Consilience develops IT solution for NDA on Microsoft platform

Consilience Technologies, a Microsoft Certified Partner, has developed a tailor-made financial software solution for the National Development Agency (NDA) to assist the NDA in managing the disbursement of funds to deserving communities throughout the country.

The NDA is SA`s key government funding agency that addresses poverty and contributes towards the creation of a healthy economic state and a stable civil society. The NDA has assessed and committed over R320 million to projects and programmes since May 2000, in an effort to address the development needs of poor communities.

The NDA required a business management solution that was able to provide a comprehensive project tracking and reporting model to control all financial activities related to the disbursement of funds for these projects. The solution required improved functionality and easy integration with the NDA`s existing database package. For this reason, the Microsoft Great Plains financial accounting platform was chosen in conjunction with specialised Windows-based software, including Microsoft Windows 2000, developed to meet the NDA`s specific business requirements.

According to Mizeria Nyathi, Director of Corporate Services at the NDA: "We decided to replace our existing system with a more scalable and reliable solution which is able to scale up to our rapidly changing needs. Consilience has provided their expertise and project-management skills in moulding our disparate systems into a single, manageable environment, resulting in improved business processes."

This solution offers the NDA the ability to effectively record and manage all expenses, job costing sheets, timesheets and administration costs to ensure that an accurate cost analysis is submitted for each project. Accelerated productivity is ensured by reducing manual operations and short-circuiting paper flows.

"Our involvement in this prestigious project has strengthened our position as a leading IT systems integrator, delivering advanced IT services to key sectors of the South African market. This project will enable us to assist the NDA to fulfil its mandate and deliver on its promises," says Dr Hasmukh Gajjar, CEO of Consilience Technologies and chairman of the Black IT Forum (BITF).

"Working closely with a black empowerment partner such as Consilience has allowed us to combine our assets to develop an integrated business solution aimed at accelerating business efficiency and agility within the NDA," concludes Gordon Frazer, Deputy Managing Director at Microsoft South Africa.