ICL South Africa`s reputation for delivering IT solutions to local government received a major boost last year when the company successfully implemented an entire administrative system and its necessary infrastructure at newly-established South Peninsula Municipality in the Western Cape ahead of extremely tight - and non-negotiable - deadlines.
The installation, considered one of the fastest to have ever been completed, followed ICL SA`s December 1997 appointment to implement South Peninsula`s financial and human resources systems before the new municipality went live on 1 July 1998.
According to ICL SA account manager, Freek van Eeden, the R4-million ICL solution comprised the PROMIS financial system and the PayDay HR system running on a Sun 3000 with four nodes, as well as a 40-node 3Com frame relay WAN. At the same time, the entire system had to be Y2K compliant and meet with stringent local government requirements.
"What was particularly challenging," said Van Eeden, "was the fact that we were left with very little margin for error. The newly-established South Peninsula Municipality, stretching from Wynberg in Cape Town`s southern suburbs to Simonstown, had an IT service agreement with the Cape Town City Council and the Cape Metro which expired on 30 June, at which point South Peninsula would, quite literally, have to sink or swim.
"Thanks to incredible teamwork between South Peninsula`s internal IT department and ourselves, we were able to beat the deadline, train the staff on the new systems, and achieve a smooth switch-over a few days ahead of the non-negotiable deadline," he said.
The modern, 4GL-based relational database PROMIS system lies at the heart of the South Peninsula solution. It stores all the necessary financial information that allows municipal officials to respond more efficiently to queries and requests from the municipal area`s 120 000 ratepayers. As a real-time, fully integrated system, it also reduces the risk of officials acting on out-of-date information.
South Peninsula`s director of operational development, Stan Wallace, added that the system now delivers to ratepayers a consolidated statement for all billings, and provides them with the flexibility to pay accounts at any council office in the area or at selected retail outlets.
"From our point of view, the fact that the PROMIS offering conforms to the latest open systems standards means we`re able to take advantage of the latest technologies as they become available. We believe we have a solid foundation on which to build and attach other solutions and applications, and so enhance functionality and deliver an even better service to our ratepayers in the years ahead," he added.
ICL SA was also awarded a five-year outsourcing contact, which will see the company working in partnership with South Peninsula to ensure delivery of the systems required to take the fledgling municipality into the millennium.
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