Parliament has invested in an enterprise-wide budgeting system that enables zero-based budgeting according to an outcomes-based principle.
The system, developed by Progress Software in conjunction with R-Data and Telesis Interactive, replaces the manual capture of budget information using Excel spreadsheets, which was based on the traditional inflation increment on-previous-year style of budgeting.
A baseline version of the budgeting software was implemented during 2002, and the system was further developed to offer enhanced functionality for the 2004-5 Parliamentary budget.
The outcomes-based system of measuring job performance introduced by National Treasury in early 2002 evaluated Parliament according to strict key performance areas relating directly to major outcomes. The achievement of each key performance area requires specific actions for fulfilment, such as travel, accommodation and other costs, all of which requires strict budgeting and accounting.
Three separate systems had been used by Parliament`s financial department - the Persal payroll package; a basic accounting software package (BAS); and Logis, software for handling stores and procurement.
"The Excel-based system made it difficult to budget in line with the new requirements," says Louw Coetzee, manager of Progress Software, Western Cape. "The three systems were not integrated in any way and were disparate. Any information flow between them was achieved manually and actual expenses were not measured against budget."
The Progress-based budgeting system uses information from Parliament`s general ledger to provide monetary value for budget planning and costing purposes. The system is designed for integration with a full-scale financial system that will be implemented by Progress in the next few months. The financial system will allow for accrual accounting, human resource planning to replace the payroll system and a comprehensive planning and scheduling system that manages the scheduling of meetings for members of Parliament.
"Progress developed and delivered a bespoke budgeting system in less than two months," says Harry Charlton, chief financial officer of Parliament. "The system sets a solid foundation for the implementation of the full financial system, which will not only be e-procurement-ready but will form the basis for an enterprise-wide information system."
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