Farmers Home Administration Needs To Better Plan, Direct, Develop, and Control Its Computer-Based Unified Management Information System

The Farmers Home Administration (FmHA) provides financial assistance to rural Americans who are unable to obtain credit from other sources at reasonable rates and terms. In 1974, FmHA decided that the deficiencies of its management information system warranted replacement rather than modification and began developing a computer-based system, the Unified Management Information System (UMIS), to provide better management information at all levels. The objectives of UMIS were: to provide an accounting system that meets GAO requirements; to provide responsive, timely management information to managers at county, district, state, finance, and national office levels; to minimize office workloads required to provide basic input data; and to improve capabilities to service loan applicants and borrowers in rural America.