History was made on 9 October 2000, when the Department of Defence (DOD) implemented the very first computerised Debtor System since its founding in the early 1900's. The system will form an integral part of the current Financial Management System (FMS) of the DOD. The Debtor System was developed by SITA.
The project was launched in March 1999, when the DOD approached SITA for assistance in selecting an "off-the-shelf" product as an add-on to FMS. It soon became apparent, however, that the requirements of the DOD were too unique for any current offering in the marketplace. In August 1999 it was decided to develop the required system as a subsystem of the current FMS of the DOD.
With the initial implementation of the FMS in 1983, a Debtor System was not deemed to be an essential requirement and, as such, was never developed. Over the years this resulted in a diverse number of debtor systems coming into being within the DOD.
Some were operated on stand-alone PCs, but most were simply managed with a manual system of files and documents. This haphazard way of managing debtors resulted in poor recovery of debts and the writing off of many bad debts.
The overall situation, therefore, resulted in very negative reports from the Auditor-General with regard to debtors. This poor state of affairs came to be mentioned in numerous Auditor-General reports to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) of Parliament. The eventual outcome of this was that SCOPA demanded that the DOD implement a system to centralise and manage all debtors effectively.
The initial phase of the project involved developing a function to register all applicable personal details of a debtor onto the system. This included details such as the person's name, surname, identity number, addresses, next-of-kin, details of the amount owing, etc. This phase was implemented on 15 November 1999.
The next phase involved the development of the core modules of the system. This included functions to calculate interest, to administer payments made, to print invoices and monthly statements, etc. This is the phase of the project that was finally implemented on 9 October 2000.
The DOD also required the system to be able to take on all historical data of a particular debtor. These details could go as far back as 1983. A function was developed to allow the DOD to enter all relevant information into the system (eg. payments made) and to indicate interest rates and the periods over which these were applicable. The system then calculates the interest for each applicable period and allows users to verify and approve the information before it is entered into the Debtor System as a valid transaction. This function was also implemented on 9 October 2000.
At present the system allows for any type of debtor to be entered and managed, excluding medical debtors. This will be the last phase of the project, and is currently being developed. Completion of the total system is planned for 31 March 2001.
SITA played a leading role in the overall project, providing project management resources and, most importantly, developing the system as a whole.
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