Accenture helps NASA develop and launch new core financial system - Integrated Financial Management Program - Brief Article

EDP Weekly's IT Monitor, July 14, 2003

The National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) has completed a major agency-wide financial system upgrade with the help of Accenture (NYSE:ACN) that is designed to improve the way the agency manages its projects, achieve cost savings through more efficient financial management processes, and enhance its ability to adhere to federal cost accounting standards.

Specifically, the Integrated Financial Management Program, as the project is known, is designed to help NASA: (1) obtain more timely, consistent, and reliable financial information; (2) improve its ability to assess program costs; (3) increase the operational effectiveness of, and reduce the costs associated with, its accounting, budgeting, and financial management processes; and (4) enhance information sharing with customers and other stakeholders.

As the designated implementer on the Integrated Financial Management Program, Accenture worked with NASA to consolidate 10 disparate financial management systems and processes into a single standard system based on the implementation of SAP's Industry Solution--Public Sector (IS-PS) software. This week the remaining four of NASA's 10 centers were transitioned to the new core financial system, which now supports 10,000 users across the agency.

"The new system puts NASA at the forefront of federal agencies looking to transform the way they manage their financial operations," said Stanley J. Gutkowski, managing partner of Accenture's USA Government practice. "The agency now has a financial information backbone that integrates with project management data to provide an integrated view on the status of each project. This allows for better decision-making, improved operational efficiencies, and a much higher level of accountability."