Sustainable Public Financial Management

Doug Hadden, VP Products

We had lots of fun at the FreeBalance booth at the FMI PD Week 2011 earlier this week. The presentation by Michael Kerr on reducing stress at work through humour was particularly good. You may not think that public servants have a sense of humour – one woman seemed to have uncontrollable fits of laughter. [Check out the #PDWeek2011 hash tag on twitter for more.] Professional development can be professional and fun too.

Who knew that government financial management in Canada could be so interesting and so much fun. Often at the same time. The FreeBalance team learned a lot about the drivers for reform in the Government of Canada. Lots of interesting feedback from public servants that we found very valuable.

To add the fun, we were giving out chewing gum with our logo on it. Our small part to making for a sweeter smelling conference.

We started to ponder some serious questions: why were all of the major providers of financial management software to the government of Canada, except FreeBalance, absent from the conference? (Ok, there was the business intelligence division from one of those companies. Essentially 6 of the 7 vendors didn’t bother to show up, and I think that this might be indicative of the commitment to fully serving the Government of Canada.)

Second question to ponder: what if major ERP companies manufactured gum in the way they design software? [By strict definition, FreeBalance is not an ERP vendor*] In the spirit of fun, we came up with list:

1. There would be a 20 page manual describing how to open the package of gum.
2. The gum would be presented as new and innovative, but would be the same old client/server gum with very fancy packaging. The wrappers would be encased in press releases touting the next generation of gum science.
3. The gum would have no flavour and particular shape: it is up to you to customize by following the manual. The customization of gum manual would be over 200 pages. Gum customization tools would be available only from the ERP vendors.
4. Software could be bought to manage Gum Lifecycle Management to handle the entire gum ecosystem.
5. ERP companies would turn gum maintenance into the top revenue stream.
6. Once in your mouth, the gum would be very hard. It would have a very poor and unintuitive Chew Experience (CX for short).
7. Any upgrade to the next gum version would require new customization methods to achieve your desired gum flavour.
8. There would be recommended chewing best practices developed by engineers in Germany. Gum chewers could become certified by following these best practices.
9. Failure to enjoy the gum would be attributed to not following best practices, not have a dedicated gum team, not being fully gum certified and not following proper Master Gum Management procedures.
10. ERP manufactures would experience trouble providing GaaS (Gum as a Service) and would try to provide Hybrid Gum and Real-time Gum as alternatives.

*Does FreeBalance provide ERP?

1. [No] ERP means “enterprise resource planning” or software for enterprises. FreeBalance does not provide software to the private sector, only government.
2. [Yes] ERP implies “enterprise-class” or software that can scale to handle very large organizations with thousands of users. FreeBalance provides scalable “all of government” software used, in some countries, for every government organization from municipal through to the national level.
3. [Yes] ERP software, using the ERP II definition fashioned by Gartner, should span multiple horizontal markets. The FreeBalance Accountability Suite supports financial management, budget planning, government performance, expenditure management (including procurement), revenue, treasury and civil service (human resources and payroll), and portal.
4. [No] ERP software, also using the ERP II definition, should span multiple vertical markets. FreeBalance is a government specialist with exclusive focus on that domain.

On November 22, 2011, Doug Hadden, VP Products at FreeBalance delivered the  ‘Seizing the Shared Services Opportunity’ presentation during fmi*igf PD Week in Ottawa. Here’s an overview of his presentation:

“The mandate of shared services is to streamline information technology costs and provide hundreds of millions of dollars in savings on an annual basis. Many experts and government officials suggest it will take many years to provide any savings, and even more time to generate the type of savings that forms the mission of Shared Services Canada. The Seizing the Shared Services Opportunity presentation details a risk-averse approach to shared services that provides an acceleration of speed to savings.”

On November 21, 2011, Doug Hadden, VP Products at FreeBalance delivered the following presentation at the FreeBalance Annual Government of Canada Roundtable. During the presentation, he discussed: 

• The speed to savings approach to shared services
• FreeBalance product update and roadmap
• Engaging FreeBalance to get your requirements in the next release of software

FreeBalance offers Government of Canada Customers a Shared Services ROI & TCO calculator during Financial Management Institute (FMI) PD Week 2011

Ottawa, Canada (November 23, 2011) – FreeBalance, a global Government Resource Planning (GRP) software company, announced the release a Shared Services ROI & TCO tool to Government of Canada customers during FMI PD Week 2011, November 22 to 25, 2011 at the Ottawa Convention Centre. FreeBalance has over 25 years experience working with public financial management managers in the Government of Canada and through implementing “whole-of-government” Government Resource Planning (GRP) solutions around the world. This experience including the FreeBalance Shared Services solution, provides FreeBalance with unique capabilities to optimize shared services returns for Government of Canada departments and agencies. Members of the FreeBalance team will be available during the conference to discuss the new FreeBalance Shared Services ROI & TCO tool and how it will provide valuable insight for Government of Canada decision makers.

As part of the Shared Services Initiative, Government of Canada departments will need to migrate from departmental budget, financial and human resources systems to centralized shared services. Version 1 of the shared service calculator will be provided exclusively to FreeBalance Government of Canada customers. FreeBalance has modelled the costs for changing departmental practices, compliance inefficiencies, governance mechanisms, personnel training, system upgrades and elasticity.  

“We commend the Government of Canada Economic Action Plan to reduce costs and nurture innovation, especially as a Canadian company providing next-generation good governance solutions around the world,” said Manuel Pietra, President & CEO of FreeBalance. “We realize the challenges of calculating ROI and TCO in government software. Costs are often hidden because consulting and training are often acquired separately from software. And, old proprietary technology designed originally for the client/server world increases maintenance costs.”

The FreeBalance Accountability Suite Version 7 supports public and private cloud GRP Shared Services. Benefits of FreeBalance GRP Shared Services include: 

• Mission: optimize mission effectiveness through agile deployments, consistent citizen-facing systems, ease of reform and modernization
• Consolidation: optimize systems costs by eliminating duplication, reducing power consumption, centralizing management
• Predictability: optimize change and compliance costs through standardization, simple cost and growth models, improved security, controls and disaster recovery

The FreeBalance Accountability Suite is one of the most widely deployed financial management systems inside the Government of Canada. More than 50 government departments and agencies use FreeBalance software for enhanced public financial management. 

The FreeBalance Accountability Suite is web-based and has been optimized for rapid government deployment, operational effectiveness and performance. FreeBalance technology supports Web Services standards that enable departments and agencies to integrate with existing ERP, HR, and other government information systems.

The FreeBalance Accountability Suite is one of the most widely deployed financial management systems inside the Government of Canada. More than 50 government departments and agencies use FreeBalance software for enhanced public financial management. 

About FreeBalance
FreeBalance helps governments around the world leverage robust Government Resource Planning (GRP) technology to accelerate country growth. FreeBalance software solutions for public financial and human resource management support reform and modernization to improve governance, transparency and accountability. Good governance is required to improve development results. FreeBalance solutions are active in 19 countries managing more than a quarter trillion ($US) in annual budgets worldwide. For more information, visit www.freebalance.com. 

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Doug Hadden, VP Products at FreeBalance Presents “Seizing the Shared Services Opportunity” at the Financial Management Institute (FMI) of Canada Professional Development Week 2011

Ottawa, Canada (November 21, 2011) – FreeBalance, a global Government Resource Planning (GRP) software company, will be presenting at the FMI of Canada Professional Development (PD) Week. The annual conference takes place this year at the Ottawa Convention Centre in Ottawa, Canada from November 22 to 25, 2011. Doug Hadden, VP Products at FreeBalance will host an interactive session titled “Seizing the Shared Services Opportunity.” This session will explore the mandate of shared services to streamline information technology costs and provide hundreds of millions of dollars in savings on an annual basis. Many experts suggest that traditional technology for public financial management will take many years to provide any savings, if at all. Yet, saving and agility forms the mission of Shared Services Canada. The “Seizing the Shared Services Opportunity” presentation details a risk-based approach to shared services that provides an acceleration of speed to savings.

The session will be held from 3:00 – 4:00 pm, Tuesday November 22, 2011 in room 211 at the Ottawa Convention Centre. Many of the subjects to be discussed are described on the FreeBalance Sustainability Blog. In addition, members of the FreeBalance team will be available during the conference to discuss the new FreeBalance Shared Services ROI & TCO tool and how it will provide valuable insight for Government of Canada decision makers.

“Many governments have implemented hosted shared services to support more efficient and effective service delivery,” said Manuel Pietra, President & CEO of FreeBalance. “Yet, hosted shared services for financial and human resources in government have had disappointing results. Expected savings have not often materialized. The FreeBalance Accountability Suite Version 7 has been designed specifically to overcome government shared services challenges. This innovative technology covers the entire budget cycle including budget preparation, budget execution and civil service management.”

The FreeBalance Accountability Suite Version 7 was designed specifically to support hosted shared services in government. The FreeBalance approach differs from traditional methods of deploying finance and human resources software in the following ways:

• Service configuration approach eliminates the burden for government organizations to customize software to meet unique needs.
• Multiple configurations operating in the same data centre enables government organizations to migrate to standard processes over time and supports unique configurations where necessary because of legal mandate.
• Modern web-based technology, rather than web-enabled, optimizes performance and reduces data centre size providing green benefits.
• Component-based Service-Oriented Architecture enables granular integration with software in use by government organizations.

The FreeBalance Accountability Suite is web-based and has been optimized for rapid government deployment, operational effectiveness and performance. FreeBalance technology supports Web Services standards that enable departments and agencies to integrate with existing ERP, HR, and other government information systems.

The FreeBalance Accountability Suite is one of the most widely deployed financial management systems inside the Government of Canada. More than 50 government departments and agencies use FreeBalance software for enhanced public financial management.

About the Financial Management Institute of Canada
The Financial Management Institute of Canada (fmi*igf) is a nationally recognized, not-for-profit volunteer association, founded in 1962. What started out as a small group of senior federal government accountants meeting around a lunch table to discuss issues of financial management and the role of financial advisors within government has grown to thousands of members, both within and outside the public sector, all working to improve the financial management of all levels of government across Canada. For more information, visit www.fmi.ca. 

About Doug Hadden
Doug Hadden is an industry veteran with an extensive experience in enterprise technologies. Hadden has more than 20 years of management, sales, marketing and product management experience at several industry-leading public and private companies, including Standard Register, Delano Technology, Platform Computing, Hummingbird, and Olivetti. Hadden is a recognized expert in strategic planning and technology in government.

As VP Products at FreeBalance, Hadden is responsible for all aspects of global marketing, business development and product management. Hadden is also the Chief Customer Advocate responsible for aligning FreeBalance activities with customer priorities. He holds a BA Honours degree in Political Science from Carleton University. 

About FreeBalance
FreeBalance helps governments around the world leverage robust Government Resource Planning (GRP) technology to accelerate country growth. FreeBalance software solutions for public financial and human resource management support reform and modernization to improve governance, transparency and accountability. Good governance is required to improve development results. FreeBalance solutions are active in 19 countries managing more than a quarter trillion ($US) in annual budgets worldwide. For more information, visit www.freebalance.com.  

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Key conference theme: Shared services benefits for government financial management

Ottawa, Canada (November 22, 2011) – FreeBalance, a global Government Resource Planning (GRP) software company, will be advocating next generation shared services at the Financial Management Institute (FMI) of Canada Professional Development (PD) Week. The annual conference at the Ottawa Convention Centre in Ottawa, Canada runs from November 22 to 25, 2011.

Next generation financial and human resources shared services information technology is designed to overcome the high cost and limited benefits associated with traditional approaches. Process standardization to reduce costs has been an elusive shared services goal. Standardization should reduce training, support and upgrading costs. Yet, experience in governments around the world shows that standardization can introduce inefficiencies and higher infrastructure cost. Next-generation Government Resource Planning technology overcomes the standardization problem through configuration and provides a viable option to governments looking to accelerate speed to savings. Visit the FreeBalance booth at FMI PD Week to learn more about GRP Shared Services and speed to savings.

Relevant presentations about shared services at FMI PD Week 2011 include:

• Liseanne Forand, President, Shared Services Canada, who will provide insight about the Government of Canada timelines
• Doug Hadden, VP Products at FreeBalance, will host an interactive session that details a risk-based approach to shared services that provides an acceleration of speed to savings titled “Seizing the Shared Services Opportunity”

“The FreeBalance Accountability Suite Version 7 was designed specifically to overcome government shared services challenges for financial and human resource management,” said Manuel Pietra, President & CEO of FreeBalance. “Governments need to avoid “rust” when moving to private clouds. Unlike traditional approaches, Version 7 does not use legacy technology, while supporting multiple configurations and migration to standardization. “

Members of the FreeBalance team will be available throughout the conference to discuss FreeBalance web-based Government Resource Planning (GRP) solutions. The FreeBalance approach differs from traditional methods of deploying finance and human resources software in the following ways:

• Service configuration approach eliminates the burden for government organizations to customize software to meet unique needs.
• Multiple configurations operating in the same data centre enables government organizations to migrate to standard processes over time and supports unique configurations where necessary because of legal mandate.
• Modern web-based technology, rather than web-enabled, optimizes performance and reduces data centre size providing green benefits.
• Component-based Service-Oriented Architecture enables granular integration with software in use by government organizations.

The FreeBalance Accountability Suite represents a significant technology leap forward. The suite has been optimized for rapid government deployment, operational effectiveness and performance. FreeBalance technology supports Web Services standards that enable departments and agencies to integrate with existing ERP, HR, and other government information systems.

The FreeBalance Accountability Suite is one of the most widely deployed financial management systems inside the Government of Canada. More than 50 government departments and agencies use FreeBalance software for enhanced public financial management. 

About FreeBalance
FreeBalance helps governments around the world leverage robust Government Resource Planning (GRP) technology to accelerate country growth. FreeBalance software solutions for public financial and human resource management support reform and modernization to improve governance, transparency and accountability. Good governance is required to improve development results. FreeBalance solutions are active in 19 countries managing more than a quarter trillion ($US) in annual budgets worldwide. For more information, visit www.freebalance.com. 

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Doug Hadden, VP Products

Been thinking about innovation recently? Innovation for government?

It’s been a recurring theme for me – especially given the strides made by agile software companies like FreeBalance compared to leading Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) vendors. Where “innovation” seems to have a very liberal interpretation.

Replace Rust with Rust?

In 2010, the Auditor General of Canada identified the dangers of “aging information systems”. Rust.  The government of Canada is now focused on “shared services” in search of efficiency and agility. And, the get rid of the lack of sustainability of legacy technology.

Many are suggesting that the Government of Canada should standardize on leading ERP vendor products.  Whose technology is 30 or 40 years old.

It’s like Y2K and COBOL déjà vu.

Except with proprietary technology.

No Risk with the new Rust?

Gartner analyst, Andrea di Maio recently asked whether government data consolidation makes any sense, especially in the new era of cloud computing. He points out:

“it appears that shared services are having a hard time. Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria have all had their fair share of issues with shared services, and this is happening quite consistently in other parts of the world. More recently, many have been looking at the bold consolidation decision by the Canadian federal government, which has set a rather aggressive timeframe to consolidate over 300 data centers into 20 and over 100 email systems into one.”

And, data centre consolidation is considered “low hanging fruit”.

I’ve suggested that shared servers isn’t shared services.

The risk of legacy technology shared services is one theme of my Financial Management Institute of Canada (FMI) presentation next week: “seizing the shared services opportunity”.

A similar attempt in a G7 country has so far cost over $1 Billion. With a “B”. So far.

Moving the  Innovation Goal Posts

Some of you may wonder what I’m on about. Surely, these large vendors have the most modern whizz-bang stuff. The four leading providers are entrenched in legacy technology. Three of these vendors struggle with integrating their own products. The other seems to have challenges integrating with the web.

None of these billion dollar vendors have re-designed core software for the modern era.

We have.

None of these billion dollar vendors have designed software specifically for government shared services.

We have.

We applaud Treasury Board President Tony Clement’s commitment to innovation:

“I think it’s an exciting time for vendors. We’re asking for their assistance, we’re asking for their participation, their ingenuity, their innovation and creativity, we’re asking for all those things and we want them to be partners with us as we move the goalposts.”

Canadians are concerned about the mandate and promise of the shared services initiative. The initiative is unquestionably important. But can Canada avoid the pitfalls that have derailed similar initiatives in governments around the world to realize the full potential that shared services offers? Are there approaches that reduce the inherent risks and provide faster speed to savings? Did you know that FreeBalance is providing whole-of-government shared services around the world?

During fmi*igf PD Week in Ottawa, we’d like to invite you to the Seizing the Shared Services Opportunity presentation by FreeBalance on Tuesday November 22 from 3 – 4 pm, Rm 211 in the new Ottawa Convention Centre. During the presentation, attendees will learn about:

“The mandate of shared services is to streamline information technology costs and provide hundreds of millions of dollars in savings on an annual basis. Many experts and government officials suggest it will take many years to provide any savings, and even more time to generate the type of savings that forms the mission of Shared Services Canada. The Seizing the Shared Services Opportunity presentation details a risk-averse approach to shared services that provides an acceleration of speed to savings.”

Please RSVP by contacting Dora Villa by email at dvilla@freebalance.com or by phone at 613-236-5150 x 110.

Details
When: Tuesday, November 22, 3 – 4 pm
Where: Ottawa Convention Centre, Room #211
Presenter: Doug Hadden, Vice President Products at FreeBalance

Thank you and we look forward to seeing you there!

The Government of Canada is recognized for applying government resource planning discipline to avoid the pitfalls of the current global economic environment. Budgets, plans and policies have responded to support aggressive changes to reduce and eliminate the current deficit in a short period of time.

The renewed commitment to shared services underscores the need to identify and action significant change to realize substantial cost savings—quickly.

We’d like to invite you to the Annual FreeBalance Customer Roundtable on Monday, November 21, 2011 at the Lord Elgin Hotel, Ontario Room. Lunch will be served at noon and the FreeBalance presentation and Q&A will run from 12:30 to 1:30.

As a Government of Canada FreeBalance customer, we thought you’d be interested in learning more about:

• The speed to savings approach to shared services
• FreeBalance product update and roadmap
• Engaging FreeBalance to get your requirements in the next release of software

Please RSVP by contacting Sara Lopes by email at slopes@freebalance.com or by phone at 613-236-5150 x 111.

Details:
When: Monday, November 21 from noon to 1:30 with lunch and refreshments
Where: Lord Elgin Hotel, 100 Elgin Street, Ottawa
Room: The Ontario room
Presenter: Doug Hadden, Vice President Products at FreeBalance

Thank you and we look forward to seeing you there!

Doug Hadden, VP Products

Publish What You Fund has completed a 2011 Aid Transparency Index. Their conclusion? “Some donors do well, all donors can do better.” Perhaps that’s a euphemism for meager improvements.

As a participant in the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) Technical Advisory Group, I have heard that fully supporting IATI is technically difficult. My sense is that the problem isn’t transparency: it’s traceability.

[Technically, the majority of IATI can be supported through any decent financial management system, assuming that donors follow good practices that are imposed on developing nation governments. See: Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) requirements around program budgeting and budget classifications.]

The Smoking Gun

As Richard Allen pointed out in the IMF PFM blog, using “country systems” is a “courageous policy.” The same goes with full aid transparency.

• Aid transparency could reduce inefficiencies by an order of magnitude by revealing administrative costs and reducing the transaction costs for donor reporting
• Aid transparency could reduce corruption by an order of magnitude by revealing transaction and by reducing the use of cash
• Aid transparency could improve effectiveness by an order of magnitude by analyzing “apples to apples” across aid programs and through improved coordination

We know that foreign aid programs are less efficient and effective that could be. We also know that there is a lot of corruption opportunities. Therefore, IATI seems to be a no-brainer.

Here’s the deal: today we know the problems. We just can’t easily trace it to the donor. There is deniability. So, we could be almost certain that 20%, 40% or 60% of a program budget is wasted. With IATI, we know for sure. And, it traces back to the donor.

Let’s not shoot the Messenger

Please, let’s all agree that we won’t criticize donors for corruption, inefficiencies and ineffectiveness if there is a commitment to improve. “Accountability” should not mean front-page stories about money gone astray – it should mean analyzing what donors are doing about it.

My sense is that some of the backtracking on transparency at the Busan High Level Forum is about getting shot in the press. (And blogs.)

Some Odd Moments

In the course of discussions around IATI, I have had some odd points made:

• IATI is pointless because aid if fungible [that's what IATI plans to solve]
• Bi-lateral donors proud of transparency leadership [that score under 30%]
• Program budgeting is a bad practice [no, it's a good practice]
• IATI support is technically difficult [yet small organizations are able to support it]
• Certain financial software applications are difficult to adapt to support new standards [tell you software vendor to smarten up]