National Data Systems, (NDS), has been awarded a contract by the Worcester Municipality to supply, install and maintain SAMRAS DB4 (South African Municipal Resource Administration System), a suite of software applications designed specifically for Treasury departments in Local Government. NDS, a member of the JSE-listed Fintech group of companies, is one of the industry`s foremost players in the supply of solutions for the government, financial, retail, communications and commercial sectors.
The contract, endorsed by Worcester TLC, was awarded to NDS in September last year after relations with the initial supplier, QData, now known as PQ Africa, turned sour. A mammoth task lay ahead as NDS only had three months in which to convert all the Municipality`s data from their legacy system to the new SAMRAS DB4 offering.
A team of dedicated NDS staff members were permanently based in Worcester to ensure a smooth changeover. The entire Income and Expenditure systems were transferred within the given time frame with the Payroll system due to go live in March this year in time for the new tax year.
"We had an extremely aggressive project plan in place and are thrilled to have delivered against that plan," says Ralph Rossel, General Manager, Local Government division, at NDS.
"There are still some data problems being experienced by the Municipality, but these have been identified as originating from the legacy systems that were initially installed by PQ Africa, however these are rapidly being resolved," continues Rossel.
SAMRAS DB4 adds value by promoting the greater integration of IT within a Municipality and consists of a complete range of modules covering the full spectrum of accounting requirements for Income, Expenditure and Personnel. In addition to these modules, SAMRAS DB4 also supports third party payments, whereby municipal accounts can be paid at merchants such as Pick `n Pay, thus reducing peaks at municipal offices, improving cash flow as well as customer relations and service levels. The flexibility of the product also allows it to grow with local authority expansion.
Developed and supported in South Africa, SAMRAS DB4 has many key differentiators that set it aside from its competitors. Not only is the product the most modern and technologically advanced, but it is Year 2000 compliant by design. The product was designed for Y2K compliancy, unlike many other products that had to be modified to ensure compliancy.
Being fully documented makes SAMRAS DB4 extremely user-friendly, enabling users to find their way around the system thereby making them less dependent on the vendor for support, further reducing costs. The product is the only one of its kind that offers a choice of database platforms and is unique in that it is fully integrated within itself and offers easy integration to other systems as a standard feature.
"These advantages make the product ideally suited for export to other countries," says Rossel.
Before the development of the SAMRAS DB4 package began, NDS formed a committee of Local Authority representatives who were actively involved in specifying and validating the requirements of the design, thus ensuring the best solution for South African Local Authorities. Recent SAMRAS DB4 orders include Ladysmith with over 90 other Local Authorities currently using this system.
The design concept of SAMRAS DB4, based on the ISO 9001 Quality Management System, was so unique that it was partially funded and administered by the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry, under their Support Programme for Industrial Innovation (SPII) Programme. NDS was one of the 10 finalists of the award with SAMRAS DB4 obtaining a silver.
NDS` SAMRAS DB4 offering enabled NDS to qualify as a Technology Top 100 Company in the Information Technology section in 1999. The company`s financial soundness, past customer success, export potential, contribution to the country`s economy as well as their commitment to job creation, were all factors, that contributed to their nomination.
NDS offers a countrywide customer support service, covering the full spectrum of hardware and operating software maintenance options. The service has been extended to include a multi-vendor service for non-NCR products.
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