Group updates guide for financial systems

The governmentwide organization responsible for setting standards for agency financial-management systems has unveiled a plan to revise those systems, calling for more flexibility and greater detail.

The Joint Financial Management Improvement Program (JFMIP) last week issued the new draft regarding the "backbone" modules of an agency's integrated financial-management systems — the first revision of the standards in three years.

In theory, the requirements are the centerpiece of efforts to improve federal financial-management systems by enabling more agencies to use commercial products — rather than more expensive systems customized for individual agencies. The goal is to reduce costs and improve the likelihood that agencies can successfully deploy products.

The requirements lay out the minimum level of operation that core financial systems must have to support agency missions and comply with laws and regulations, according to the draft.

The proposed changes are the first since JFMIP assumed responsibility for certifying the government's core financial-management systems in 1999. If enacted later this year by JFMIP — a policy group that includes the General Accounting Office, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Treasury Department — the changes will set new requirements for agencies buying financial-management systems and for vendors selling such systems.

The document also is the basis for JFMIP to test compliance of commercial financial systems.

Although the draft entails many changes to the requirements, about 75 percent of the document remains the same, JFMIP executive director Karen Cleary Alderman said.

Most changes were made to clarify issues that have arisen in the past three years, JFMIP senior associate Stephen Balsam said. "The biggest change will be further clarification," he said.

The revised document includes some items that were classified as "value-added" items in the 1999 version, Balsam said. For example, the new requirements call for a revolving fund, which was regarded earlier as value-added, he said.

Some agencies also have pushed for certain items to fall under mandatory testing by JFMIP in the certification process.

The three-year certification period for most financial-management products is set to expire Sept. 30, 2002. JFMIP officials wanted to establish the requirements in time to give vendors a chance to respond and get certified under the new set of requirements, Balsam said.

Comments on the draft are due by Aug. 20. JFMIP officials hope to have the new requirements in place by Oct. 1 and begin testing systems soon after.