As project manager, Col. Patrick Burden oversees the operations of one of the military’s largest enterprise resource planning (ERP) programs, the General Fund Enterprise Business System. Designed to help the Army track finances, assets and accounting, the $1.8 billion program represents a significant step forward for Defense Department ERPs, particularly as the Pentagon drives toward audit-readiness.
In a recent interview with Federal Times Senior Writer Amber Corrin, Col. Burden outlined GFEBS’ top goals, its evolution over time and where the program is headed as part of broader DoD financial management reform.
-FederalTimes.com
READ MORE...
Showing posts with label GFEBS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GFEBS. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Air Force's progress raises DoD's confidence toward audit readiness
Air Force officials say the service is making up the most ground of any of the military services as part of the push to finally get the Defense Department to successfully close its financial books.
But government auditors say this entire Pentagon effort is at risk because of shortcomings in the services' technology systems.
Jamie Morin, the assistant secretary of the Air Force for financial management and comptroller, said he is more optimistic than ever before because the service put money and people behind the problem.
Morin said during a hearing Tuesday before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that there is an increased likelihood that the Air Force will meet the 2017 deadline to have its financial statements fully auditable and the September deadline of being able to assert audit readiness for its schedule of budgetary activity.
This is a major change since last October when Morin told Senate Armed Services Committee members that the Air Force would struggle to meet the 2014 deadline, and 2017 wasn't going to be any easier.
But over the last six months, the Air Force has accomplished specific tasks one- by-one to meet the congressionally mandated deadlines.
Each of the services and DoD on the whole remain at different points in the process to achieve audit readiness. DoD is the only federal department that can't successfully account for its spending to meet third-party auditors requirements. The Marines Corps in fiscal 2012 received an unqualified opinion on its schedule of budgetary activity (SBA) — the first DoD service ever to receive that result.
Robert Hale, the out-going DoD comptroller, said he expects the Marines Corps to earn the same result for 2013.
While each of the services is at different points, the one common major challenge the Army, Navy, Air Force and the Office of the Secretary of Defense all face is updating and integrating their technology software, specifically the enterprise resources planning (ERP) systems, to meet the audit readiness requirements.
Take the Air Force as one example. It's still using a system from 1968.
Morin said the Defense Enterprise Accounting Management System (DEAMS), is under development to replace that 40-year-old system.
He said the service received a positive assessment from the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center on DEAMS as currently deployed at more than six bases.
The Air Force plans to complete DEAMS deployment to all Air Mobility Command in the next couple of weeks and then more bases by Oct. 1. Morin said the Air Force also is on track to complete deployment Air Force-wide before the full financial statement audits begin.
The Army, on the other hand, is in better shape.
Robert Speer, the Army's acting assistant secretary for financial management and comptroller, said the general fund enterprise business system (GFEBs) is used by 53,000 service members and civilians at 200 locations worldwide.
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), the ranking member of the committee, said in no uncertain terms if the ERPs don't work, this effort is in real trouble. Coburn has asked both the IG and GAO to continue looking at DoD's ERP efforts.
-Jason Miller, FederalNewsRadio.com
READ MORE...
Thursday, July 26, 2012
GFEBS completes final Wave for Full Deployment - changes way Army does business
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Army News Service, July 24, 2012) -- During a time of increased scrutiny of government spending, the General Fund Enterprise Business System (GFEBS) steps forward to transform the way Army manages its finance and real property accounting.
On July 1, GFEBS completed the final Wave for Full Deployment and supporting over 50,000 customers world-wide to facilitate the management of nearly $140 billion in the General Fund, and an additional $80 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations funds.
Previously, the U.S. Army's finances were tracked by multiple systems that were increasingly inefficient, costly and outdated, some more than 30 years old. In an effort to gain visibility over finances and inventories, many Army commands established their own methods and internal systems. These antiquated and fragmented systems impacted military leaders' ability to make informed decisions because there was no clear picture of full resources. This ultimately affected the Soldier.
GFEBS transformed this approach. The GFEBS solution will subsume 107 legacy systems into an enterprise-wide system integrating financial, real property, cost management and performance data. Leaders have visibility through GFEBS to data that has never been available through a single access point, taking into account the true costs of operations, functions, and organizations when making budgeting decisions in support of war fighting capabilities. GFEBS allows leadership to make smarter, faster decisions, ranging from provisioning troops in the midst of battle to budget planning.
GFEBS is the Army's response to the 1990 Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act, which mandates federal agencies to centralize their finance systems to better account for their spending, and the 1996 Federal Financial Management Improvement Act (FFMIA), requiring federal financial management systems to provide accurate, reliable and timely financial management information to the government's managers.
In the last three years, GFEBS grew from one million transactions and $1.2 billion in obligations in fiscal year 2009 to 20 million transactions and $30.8 billion in obligations in fiscal year 2011. GFEBS currently processes approximately one million transactions a day and $140 billion of the general fund annually.
On July 1, GFEBS completed the final Wave for Full Deployment and supporting over 50,000 customers world-wide to facilitate the management of nearly $140 billion in the General Fund, and an additional $80 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations funds.
Previously, the U.S. Army's finances were tracked by multiple systems that were increasingly inefficient, costly and outdated, some more than 30 years old. In an effort to gain visibility over finances and inventories, many Army commands established their own methods and internal systems. These antiquated and fragmented systems impacted military leaders' ability to make informed decisions because there was no clear picture of full resources. This ultimately affected the Soldier.
GFEBS transformed this approach. The GFEBS solution will subsume 107 legacy systems into an enterprise-wide system integrating financial, real property, cost management and performance data. Leaders have visibility through GFEBS to data that has never been available through a single access point, taking into account the true costs of operations, functions, and organizations when making budgeting decisions in support of war fighting capabilities. GFEBS allows leadership to make smarter, faster decisions, ranging from provisioning troops in the midst of battle to budget planning.
GFEBS is the Army's response to the 1990 Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act, which mandates federal agencies to centralize their finance systems to better account for their spending, and the 1996 Federal Financial Management Improvement Act (FFMIA), requiring federal financial management systems to provide accurate, reliable and timely financial management information to the government's managers.
In the last three years, GFEBS grew from one million transactions and $1.2 billion in obligations in fiscal year 2009 to 20 million transactions and $30.8 billion in obligations in fiscal year 2011. GFEBS currently processes approximately one million transactions a day and $140 billion of the general fund annually.
Tuesday, April 03, 2012
Today's GAO Publications
DOD Financial Management:
Reported Status of Department of Defense's Enterprise Resource Planning Systems.
GAO-12-565R, March 30.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-565R
The Federal Government's Long-Term Fiscal Outlook: Spring 2012 Update.
GAO-12-521SP, April 5.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-521SP
The Government's Long-Term Fiscal Challenge: Implications for Federal Agencies by Gene L. Dodaro, Comptroller General of the United States before the 9th Annual Department of Homeland Security Office of the Chief Financial Officer Symposium in Washington, DC.
GAO-12-617CG, March 14.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-617CG
Reported Status of Department of Defense's Enterprise Resource Planning Systems.
GAO-12-565R, March 30.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-565R
The Federal Government's Long-Term Fiscal Outlook: Spring 2012 Update.
GAO-12-521SP, April 5.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-521SP
The Government's Long-Term Fiscal Challenge: Implications for Federal Agencies by Gene L. Dodaro, Comptroller General of the United States before the 9th Annual Department of Homeland Security Office of the Chief Financial Officer Symposium in Washington, DC.
GAO-12-617CG, March 14.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-617CG
Thursday, October 27, 2011
GFEBS financial management system worldwide
Washington, D.C. — The most advanced financial management system in Army history, the General Fund Enterprise Business System, or GFEBS, is now operational worldwide.
The GFEBS now has nearly 40,000 users across all service components, and is the most widely implemented of the Army’s Enterprise Resource Planning systems. It’s expected when fully deployed, sometime in Fiscal Year 2012, GFEBS will engage close to 60,000 users at some 200 locations worldwide and will affect almost every Army organization and function.
The GFEBS records financial transactions with supporting documentation, tracks transactions to the detailed level, and will produce an auditable trial balance. The Army Audit Agency’s most recent evaluation found that GFEBS complies with 1,054 of 1,113 requirements from the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act. On-going development of GFEBS will complete the remaining 5 percent for full compliance in FY 2012.
GFEBS received a full deployment decision June 24 from Department of Defense Deputy Chief Management Officer Elizabeth McGrath, the program’s milestone decision authority. The decision affirmed the deployment readiness of the GFEBS solution and authorized Armywide system implementation.
The GFEBS deployment is scheduled to conclude in 2012, providing a core system for managing a significant portion of the Army’s general fund and ushering in a new era in Army financial management.
-Frank Distasio, Army News Service
READ MORE...
The GFEBS now has nearly 40,000 users across all service components, and is the most widely implemented of the Army’s Enterprise Resource Planning systems. It’s expected when fully deployed, sometime in Fiscal Year 2012, GFEBS will engage close to 60,000 users at some 200 locations worldwide and will affect almost every Army organization and function.
The GFEBS records financial transactions with supporting documentation, tracks transactions to the detailed level, and will produce an auditable trial balance. The Army Audit Agency’s most recent evaluation found that GFEBS complies with 1,054 of 1,113 requirements from the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act. On-going development of GFEBS will complete the remaining 5 percent for full compliance in FY 2012.
GFEBS received a full deployment decision June 24 from Department of Defense Deputy Chief Management Officer Elizabeth McGrath, the program’s milestone decision authority. The decision affirmed the deployment readiness of the GFEBS solution and authorized Armywide system implementation.
The GFEBS deployment is scheduled to conclude in 2012, providing a core system for managing a significant portion of the Army’s general fund and ushering in a new era in Army financial management.
-Frank Distasio, Army News Service
READ MORE...
Thursday, July 28, 2011
DoD ERP implementation woes include feeder systems
Worries about the Defense Department's implementation of enterprise resource planning systems increasingly encompasses data quality from feeder systems.
The Army has hired an independent auditor to examine its financial management ERP, the General Fund Enterprise Business System, for whether "we are using it in a way to include the feeder systems that's auditable," said Robert Hale, the DoD comptroller, during a July 27 Senate hearing.
Hale said plans exist to do a similar check with the Navy "in the context of a major defense acquisition program" and later with the Air Force ERP, the Defense Enterprise Accounting and Management System.
Jamie Morin, the Air Force comptroller, told the committee that DEAMS detects bad data from feeder systems more readily than legacy systems. DEAMS "told us thousands of transactions were not meeting standards, which instantly brought the level of management attention to fix the problem," he said.
Meanwhile, when parts deemed worth saving from the to-be-shuttered Business Transformation Agency are moved into the office of the Defense Department deputy chief management officer, the modernized financial system the BTA has been using will go on hiatus for a while, DCMO Elizabeth McGrath said.
The financial system, the Defense Agencies Initiative, would be an anomaly among secretary of defense offices were the DCMO to start utilizing it immediately, McGrath said before the subcommittee.
But the plan is not to shutter DAI, McGrath said. "We're moving to DAI. We're not doing it today, because I'm a component of the overall OSD budget," she added.
-David Perera, FierceGovernmentIT.com
READ MORE...
The Army has hired an independent auditor to examine its financial management ERP, the General Fund Enterprise Business System, for whether "we are using it in a way to include the feeder systems that's auditable," said Robert Hale, the DoD comptroller, during a July 27 Senate hearing.
Hale said plans exist to do a similar check with the Navy "in the context of a major defense acquisition program" and later with the Air Force ERP, the Defense Enterprise Accounting and Management System.
Jamie Morin, the Air Force comptroller, told the committee that DEAMS detects bad data from feeder systems more readily than legacy systems. DEAMS "told us thousands of transactions were not meeting standards, which instantly brought the level of management attention to fix the problem," he said.
Meanwhile, when parts deemed worth saving from the to-be-shuttered Business Transformation Agency are moved into the office of the Defense Department deputy chief management officer, the modernized financial system the BTA has been using will go on hiatus for a while, DCMO Elizabeth McGrath said.
The financial system, the Defense Agencies Initiative, would be an anomaly among secretary of defense offices were the DCMO to start utilizing it immediately, McGrath said before the subcommittee.
But the plan is not to shutter DAI, McGrath said. "We're moving to DAI. We're not doing it today, because I'm a component of the overall OSD budget," she added.
-David Perera, FierceGovernmentIT.com
READ MORE...
Wednesday, July 06, 2011
Auditors say Army financial ERP program at high risk
An Army enterprise resource planning system--which, if fully implemented, would be one of the world's largest public sector ERPs--is at high risk of running even more over schedule and budget and resulting in a system that falls short of objectives, says the Defense Department inspector general.
In a report dated June 15, the DoD OIG finds that the financial management system known as the General Fund Enterprise Business System continues to lack a detailed data conversion plan and supported cost estimates.
DoD auditors first publically noted both problems in 2008, but the Army and Defense Department have not implemented seven of the 16 recommendations they made at the time, the report says.
-David Perera, FierceGovernmentIT.com
READ MORE...
In a report dated June 15, the DoD OIG finds that the financial management system known as the General Fund Enterprise Business System continues to lack a detailed data conversion plan and supported cost estimates.
DoD auditors first publically noted both problems in 2008, but the Army and Defense Department have not implemented seven of the 16 recommendations they made at the time, the report says.
-David Perera, FierceGovernmentIT.com
READ MORE...
Friday, December 19, 2008
Army rolls forward with Web financial system
GFEBS set for wide deployment in 2009
The U.S. Army’s five-year-long effort to transition its financial management to an enterprise resource planning (ERP) configuration moved forward in late 2008 when the first fielded solution, known as Release 1.2, was rolled out to Fort Jackson, S.C., the Army’s primary center for basic combat training.
The General Fund Enterprise Business System (GFEBS) is a Web-enabled ERP system from SAP that will allow the Army to share financial, asset and accounting data across the service. The GFEBS implementation involves standardizing financial management and accounting functions such as reimbursables between commands, and real property inventory and management across the Army. It will ultimately serve 79,000 users at about 200 installations around the world, and will manage about $200 billion in spending by the active Army, the Army National Guard and the Army Reserves.
The Fort Jackson deployment went out to about 250 users. Release 1.2 will begin the process of subsuming the Army’s Standard Financial System (STANFINS) and Standard Operation and Maintenance Army Research & Development System (SOMARDS), as well as the majority of their feeder systems, and over time will create a single access point for all Army financial, asset management and real property information.
Eventually, 84 systems will subsume all or part of their functionality to GFEBS, according to Jones. Not every Army financial system will fall under the GFEBS umbrella, at least not right away.
For 2009, the plan is to introduce GFEBS Release 1.3 in April to the rest of Fort Jackson, and also to Fort Benning, Ga., and Fort Stewart, Ga. Release 1.3 is aimed mainly at replacing STANFINS, with new functionality that automates processes and interfaces with the funds control module to bring in supply data.
October 2009 will see the rollout of Release 1.4 to nine major installations in the Southeast U.S. It is at that point that GFEBS will take over more of the SOMARDS function.
- Barry Rosenburg, DefenseSystems.com
The U.S. Army’s five-year-long effort to transition its financial management to an enterprise resource planning (ERP) configuration moved forward in late 2008 when the first fielded solution, known as Release 1.2, was rolled out to Fort Jackson, S.C., the Army’s primary center for basic combat training.
The General Fund Enterprise Business System (GFEBS) is a Web-enabled ERP system from SAP that will allow the Army to share financial, asset and accounting data across the service. The GFEBS implementation involves standardizing financial management and accounting functions such as reimbursables between commands, and real property inventory and management across the Army. It will ultimately serve 79,000 users at about 200 installations around the world, and will manage about $200 billion in spending by the active Army, the Army National Guard and the Army Reserves.
The Fort Jackson deployment went out to about 250 users. Release 1.2 will begin the process of subsuming the Army’s Standard Financial System (STANFINS) and Standard Operation and Maintenance Army Research & Development System (SOMARDS), as well as the majority of their feeder systems, and over time will create a single access point for all Army financial, asset management and real property information.
Eventually, 84 systems will subsume all or part of their functionality to GFEBS, according to Jones. Not every Army financial system will fall under the GFEBS umbrella, at least not right away.
For 2009, the plan is to introduce GFEBS Release 1.3 in April to the rest of Fort Jackson, and also to Fort Benning, Ga., and Fort Stewart, Ga. Release 1.3 is aimed mainly at replacing STANFINS, with new functionality that automates processes and interfaces with the funds control module to bring in supply data.
October 2009 will see the rollout of Release 1.4 to nine major installations in the Southeast U.S. It is at that point that GFEBS will take over more of the SOMARDS function.
- Barry Rosenburg, DefenseSystems.com
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Accenture Helps U.S. Army Go Live with New Financial System
New system integrates financial management capabilities and prepares Army for department-wide deployment
WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The U.S. Army has deployed release 1.2 of its financial system at Fort Jackson, S.C., with the help of Accenture (NYSE: ACN). The new financial system, known as the General Fund Enterprise Business System (GFEBS), integrates all related components and supports financial management and real property functions. The successful implementation of release 1.2 sets the stage for Army-wide deployment of the system by 2012.
Release 1.2 of GFEBS serves as the global design for all of the Army to provide organizations with new business processes in seven areas, including financial management, real property and cost management.
As the prime system integrator for the program, Accenture has worked with the Army’s Program Executive Office, Enterprise Information Systems, on GFEBS since July 2005, when it was awarded the contract to design, build, deploy and maintain the system, which eventually will consolidate and subsume approximately 84 existing information systems.
GFEBS is a Web-enabled solution based on commercial-off-the-shelf software from SAP that will integrate seamlessly into the Army’s information technology environment. The new financial system is designed to manage annual general fund appropriated expenditures across the Army, National Guard and Army Reserves. Serving more than 79,000 end-users at nearly 200 Army financial centers worldwide, GFEBS will become one of the world's largest SAP implementations, enabling management of a budget that exceeds $140 billion.
Accenture and the Army have been working on GFEBS Release 1.2 since September 2006, following a technology demonstration that proved the ability of GFEBS to meet the information requirements needed to operate and support the management of real property inventory, part of the Army’s general fund.
GFEBS Release 1.2 affects 221 users from eight deployment sites across several states and the Pentagon.
Accenture is working concurrently on Release 1.3, which will include additional functionality for GFEBS to provide general fund financial management, asset management and real property capabilities at all garrisons and tenant organizations Army-wide.
WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The U.S. Army has deployed release 1.2 of its financial system at Fort Jackson, S.C., with the help of Accenture (NYSE: ACN). The new financial system, known as the General Fund Enterprise Business System (GFEBS), integrates all related components and supports financial management and real property functions. The successful implementation of release 1.2 sets the stage for Army-wide deployment of the system by 2012.
Release 1.2 of GFEBS serves as the global design for all of the Army to provide organizations with new business processes in seven areas, including financial management, real property and cost management.
As the prime system integrator for the program, Accenture has worked with the Army’s Program Executive Office, Enterprise Information Systems, on GFEBS since July 2005, when it was awarded the contract to design, build, deploy and maintain the system, which eventually will consolidate and subsume approximately 84 existing information systems.
GFEBS is a Web-enabled solution based on commercial-off-the-shelf software from SAP that will integrate seamlessly into the Army’s information technology environment. The new financial system is designed to manage annual general fund appropriated expenditures across the Army, National Guard and Army Reserves. Serving more than 79,000 end-users at nearly 200 Army financial centers worldwide, GFEBS will become one of the world's largest SAP implementations, enabling management of a budget that exceeds $140 billion.
Accenture and the Army have been working on GFEBS Release 1.2 since September 2006, following a technology demonstration that proved the ability of GFEBS to meet the information requirements needed to operate and support the management of real property inventory, part of the Army’s general fund.
GFEBS Release 1.2 affects 221 users from eight deployment sites across several states and the Pentagon.
Accenture is working concurrently on Release 1.3, which will include additional functionality for GFEBS to provide general fund financial management, asset management and real property capabilities at all garrisons and tenant organizations Army-wide.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Army tries to restore GFEBS funding
To help it move forward with its program to bring sound financial management and accountability through its General Fund Enterprise Business System, Army officials must ask Congress for permission to replace funding cut from the program’s fiscal 2007 budget.
GFEBS is the Army’s initiative to consolidate and reform its financial management systems through an integrated architecture using modified SAP software. The Army is looking to replace 87 financial systems with GFEBS, bringing long-awaited efficiency and integration. About 79,000 Army employees and contractors will use the new system to manage the Army’s annual budget of $110 billion.
But Congress cut the GFEBS budget by $115.7 million, leaving only $21 million in funding for fiscal 2007. The Army has asked congressional committee staff members for permission to restore some of the lost funding by using money from other areas of the budget. The Army wants to increase funding for research, development, testing and evaluation by $56.3 million through a reprogramming action, said Cherie Smith, GFEBS project director.
This is a crucial year for GFEBS. It plans to distribute Release 1.2, which involves deploying the system to the Department of the Army Headquarters, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service and the Army Installation Management Command. Release 1.1 was limited to a testing center at Fort Jackson, S.C.
The Army will be able to achieve the elusive clean audit when GFEBS is fully deployed, officials said. But that won’t be possible until the end of the system’s deployment, scheduled for late 2010.
“This is our opportunity to take a large number of legacy financial systems…and bring them together into a single, integrated financial system,” said Nelson Ford, assistant secretary of the Army for financial management and comptroller, at the opening of GFEBS’ new facility in Alexandria, Va.
GFEBS is the core piece of the Single Army Financial Enterprise. The Army is also working with the Business Transformation Agency to ensure GFEBS is designed to comply with DOD’s Business Enterprise Architecture.
President Bush's fiscal 2008 budget, released Feb. 5, seeks $53.6 million for GFEBS.
-Josh Rogin, FCW.com
READ MORE...
GFEBS is the Army’s initiative to consolidate and reform its financial management systems through an integrated architecture using modified SAP software. The Army is looking to replace 87 financial systems with GFEBS, bringing long-awaited efficiency and integration. About 79,000 Army employees and contractors will use the new system to manage the Army’s annual budget of $110 billion.
But Congress cut the GFEBS budget by $115.7 million, leaving only $21 million in funding for fiscal 2007. The Army has asked congressional committee staff members for permission to restore some of the lost funding by using money from other areas of the budget. The Army wants to increase funding for research, development, testing and evaluation by $56.3 million through a reprogramming action, said Cherie Smith, GFEBS project director.
This is a crucial year for GFEBS. It plans to distribute Release 1.2, which involves deploying the system to the Department of the Army Headquarters, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service and the Army Installation Management Command. Release 1.1 was limited to a testing center at Fort Jackson, S.C.
The Army will be able to achieve the elusive clean audit when GFEBS is fully deployed, officials said. But that won’t be possible until the end of the system’s deployment, scheduled for late 2010.
“This is our opportunity to take a large number of legacy financial systems…and bring them together into a single, integrated financial system,” said Nelson Ford, assistant secretary of the Army for financial management and comptroller, at the opening of GFEBS’ new facility in Alexandria, Va.
GFEBS is the core piece of the Single Army Financial Enterprise. The Army is also working with the Business Transformation Agency to ensure GFEBS is designed to comply with DOD’s Business Enterprise Architecture.
President Bush's fiscal 2008 budget, released Feb. 5, seeks $53.6 million for GFEBS.
-Josh Rogin, FCW.com
READ MORE...
Friday, February 23, 2007
Business Transformation Agency names first director
Two years after the creation of the Defense Department’s Business Transformation Agency, David Fisher has been named the agency’s first official director. Fisher will provide the continuity needed to shepherd BTA into the next administration, officials said today.
Until now, two political appointees, Paul Brinkley, deputy undersecretary of Defense for business transformation, and Tom Modly, deputy undersecretary of Defense for financial management, led BTA. But they both anticipate leaving their posts in early 2009. Fisher, a career member of the Senior Executive Service, will stay on, they said.
“One of our challenges is to create a nonpolitical organization,” Brinkley said, adding that it was impossible to complete modernization of DOD, the world’s largest business enterprise, in only four years.
Fisher had been acting director of BTA since November 2006. Institutionalizing an enterprise perspective on business transformation and continuing the maturity of the young organization are his main goals, he said.
BTA has responsibilities for 26 DOD programs and is expanding into new areas such as fundamental business analysis, officials said. For example, BTA recently completed an assessment of the Defense Cooperation Security Agency, which manages sales of U.S. weapons to foreign militaries.
BTA will perform similar assessments of three other DOD agencies in the next 18 months. One will be the Defense Security Service, which will focus on the problems with processing security clearances.
The agency will also increase its involvement in enterprise resource planning, including the Navy’s ERP program, the Defense Logistics Agency’s Business Systems Modernization program and the Army’s General Fund Enterprise Business System.
-Josh Rogin, FCW.com
READ MORE...
Until now, two political appointees, Paul Brinkley, deputy undersecretary of Defense for business transformation, and Tom Modly, deputy undersecretary of Defense for financial management, led BTA. But they both anticipate leaving their posts in early 2009. Fisher, a career member of the Senior Executive Service, will stay on, they said.
“One of our challenges is to create a nonpolitical organization,” Brinkley said, adding that it was impossible to complete modernization of DOD, the world’s largest business enterprise, in only four years.
Fisher had been acting director of BTA since November 2006. Institutionalizing an enterprise perspective on business transformation and continuing the maturity of the young organization are his main goals, he said.
BTA has responsibilities for 26 DOD programs and is expanding into new areas such as fundamental business analysis, officials said. For example, BTA recently completed an assessment of the Defense Cooperation Security Agency, which manages sales of U.S. weapons to foreign militaries.
BTA will perform similar assessments of three other DOD agencies in the next 18 months. One will be the Defense Security Service, which will focus on the problems with processing security clearances.
The agency will also increase its involvement in enterprise resource planning, including the Navy’s ERP program, the Defense Logistics Agency’s Business Systems Modernization program and the Army’s General Fund Enterprise Business System.
-Josh Rogin, FCW.com
READ MORE...
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Accenture completes first phase of new Army financial system
Accenture has announced the completion of the first phase of the Army’s new financial management system, known as the General Fund Enterprise Business System (GFEBS), at Fort Jackson, S.C.
GFEBS is designed to help the Army standardize and streamline its financial business processes and provide continuous access to accurate, reliable and timely information across the service.
The new system is based on off-the-shelf software from SAP, Accenture said.
A technology demonstration at Fort Jackson in July proved GFEBS’ ability to meet the information requirements needed to operate and support the management of Real Property Inventory, part of the Army’s general fund. It also indicated that the system could perform real property inventory effectively as a single solution, although that is just one of the functions the system is designed to do when fully implemented.
GFEBS will manage the Army’s general fund, providing information to more than 79,000 users in more than 200 locations worldwide and giving Army decision-makers real-time data on the full range of financial and budgetary matters.
The GFEBS project, which began in July 2005, is slated for a 10-year global deployment and operations schedule. When completed, it will replace several Army systems, including the Standard Army Finance System and the Standard Operation and Maintenance Army Research and Development System.
READ MORE...
GFEBS is designed to help the Army standardize and streamline its financial business processes and provide continuous access to accurate, reliable and timely information across the service.
The new system is based on off-the-shelf software from SAP, Accenture said.
A technology demonstration at Fort Jackson in July proved GFEBS’ ability to meet the information requirements needed to operate and support the management of Real Property Inventory, part of the Army’s general fund. It also indicated that the system could perform real property inventory effectively as a single solution, although that is just one of the functions the system is designed to do when fully implemented.
GFEBS will manage the Army’s general fund, providing information to more than 79,000 users in more than 200 locations worldwide and giving Army decision-makers real-time data on the full range of financial and budgetary matters.
The GFEBS project, which began in July 2005, is slated for a 10-year global deployment and operations schedule. When completed, it will replace several Army systems, including the Standard Army Finance System and the Standard Operation and Maintenance Army Research and Development System.
READ MORE...
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Accenture to overhaul Army's financial-management system
Accenture has won a $537 million contract from the Army to develop a consolidated financial-management system for active, Reserve and National Guard units. The Army’s Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems awarded the 10-year, General Fund Enterprise Business System (GFEBS) contract to the Reston, Va.-based company yesterday.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)