Government Financial Management Information System: The Case of the Government of Jordan

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1 Government Financial Management Information System: The Case of the Government of Jordan Rifat O. Shannak PhD Professor of Management Information Systems/Acting President and Dean of Talal Abu Ghazaleh University College of Business Kingdom of Bahrain Abstract The general purpose of this research is to study the Government Financial Management Information System (GFMIS) currently under implementation in the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and the Government of Jordan. The objectives of the research were to study the exact status of GFMIS, and the stages it has gone through as well as the obstacles and challenges that delayed the implementation of GFMIS and deferred the go-live date. An additional purpose for this research is to study the post-go-live obstacles faced by the Ministry of Finance and the involved government institutions and identifying how the implementation of GFMIS in the Ministry of Finance improved the public funds mechanisms and procedures inside MOF and if this implementation really enhanced the level of services provided to the different government institutions. This concurs with Khan and Pessoa s (2009) proposition. A total of 15 interviews were conducted with a GFMIS top management, GFMIS system administrators, employees in government institutions implementing GFMIS, and employees who worked on the development of GFMIS from the Ministry of Finance and the implementing company (INTRACOM Middle East and Africa). Standard editing and analysis procedures were utilized. Nnarrative analyses of the interviews were carried out. The main findings of the research were that the GFMIS was successfully implemented in six pilot sites, and 39 rollout sites and many of the challenges faced can be referred to end users resistance to implementing the new system. The implementation of GFMIS made all procedures faster, more transparent, closely monitored, and elevated the level of security in all financial transactions. The GFMIS is automating all transactions of the Ministry of Finance related to public financial management. And served the General Budget Department in budget planning,

2 execution, and funds allocation, in line with Results-Oriented Budgeting. The financial information were unified and resulted in gathering all financial transactions in the General Ledger, and reflecting every transaction on the Treasury Single Account. The research puts forward a number of recommendations such as the need for the implementation of GFMIS should be carried out to cover all budget institutions and for the necessity to have the system span all independent institutions, which should add to the efficiency of GFMIS when covering all financial data from the entities linked to the Ministry of Finance. * The presentation of this paper at Mutah University/College of Business Administration International Conference April 2015, was made possible by the generous funding of Talal Abu Ghazaleh University College of Business Kingdom of Bahrain. ** The researcher acknowledges the valuable role of his team of MBA students at Talal Abu Ghazaleh Graduate School of Business in Amman (Rima A. Yacoub, Rasha N. Azzeh and Mais Abu Aitah) for data collection and in the preparation of the material for completing this paper. 2

3 Background GFMIS Concept Government Financial Management Information System is an integrated solution that computerizes the entire life-cycle of budget preparation, budget execution, and financial reporting (GoJ, 2015). The system operates across all budget institutions to ensure transparency and accountability in all public resources transactions, including allocation, use, and monitoring. The system mainly works on linking all budget institutions, for the purposes of supporting the process of decision making in an informed manner. The need for having an integrated Government Financial Management information system arise from the following: 1. Countries are facing increasing pressure to improve fiscal management and reporting. 2. Governments are increasingly turning to computerized financial management systems to help them respond to the demand for better information. It is worth noting that there is no universally accepted definition of a GFMIS, yet there is a broad understanding that a GFMIS is a computerized system that deals with government Public Financial Management functions, where it is designed to support the public sector units that are supposed to be covered by the system, with all the functionalities this system provides. GFMIS in Jordan The Jordanian Ministry of Finance followed its desire to achieve integration between fiscal and monetary policies for the purposes of serving the national economy. Accordingly, and in order to enhance all public funds mechanisms and improve the level of services provided to the different budget institutions, the Ministry of Finance, in cooperation with different international agencies, prepared the different designs, conducted many studies and strategy analysis, and studied the implementation of such a system in the Government of Jordan as a whole. Intracom Middle East and Africa, an IT services company, won the tender for implementing the system, to start the actual implementation of GFMIS in the year

4 GFMIS Vision and Mission The vision was to support the management of financial decisions through the deployment of a Governmental Integrated Financial System. The GFMIS mission is mainly assist The Ministry of Finance (MOF) transform fiscal policy and public financial management to forge a more transparent, effective, innovative, and results-oriented government, a government that lays the foundation for economic stability and growth with equity. GFMIS Features The system has a number of features which can be summarized as follows: 1. One integrated system used by all budget institutions. 2. All data and application servers located at the Ministry of Finance. 3. The system includes the abilities to implement the budget and accounting information related to the whole government. 4. Data in the budget institutions is processed through the Secure Governmental Network. 5. One integrated system for all financial managers to use for all financial and accounting operations. 6. Financial and accounting operations are controlled and settled in the system. 7. Integration with the systems available at the Central Bank of Jordan, Income and Sales Tax Department, Customs Department, and the system for the Public Debt. Functional, IT and Change Management Tracks of the GFMIS The system has a number of functional tracks namely; Reports and Final Account: Accounting to Reporting, Budget: Position Management, Budget: Project Management, Budget: Budget Implementation, Budget: General Budget Law Preparation and Approval, General Accounting: Receivables/Revenue, General Accounting: Procurement Management, Basic Information Technology, General Accounting: Payment and General Accounting: Cash Management. In addition, the GFMIS has a number of IT tracks namely; Networks and Technical Support, Modules and Database and a Communication Center. The Change Management tracks of the system are: Communication, Training and Business Process Realignment (BPR). 4

5 Examples of GFMIS Implementations Around the World 1- GFMIS in Egypt Studying the history of implementing a system similar to GFMIS in Jordan, GFMIS was one of the leaders to implement such a new system, aiming to achieve more transparency in it financial management processes. Egypt studied the feasibility of GFMIS in its public sector, for the purposes of supporting public sector reform and realizing more transparency of public finance and accounting, and accordingly improving effectiveness, efficiency, and economy of public service delivery to the different public institutions. (Egyptian Government, 2014) The following demonstrates the capabilities the new GFMIS introduced to the Government of Egypt: Centralized control and monitoring of expenditure and receipts in the different ministries and departments. Ability to access information on financial and operational performance. More control on internal procedures to prevent and detect potential and actual fraud. Support to financial planning procedures. Enhanced accountability to stakeholders, like donors, citizens, etc. 2- GFMIS in Mongolia Among the various efforts the Government of Mongolia undertook since mid 1990s to enhance its public financial management, and for the purposes of improving transparency and accountability, simplify procedures, and facilitate cash management, the Government decided to implement a new Government Financial Management System. During the implementation phase, Mongolia faced many challenges, among which where the unfamiliarity of end users with the concept of integrated systems. In the year 2005, the system went live, and efforts continued to develop and expand the system. The system now covers 5490 budget entities, 2700 tax revenue accounts, 1703 social insurance accounts, and 2308 social welfare accounts with 251 concurrent users, and the system now processes around 3000 transactions daily. In terms of improving public financial management in Mongolia, the following demonstrates the improvements 5

6 achieved by the system, on the level of organizational objectives (Government of Mongolia, 2015): Wage and salary information are now entered in a summary level. Information is transmitted from Mongolia's debt management system to the treasury for inclusion in the GFMIS. Monthly budget reports for the Government are now available at the Central Treasury, and are published on the Government website. Cash balances on the treasury single account are available daily. Reconciliation of Treasury account balance with checks issued by the Treasury Department. Research Objectives The research has a number of objectives which are: To study the exact status of GFMIS, and the stages it went through up to this date. To study the obstacles and challenges that delayed the implementation of GFMIS and deferred the go-live date. To study the post-go-live obstacles faced by the Ministry of Finance and the involved government institutions. To identify how the implementation of GFMIS in the Ministry of Finance improved the public funds mechanisms and procedures inside MOF. To identify how the implementation of GFMIS enhanced the level of services provided to the different government institutions. Research Methodology Research Design This qualitative research was conducted in the form of interviews conducted at the GFMIS Project as a component, Ministry of Finance, General Budget Department, and the Audit Bureau. Physical interviews resulted in a clear description of the status of GFMIS, challenges faced 6

7 during both the development and implantation phases of the system, and the benefits of implementing such a sophisticated system for the Government of Jordan as a whole. Furthermore, many documents from different sources were studied and analyzed, in order to compare the Jordanian experience with other experiences, and in order to achieve a better understanding of the system that is being implemented in Jordan. All results collected from the interviews and the data collected from the different project documents were used as primary data in the research qualitative and narrative analysis. The research design started through setting the objectives of the research and defining the outcomes expected in this field. After this stage, the researcher and his team set questions that should be used as guidelines for the purposes of conducting comprehensive interviews. The research interview questions included 16 questions related to the set objectives (refer to appendix II for interview questions). Sample Design The interviews aimed to reach around 20 individuals who worked on the development of GFMIS, and the ones involved in the implementation of system, including upper management from the GFMIS project, the implementing company - Intracom Middle East and Africa, staff using the system from the Ministry of Finance, the General Budget Department, and the Audit Bureau. Data Collection Interviews were conducted to collect data, and project documents were reviewed in order to gather all required data, to reach the anticipated result of defining the status of GFMIS, as well as the impact of implementing the system on the Government of Jordan, for the purposes of achieving a better financial management. Each interview lasted for approximately 30 minutes, allowing the researcher to obtain the required information without disturbing the employees and hindering their work progress. Other documents from different international entities were and reviewed to study the implementation of GFMIS in other countries, and using such experiences as benchmarks when analyzing GFMIS in Jordan. 7

8 Data Analysis All respondents' data were recorded directly, classified, and analyzed in a manner serving the ultimate goal of this research. Narrative and qualitative (content) analysis was conducted for the data collected from the interviews. Moreover, several documents prepared by different organizations were reviewed, covering the implementation of GFMIS in Jordan, Egypt, and Mongolia. In addition to GFMIS Project documents, other documents from USAID Fiscal Reform II Project were reviewed to study the status of GFMIS, the phases it went through, and the challenges encountered throughout the different phases. (USAID, 2014) For analysis purposes, general themes to discuss were identified, and respondents were defined by their functions related to GFMIS. The roles, responsibilities, use, and benefit realized were addressed in order to reinforce the results of the interviews and the research as a whole. The following demonstrates the exploratory, qualitative, and narrative analysis conducted for the purposes of the research: Difficulty of implementing and using GFMIS From GFMIS Project - As indicated by the staff working on developing GFMIS in the Ministry of Finance, and who are currently supporting the implementation and monitoring the performance of the system, GFMIS was rated as a system that is relatively easy to use. GFMIS Project Manager, one system administrator, PMO Lead, one change management expert, and one technical support employee explicitly stated that the system is user-friendly. The only difficulty faced was during the preparation for the system and data cleansing, and "the readiness and availability of data from the different budget institutions", as explained by the system administrator. From Intracom - In terms of implementing the system, Project Manager from the side of the implementing company stated that the implementation of the system can be rated as easy, and it is user-friendly. The main concern of the project manager was from the end user side, since he believed there should be more efforts focused on selecting the right staff in terms of 8

9 qualifications to work on the system. The three functional consultants who worked on developing the system from scratch stated that the system in not complicated, neither in terms of development, implementation, or use by the end users. From the Ministry of Finance - The interviewed staff from the Ministry of finance were middle management staff; Receivables Section Head who supervised seven employees using the system in their daily routine work indicated that after few months of using the system, all processes became easier, and now his staff use the system efficiently. One of the staff working in the Payables and Procurements Division expressed that he faced some difficulties when started using the system due to the multiple interrelated interfaces. The processes are getting easier as he is using the system more and more in his daily routine tasks. From General Budget Department - Director of Education and Human Resources Development in GBD stated that until this moment there are some difficulties faced when using the system, yet he explained that they still receive technical support whenever needed. Budget Analyst from the Agricultural Development and Natural Resources Directorate was very excited for using this new system, but stated that the start of using the interfaces was not easy. From the Audit Bureau - Audit Bureau is one of the rollout sites; Director of IT Department expressed that he was concerned when they first started implementing the system in the Audit Bureau, but at this stage and with the various training courses continuously conducted at the Audit Bureau, and with the technical support form GFMIS project staff and Intracom staff, the process is getting easier. One of the IT staff interviewed who was well acquainted with the importance of the system indicated that the system is easy to use, theoretically, yet he believed in the extra efforts needed to support AB staff shift from manual procedures to computerized procedures. Status and Stages of GFMIS PMO Lead from GFMIS Project presented the different documents which are available also on GFMIS website, and explained how the system developed throughout the four years of implementation. USAID Fiscal Reform Project II quarterly and annual reports also included 9

10 certain information that served in determining the status of the system, available on FRPII website. (USAID), 2014; Atalla et al., 2010) Use of GFMIS in Daily Routine Tasks Only end users from the three budget institutions were the ones to use GFMIS in their daily routine work. Receivables Section Head in the Ministry of Finance explained that now he is using the system on daily basis to process all accounts receivable as per the received from the different budget institutions. His staff are also using the system under his supervision to verify information, send inquiries, and complete all transactions over the system. Payables and Procurements employee currently uses the system in completing all transactions related to government procurements, in cooperation with the General Supplies Department. He verifies all payments requested by any budget institution for any procurement, and completes the related transactions. From the General Budget Department, both the Director of Education and Human Resources Development, and the Budget Analyst from the Agricultural Development and Natural Resources Directorate, indicated that they are currently relying more on GFMIS in all budget processes, including planning, allocation of resources, and budget execution. They started receiving budget requests from the different budget institutions through GFMIS, they also receive different requests for financial transfers. Obstacles and Challenges GFMIS PMO Lead explained the obstacles and challenges faced, such as the delay in signing the User Acceptance Test (UAT), and the reasons behind this delay. She also emphasized the issues faced due to resistance at the pilot sites. Project Manager from Intracom side mentioned the phase when he was still a risk manager only assisting on the project; at the time a part time project manager was available which caused some issues to investigate in. Two functional consultants and the Project Manager from Intracom emphasized the challenges faced due to the technological qualifications of the end users. 10

11 GFMIS Data Administrator, GFMIS technical support staff, and GFMIS Project Manager shared the issues faced when collecting data from the different budget institutions, and all the cleansing that had to be performed on the data before being entered on the system. Change management expert, along with GFMIS technical support employee, and one functional consultant from Intracom side responsible of the budgeting cycle expressed the difficulties faced because of the lack of commitment of end users from the different budget institutions to attend the needed training courses, as well as how they refuse to use the system frequently. Improved Procedures and Services The four end users from the Ministry of Finance and the General Budget Department explained in details how the system transformed them from completing all financial transactions manually. Even end users from the different budget institutions now do not have to show at the Ministry of Finance or the General Budget Department for completing transaction, but only for signature purposes. The two end users from the General Budget Department explained how they currently do budget planning over GFMIS and how they receive all fund requests from the different budget institutions through the system, in compliance with the Results-Oriented Budgeting approach. GFMIS Project Manager mentioned the issues of more secured transactions, and better control, in order to "enhance the efficiency of public funds mechanisms", as he stated. PMO Lead also explained the new interface opened with the Central Bank of Jordan, and the how it enhanced financial control. Director of Treasury in the Ministry of Finance, who is currently using the system explained how the system now reflects all transactions in any part of the Kingdom, allowing all transactions to appear in the Treasury Single Account. Results After conducting the interviews with 15 individuals working on GFMIS from the Ministry of Finance, Intracom Middle East and Africa, GFMIS Project team, General Budget Department concerned staff, and the Audit Bureau staff using GFMIS, all information gathered were recorded for analysis purposes. All facts and information were recorded in order and case 11

12 analysis was conducted in order to fulfill the objectives of this research. Different documents from the different sources were also reviewed and analyzed. Respondents Profile GFMIS Staff: The researcher and his team interviewed five individuals who worked on developing the system at the Ministry of Finance, not the entity as a beneficiary of the system, but with the GFMIS unit established for the purposes of the project. These individuals are employed by USAID funded Fiscal Reform Project II. The interviewees were from different levels; top management, middle management, system administrators, and change management staff. (USAID, 2014) From the implementing company side, Intracom Middle East and Africa, the researcher and his team interviewed four individuals; the most intensive interview was with the Project Manager from the implementing company. The other three individuals were mainly from the functional team who worked on the design and actual implementation of the system. GFMIS End Users: The researcher and his team targeted three entities in which GFMIS is being implemented. The interviews were conducted with two end users from the Ministry of Finance, two from the Audit Bureau, and another two from the General Budget Department. The end users were of the operational level, concerned with financial operations, who actually use the system on their daily routine tasks. * Note: A relatively short interview oo the phone was conducted with the Director of Treasury at the Ministry of Finance. Research Results Objective 1: Study the exact status of GFMIS, and the stages it went through up to this date. The initial development of the Government Financial Management Information System started in 12

13 March 2008 after many years spent in studying the preparedness of the Ministry of Finance to implement such a sophisticated system. The definition phase was the first step towards actually starting with the project, which included defining future system documentation, as well as the development of future business processes model. Elaboration phase followed the definition, and included designing the system diagram, developing system design, developing testing scripts, and training the main users. After training the main users in the Ministry of Finance, General Budget Department, Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, Zarqaa Regional Financial Center, Lands and Survey Department, and the Ministry of Education, the building phase started, which was mainly focused on mapping all processes included in the system, integrating the developed solutions, RICE Development (Reports, Interfaces, Conversions, and Extensions), testing the system on real grounds in the aforementioned pilot sites, and creating a communication center. GFMIS currently reached the rollout phase, which is represented in implementing the system in 39 budget institutions (25 ministries and 14 Regional Financial Centers). The total number of budget institutions implementing the system after the completion of this phase will be 45. The rollout phase is subdivided into training the end users in the 39 budget institutions, transitioning the workforce in these sites to the new work environment, implementing the system in these sites, conducting the tests required for final acceptance, and then closing the project at these sites. The following lists the budget institutions in which GFMIS is currently implemented: 13

14 Objective 2: Study the obstacles and challenges that delayed the implementation of GFMIS and deferred the go-live date. Objective 3: Study the post-go-live obstacles faced by the Ministry of Finance and the involved government institutions. Going back to the pilot phase, where the system was introduced in 6 main sites, many challenges were encountered that resulted in some delay in the system going live. GFMIS user acceptance testing has been delayed because the complete set of the on-site scenarios tests had not been completed. Completing these tests was hindered due to the resistance encountered at the pilot sites. The testing also caused some delay because of the extensive efforts that took time for the 14

15 purposes of reaching an agreement on the testing regime. There has been also some delay in the Operational Acceptance Testing from the implementing company side, because the technical lead was a part timer, and the completion of this testing required more planning to ensure all aspects are covered, and that the infrastructure is ready for testing. The main challenges encountered when developing and implementing GFMIS can be attributed, but not limited, to the following reasons: Level of technology literacy: The implementation of this system requires a high level of technology literacy. Unfortunately, the end users at the different sites did not acquire the required level of literacy; they faced some difficulties using computers, and dealing with the software itself was not easy for them. Availability of financial data at the different institutions: Taking into consideration that all financial data was recorded manually, and all financial procedures were completed manually, it was difficult to collect all financial data required to build the necessary documents in the phase of system definition. It is worth mentioning that even the data collected successfully required auditing, which consumed time and effort. Commitment to attending training courses: Transition from the old methods of completing financial management procedures to using GFMIS required many training courses targeting end users. End users at the different sites did not show the required level of commitment to attending the training courses for the different cycles, which hindered the progress of the project. Commitment to working on the system: Even after the system was fully implemented on the pilot sites, financial employees showed some resistance to using the system in their daily routine work. Readiness of historical data: Historical data used to be manually recorded, which caused some difficulty when loading them into the system, because such data was not recorded in the format appropriate for the system purposes. Objective 4: Identify how the implementation of GFMIS in the Ministry of Finance improved the public funds mechanisms and procedures inside MOF. 15

16 Taking into consideration that all financial procedures were carried out manually, the implementation of GFMIS resulted in faster procedures, since all transactions using the system were completed electronically, without the concerned financial person from the different budget institutions having to show up at the Ministry of Finance to present the financial data required. All data received at the Ministry of Finance can also now be verified using the system, and any inquiries can be sent through the system. However, electronic signature is not yet activated, but this does not cause much delay. Objective 5: Identify how the implementation of GFMIS enhanced the level of services provided to the different government institutions. Among the objectives of the Ministry of Finance, it aims to achieve integration between fiscal and monetary policies in order to serve the national economy, in cooperation and coordination with the Central Bank of Jordan, and the related institutions. The implementation of GFMIS at the Ministry of Finance and the different budget institutions enhanced the efficiency of public funds mechanisms. This system now provides comprehensive and documented financial information, and facilitates the transparent and easy exchange of information. This contributed to enhancing financial control, and at the same time helped decision makers take right and informed decisions in a timely manner, through using the Secure Government Network (SGN). As the system is implemented in the General Budget Department, it is worth mentioning that GFMIS provides the needed tools for controlling funds, planning, and decision making. The process of allocating budget for the different budget institutions became more efficient and transparent, and all budget decisions are now more aligned with the priorities of the Government of Jordan. From the budget institutions side, and taking into consideration that the system operates on a single integrated database, the system can be used to check the status of financial transfers, and accordingly determines whether there is a need for the financial officer in the budget institution to visit the General Budget Department for transfer receipt. GFMIS also has a feature that the budget institutions can use to request a financial transfer, and request a financial ceiling from the Ministry of Finance, without having to visit the Ministry as the old days before the implementation of the system. It is worth mentioning also that the system supports the 16

17 implementation of the Results-Oriented Budgeting in the General Budget Department and the different budget institutions. Moreover, and since this system controls all government financial transactions, every single transaction completed at any budget institution in the whole Kingdom appears in the General Ledger, and is directly reflected on the Treasury Single Account (TSA), while identifying the source of this financial transaction. (Oyungerel, G and Mohib, S, 2008). It is worth mentioning that, outside the original scope of the project, an interface with the Central Bank of Jordan was introduced (Bpell), allowing the Ministry of Finance to access the accounts of all budget institutions at CBJ, and inquiring about any financial transactions. This ensures more transparency, accountability, and reliability to all financial transactions the different budget institutions carry out. Findings, Limitations, Future Research and Recommendations Findings: Following the qualitative data analyses from interviews, the research findings can be summarized as follows:- 1. The GFMIS was successfully implemented in six pilot sites, and 39 rollout site. 2. Many of the challenges faced can be referred to end users resistance to implementing the new system. 3. Computer illiteracy of many of the end users can be a factor that delayed the progress of GFMIS implementation. 4. There are no prerequisites set for the end users who will be using the system in terms of qualifications. 5. GFMIS required a lot of customization in order to comply with the Jordanian legislations. 6. GFMIS automated all transactions of the Ministry of Finance related to public financial management. 7. The implementation of GFMIS made all procedures faster, more transparent, closely monitored, and elevated the level of security in all financial transactions. 8. Using GFMIS over the Secured Government Network (SGN) ensures a high level of security for all financial data. 17

18 9. GFMIS served the General Budget Department in budget planning, execution, and funds allocation, in line with Results-Oriented Budgeting. 10. GFMIS unified all financial information, and resulted in gathering all financial transactions in the General Ledger, and reflecting every transaction on the Treasury Single Account. 11. GFMIS eliminated data redundancy and inconsistency, enhanced security, and improved data sharing and availability in a systematic manner. Limitations: The following demonstrates the main limitations encountered during the course of the research: Time Limitations: The researcher and his team were limited to the time of the course. Had there been given more time to conduct more interviews with more budget institutions, more results would have resulted expressing more realistically the impact of GFMIS on the organizational level. Future Research: A number of possibilities for future research are listed as follows:- 1. More in-depth analysis of similar systems implementation in the different countries. 2. In-depth research on issues faced while using the system in the different institutions. 3. Studies on improvement opportunities of the system, and how the end users can utilize the system to achieve operational excellence. 4. Research on entities that are related to the operations of the Ministry of Finance, similar to the Central Bank of Jordan, and how opening interfaces with these entities can improve the operations of GFMIS. Recommendations: Based on the findings of this research, the researcher puts forward the following that are considered of paramount importance. These recommendations are:- 18

19 1. Implementation of GFMIS should be carried out to cover all budget institutions. 2. The system should also expand to cover independent institutions, which should add to the efficiency of GFMIS when covering all financial data from the entities linked to the Ministry of Finance. 3. A special unit for Quality Assurance should be established to monitor the operations of the system in order to achieve operational excellence. 4. It is considered crucial that special procedures should be followed when recruiting staff working on the system, in order to make sure they have the required qualifications that enable them use the system, among which is computer literacy and a certain level of technical expertise. 5. Carry out more efforts in order to activate e-signature over the system, instead of the manual signature that is still the adopted process. 6. More efforts should be conducted to exchange knowledge and expertise, and more training courses on the system should be conducted to make sure the end users use the system properly in their daily routine tasks. 7. Reporting with a certain level of business intelligence should be introduced, in order to enhance reporting procedures. 8. Although many awareness campaigns were conducted, but it would be useful to conduct more awareness to reinforce the importance of GFMIS implementation in all budget institutions. 9. It can be useful to increase the number of GFMIS servers located at the data center of the Ministry of Finance, in order to increase the speed of the system. 19

20 References Atalla, G., Shehadi, R., Oknayan, S and Zakhour, L (2010). "The Technology of Fiscal Reform - Imperatives for Finance Ministries". Available on (accessed: 12/3/2015). Egyptian Government (2014). Financial Management Information System Documents. Available on (accessed: 12/3/2015). Government of Jordan (2014). Jordanian Government Financial Management Information System@ Documents - Available on (accessed: 12/3/2015). Government of Mongolia (2015). Treasury Department, The Ministry of Finance, Government Financial Information System, Available on (accessed: 12/3/2015). Khan, A and Pessoa, M (2009). "Public Financial Management Technical Guidance Note", International Monetary Fund. Oyungerel, G and Mohib, S (2008), "Improving Expenditure Control and Information", for the World Bank. USAID (2014). Jordan Fiscal Reform Project Documents on GFMIS. Available on frp2.org (accessed: 12/3/2015). 20

21 Appendix I: The Jordanian Ministry of Finance and the GFMIS (GoJ, 2015). About Ministry of Finance On the 11th of April, 1920, and during the Emirate Transjordan era, the Ministry of Finance was established, along with the formation of the first Jordanian Government. The Ministry of Finance includes different departments that report directly to the Minister of Finance, including the Jordan Customs, Income and Sales Tax Department, General Budget Department, Department of Lands and Survey, General Budget Department, and the Free Zones Corporation. About GFMIS Based on the desire of the Ministry of Finance to upgrade and enhance the public funds mechanisms, and in order to elevate the level of services provided to the different ministries, departments, and governmental institutions, the approval to implement the Government Financial Management Information System (GFMIS) in the Ministry of Finance and the Government of Jordan as a whole was granted in the year After conducting many studies and strategy analysis, the system design was prepared, along with a tender for implementing the system by an IT services company. The tender was then awarded to INTRACOM Middle East and Africa. After signing the contract for the implementation of the new system, the actual execution commenced in March Current situation GFMIS is currently in the Roll-out phase. 21

22 Appendix II: Interview Questions 1. Name: 2. Institution: 3. Position: 4. Start of Work: 5. When were you first introduced to GFMIS? 6. What was your role in the development of GFMIS? 7. What is your role in the implementation of GFMIS? 8. In terms of difficulty, how would you rate the implementation of GFMIS? 9. In terms of difficulty, how would you rate the use of GFMIS? Difficulty 10. Do you use GFMIS in your daily routine work? How often? 11. Do you see GFMIS of any help to you in your routine work? 12. What kind of difficulties did you face in the development process of GFMIS? 13. What kind of difficulties do you face while using GFMIS? 14. What do you think can be done in order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of GFMIS? 15. In terms of overall functions, do you see GFMIS of any help in terms of improving the procedures as a whole (on the institutional level)? 16. Is there any kind of support provided to your institution to help in the transition to fully using GFMIS? 22