Financial Management: Defining Requirements Is Crucial to System 90's Success
AFMD-90-85
Published: Sep 05, 1990. Publicly Released: Sep 05, 1990.
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Highlights
GAO reviewed the Financial Management Service's (FMS) efforts to initiate and define requirements for a long-term strategy for modernizing and integrating its financial management activities, System 90, focusing on its first application, the Payments, Claims, and Enhanced Reconciliation (PACER) system.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of the Treasury | To ensure that System 90 and PACER provide the capabilities that FMS needs in the most cost-beneficial manner, the Secretary of the Treasury should direct the System 90 project development team to complete its detailed definition of PACER functional and internal control requirements before beginning development of a detailed system design, including a comprehensive analysis of PACER internal control requirements based on a risk analysis and the development of detailed control objectives so that developers can identify appropriate control techniques and reviewers can assess the adequacy of those techniques. |
Closed – Implemented
The project team held a series of meetings in December 1990 to identify and document detailed internal control objectives for PACER. For each of the eight PACER processes, the team identified threats, risks, control objectives, and proposed control techniques. The resulting document was provided to the System 90/PACER contractor in January 1991.
|
| Department of the Treasury | To ensure that System 90 and PACER provide the capabilities that FMS needs in the most cost-beneficial manner, the Secretary of the Treasury should direct the System 90 project development team to revise and update its analysis of costs and benefits associated with System 90 and PACER in accordance with Federal Information Processing Standard 64 to determine how much PACER will cost the federal government as a whole and to determine which system capabilities will be the most valuable and, therefore, the most important to implement. |
Closed – Implemented
A new cost-benefit analysis was completed by a contractor in October 1992.
|
| Department of the Treasury | The Secretary of the Treasury should direct FMS to include System 90 in future 5-year plans, as required by Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-127. |
Closed – Implemented
At OMB request, Treasury included System 90/PACER in its July 1991 5-year plan.
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