Lorge Consulting, the national and international ACCPAC accounting software reseller and solutions provider in the Softline stable, has been contracted by the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) to engineer and install the first ACCPAC accounting software solution in the world to integrate with an Oracle database.
The Lorge contract forms part of a R145 million investment by the GEPF to implement an integrated system for efficient and effective administration of its retirement funds and employee benefit schemes. The GEPF is the 26th largest organisation of its kind in the world, with more than 1-million contributing members and more than 250 000 members presently receiving pensions.
"The system, of which the accounting software solution is one of the critical components, will bring the GEPF in line with international industry, quality and professional standards while providing the functionality required for pension fund management, workflow and document management," says Frans de Wet of the GEPF`s Finance department.
"The platform and hardware architecture specification will ensure high system availability, fault tolerance and processing redundancy. The first phase of the system - the scoping and selection of the required components - is complete and the second phase, covering the implementation of the system, has commenced and is scheduled to be completed during the first quarter of 2003."
Stefan Coetzer, managing director of Lorge Consulting, says the company has a proven track record in providing seamless and controlled software interfaces. This, along with ACCPAC`s compatibility with other international software programs, was a critical factor in the GEPF system design.
"ACCPAC`s ability to run on the Oracle database and integrate smoothly with COMPASS -- a software developed in the US specifically for the management of complex pension fund membership administration processes, including payments and deposits - provided a solid foundation for the implementation of Lorge`s customised interface programs," says Coetzer.
"Cash management will be done in COMPASS but will be mirrored in ACCPAC using the Brio Query report writer system. It is the first ACCPAC site on Oracle worldwide and the first in SA to run ACCPAC System Manager V5.0, which is a fully Web-enabled system."
Over and above this, ACCPAC will provide the overall financial reporting function. This includes the management of current accounts for procurement, salaries, supplier maintenance, stock, supplier payments and so forth. All salary transactions will be journalised into the ACCPAC general ledger, which will also manage budgets and control expenses.
The third phase of the GEPF project, known as "Project Pekwa", is the maintenance phase that involves the service providers maintaining the system within an agreed SLA (service level agreement).
Concludes De Wet: "When fully operational, Project Pekwa will significantly improve the overall services the GEPF provides to government employees and pensioners. Real-time information and state-of-the-art management systems will have a huge beneficial impact for all associated with the GEPF."
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