Intergrated Financial Managemant Systems (IFMIS).

Republic of zambia

the integrated financial management information systems (IFMIS) PROJECT

The Zambian Government, through its Public Expenditure Management and Financial Accountability (PEMFA) Programme, has initiated a programme of reforms that will improve the way in which the country’s public finances are managed, making better use of tax-payer’s money and providing real benefits for citizens across the country. The PEMFA Programme consists of 13 interrelated components amongst which are; the development of a macroeconomic model, improved budget presentation and a debt management strategy. Critical to these reforms is the need to modernize fiscal processes using better methods, techniques and information technology, through the implementation of the Integrated Financial Management Information Systems (IFMIS) project. 

Over the years, the financial management information system used for both managing public financial resources and decision-making in Government has been inadequate, impacting negatively on the efforts to bring about economic growth and poverty reduction. The current systems also fail to sufficiently support controls and transparency in financial management processes and reporting. Consequently this has undermined Government’s ability to strategically manage public financial resources. In addition the inadequacies of the system also impact negatively on accountability.  

It is for these reasons that the Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ) and cooperating partners have designed the IFMIS project. 

The IFMIS project is aimed at improving the acquisition, allocation, utilisation and conservation of public financial resources through the use of automated and integrated, effective, efficient and economic information systems. The IFMIS will aid strategic management of public financial resources for enhanced accountability, transparency, cost effective public service delivery and poverty reduction efforts. IFMIS is initially targeted at government units that rely predominantly on budgetary appropriations. Later it will include Local government and Parastatal units to facilitate consolidated public sector financial reporting among others.

 The IFMIS conceptual design comprises of 13 modules namely; the General Ledger and reporting, Payment/Accounts Payable, Receipting and Accounts receivable, Cash Management, Purchasing and Commitment Accounting, Inventory and Stock Control, Budgeting and Release of Funds, Asset Management, Fleet Management, Project Accounting, Debt Management, Audit and the Consolidation module. The modules will be integrated and processing done at all Ministries, Provinces and Spending Agencies (MPSAs) but the main data base held at the Ministry of Finance and National Planning (see Diagram).  IFMIS conceptual model includes linkages to many other Governmental systems and functions such as the Human Resource and Payroll system, Vat refund system, Road Traffic Commission system, ZRA Tax system, the Computer Aided Audit Techniques (CAATS) and the Pension System.    

It is expected that implementation of IFMIS will facilitate improvement of public service delivery, economic growth and poverty reduction through: -

·        Provision of quality financial management information to support policy and decision making in Government in terms of timely detection of problem areas; timely design and implementation of remedial measures and appropriate targeting of financial resources to areas that contribute most to poverty reduction.

·        Simplification of work effort and cost effective public service delivery by automating routine manual processes, once only data capture to avoid costly duplication of effort, economical electronic communication, computer aided analysis to identify weaknesses and strengths, efficient storage and retrieval of financial data.

·        Strengthening of internal controls by computer aided audit trails and enforcement of financial discipline through inbuilt system controls to curb wastage, leakages and fruitless expenditures.

·        Improving stakeholder confidence arising from enhanced accountability and transparency.

·        Promoting just in time funding to allow for better planning of operations and encourage public scrutiny of Government’s financial performance.

·        Creating a framework suitable for analyzing and evaluating fiscal policy, especially the performance of the central and local government sectors and ultimately the broader public sector.

·        Generating fiscal statistics to analyze the size of the public sector, its contribution to aggregate demand, investment and savings, the impact of fiscal policy on the economy including resource use, monetary conditions and national indebtedness, tax burden, tariff protection and the social safety net.

·        Providing easy and transparent system maintenance and reconciliation; cash flow control and management; flexible chart of accounts providing analysis at spending agency, Ministry, Province, economic category, function of governments (sector), objective, project, output and activity level.

·        Assisting to assess the effectiveness of spending on poverty reduction, the sustainability of fiscal policy, net debt, net growth and contingent claims against government, including the obligations of social security.

The IFMIS is long term project envisaged to take about 4-5 years. The following will be the major implementation phases:

1.     Assessments

The objective of this activity is to understand the user requirements as well as assessment of the current accounting and IT infrastructure. Two major outputs are the assessment report and the interim requirements report. 

2.     Systems analysis and design

This activity focuses on developing requirements specification and design for the integration of all core and non-core modules.

3.     Tendering and procurement

This activity is aimed at preparing the tender document as well as evaluation criteria based on the analysis and design. Tendering is followed by procurement of hardware and IFMIS software.

4.     Piloting implementation

The objective of this activity is to test the IFMIS software on few ministries and provinces and will involve gap analysis and customization of the system to meet user requirement. The Pilot implementation will be reviewed before Roll out phase. 

5.     Roll out implementation

The tested system is deployed to the rest of Government Ministries and Provinces. 

6.  Interface Phase

This will involve linking the IFMIS system to other Government organs composed of Local authorities, Grant-aided Institutions and Parastatals. Implementation of the Interface Phase will be based on successful implementation of the Roll out phase.

7.  Post-implementation review

The entire system is reviewed.

IFMIS management structure is as follows:

1.  IFMIS Technical Committee.  The aim of the Technical Committee is to spearhead the implementation of IFMIS and ensure smooth and efficient implementation of the IFMIS Project. It is composed of the following Directors from the Ministry of Finance and National Planning (MOFNP): Accountant General, Director Budget, Director Human Resource and Administration, Controller Internal Audits, Director Investment and Debt Management, Director PEMFA, and Manager Centralised Computer Services Department. The Committee is chaired by the Permanent Secretary (FMA) in the Ministry of Finance and National Planning.

2.  Project Team. The Project Team is headed by the Project Manager who reports to the IFMIS Technical Committee. The Project Manager is supported by five component Managers namely; Manager-Accounting, Manager-IT, Manager -Budget, Manager-Audit and Security, and Manager-Training and Change Management.  The Project also has an IFMIS Resident Advisor and Project Quality Assurance.

3.  Component Workgroups. There are six IFMIS implementation workgroups on the different IFMIS themes and/or modules. These are; (a) Accounting Workgroup, (b) Information Technology (IT) Workgroup, (c) Budgeting workgroup, (d) Audit and Security workgroup, (e) Training and Change Management workgroup, and (f) Debt Management workgroup. The workgroups are composed of key stakeholders and Users of IFMIS. The aim of the working groups is to ensure the participation of key stakeholders in the implementation of the IFMIS.

FUNDING OF THE PROJECT

The IFMIS Project is funded, through PEMFA, by a range of donor partners through ‘pooled’ funding with their annual commitments reflected in the national budget.

For further information on the IFMIS, please get in touch with the following:

The Permanent Secretary (FMA)

Ministry of Finance and National Planning

PO Box 50062

Lusaka

Tel: (01) 250657/252121

The Project Manager

IFMIS Project

Government Complex, Kamwala

PO Box 50062

Lusaka

Tel: (01) 237912/237906

Email: douglas.kunda@ifmis.gov.zm

                                                                                               Back to Home Page