Parallel financial systems derailed

"Parallel Operation of Software: Is It A Desirable Software System Transition Technique?"

Traditional wisdom held that agencies should operate two financial management systems at once: Keep the old system running in case there's a glitch in the new one.

In fact, the Joint Financial Management Improvement Program — the governmentwide body responsible for setting standards for agency financial management systems — promoted this dual approach in 1995.

But according to new JFMIP guidance, agencies need to move away from legacy systems as soon as possible as they work to implement new systems.

The new guidance, issued in a JFMIP white paper dated Oct. 24, "Parallel Operation of Software — Is it a Desirable Software Transition Technique?" says that operating two systems is expensive, ineffective and that it may even hinder an agency's ability to shift to a new system.

The earlier JFMIP guidance, contained in the 1995 document, "JFMIP Framework for Federal Financial Management Systems," suggested that running the new and existing systems in conjunction with each other helped reduce risk if the new system failed. Such parallel operations enable "operations to continue in the old system while errors are corrected in the new system," the older document suggested.

But times have changed, said Karen Cleary Alderman, JFMIP executive director.

In the past, agencies moved from one customized financial management system to another. But today, agencies are replacing stovepiped, legacy applications with commercial off-the-shelf packages that necessitate a more significant reorganization of business processes.

"The cost of parallel operations and the difficulty in reconciling old and new system results when business processes have been re-engineered generally make operations an undesirable risk-mitigation strategy," the document concludes.

JFMIP recommends agencies have a strong plan for testing the new financial management software that will help it mitigate the risks during planning and implementation of a new financial management system.

JFMIP is a policy group that includes the General Accounting Office, the Office of Management and Budget and the Treasury Department.