NASA completes financial systems upgrade

Accenture announced today it has completed the upgrade of NASA’s financial system, which manages the agency’s $16.5 billion budget and 18,000-person workforce.According to the technology services and outsourcing company, NASA is the first federal agency to install the SAP ERP 2005 financial platform, which gives the space agency an improved technical architecture and better financial data tracking and reporting capabilities. Accenture said it also helps streamline the agency’s distribution of funds and aids in year-end funds processing and overall fiscal management.No financial details of the installation were released.The system upgrade affects more than 10,000 users throughout NASA, including those at 10 field centers, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the NASA Shared Services Center.Accenture, which said it has worked with the agency on the financial systems upgrade since 2000, provided the primary design and re-engineering work and also aided NASA employees in assessing how the SAP upgrade would affect the agency's current business processes.The upgraded system should help improve NASA’s financial performance for years to come, said Steve Shane, managing director of Accenture’s North America Government operating unit, in a statement. “The core financial system now in place provides the agency with unprecedented capabilities for improving decision-making, cost management and online information sharing,” he said.In October 2006, Accenture announced completion of the first phase of the Army’s new financial management system, known as the General Fund Enterprise Business System, at Fort Jackson, S.C.