How To Design A Financial Management Information System

?Financial Management Information Systems: 25 Years of World Bank Experience on What Works and What Doesn?t? was prepared as an updated and expanded version of the FMIS review report drafted in 2003, to highlight the achievements and challenges observed during the design and implementation of Bank funded FMIS projects since 1984.

This technical note describes need of conceptual design as a critical element of a government financial management information system project. Governments are increasingly turning to computerized financial management systems to help them respond to the demand for better information. This note describes the conceptual design for government financial management information systems (GFMIS), and explains why is it critical to the success of a GFMIS project. Key factors that influence the preparation of the conceptual design are discussed. The main stakeholders in the preparation of the conceptual design are also elaborated.

A well-functioning financial management information system (FMIS) provides timely, reliable, and comprehensive reports that support implementation of the government's fiscal policies and fiscal rules, and the formulating, controlling, monitoring, and executing of the budget. The architecture of FMISs has undergone a transformation since these systems were first developed in the 1980s. Rather than attempting to cover all or most public financial management (PFM) functions, many FMISs now focus on a few core functions such as accounting and reporting, budget execution, and cash management. Yet a survey of 46 countries shows that many face severe challenges in transforming their FMIS into an effective tool of fiscal governance. These challenges relate to weaknesses in the system's core functions, its institutional coverage, the information technology platforms it uses, and the ease of sharing data with other IT systems. This How to Note discusses how to address these chal-lenges. Replacing an FMIS with an entirely new system may not be an optimal strategy. By utilizing the latest technology, a better approach may be to update or replace one or more core modules of the system: the so-called modular approach. Implementation of an effective FMIS, however, depends on two critical preconditions: strong political motivation and commitment, and the system's ability to meet ongoing and anticipated PFM needs.

This study is the first attempt to explore the effects of Financial Management Information Systems on publishing open budget data and improving budget transparency, and develop some guidelines on relevant aspects. The findings of the study are expected to provide a comprehensive view of the current government practices.

This research led to the design and development of a financial management database system for the Aeronautical Systems Center (AS C) environmental Management (EM) Systems Program Office (SPO), which has the responsibility of managing the environmental contracts for the Government-Owned, Contractor-Operated (GOCO) plants that are owned by the Air Force. This thesis investigated the various 'development strategies' and 'methodologies' described in the Management Information Systems literature in order to devise an end-user development strategy capable of meeting the EM SPO's requirements. In addition, the information requirements, conceptual design and prototyping, and procedures phases of the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) are discussed in detail. Even though the objective of providing accurate and timely information to program managers was met, problems arose during the design and development phases as a result of changes in requirements. The author thinks that defining information requirements is the most important step in the development process because the ultimate effectiveness of the system depends on how accurately the information requirements are determined initially. Therefore, it is recommended that before a project of this magnitude is undertaken in the future, a firm baseline of system requirements be established early and be adhered to throughout the duration of the project.

The Digital Solutions Guidelines for Public Financial Management (Guidelines) are intended to serve as a comprehensive reference material for the assessment, design, and improvement of digital initiatives in the public financial management (PFM) area. To support the digital transformation of PFM functions, the Guidelines are structured around three Pillars – Functional, IT Architectural, and Governance and Management. Each pillar comprises six principles, which are further broken down into one to four attributes to promote more efficient and transparent PFM operations while fostering innovation and managing digital risks. These Guidelines also allow a graduated approach to digital transformation of PFM through three levels of maturity for each Attribute – foundational, intermediate, and advanced – to help take into account country-specific contexts and capacities in digital transformation strategies.