
- Significantly lower costs over the typical FMIS lifespan of 15 to 25 years
- Progressive activate functions to support future legal and process reforms
- Provide fiscal space to support underlying ICT infrastructure upgrades
