U.S. Department of the InteriorDOI News Header
Office of the Secretary
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 28, 2007
Contact: Joan Moody
202-208-6416
Melvin Hunter
703-793-5546

Interior Expands Financial and Business Management System

WASHINGTON, D.C. –The Department of the Interior recently went live with the addition of an acquisition module to its Financial and Business Management System, which eventually will be delivered to nine bureaus and offices under the Department’s jurisdiction. FBMS will consolidate more than 80 legacy application systems into a single system that will manage the department’s financial and administrative business processing.

On Nov. 19, 2007, the department added the acquisition module to the core financial system that has been used since November 2006 by two of the bureaus and offices--the Minerals Management Service and the Office of Surface Mining. Eventually the system will expand to the other Interior agencies.

“FBMS will replace Interior’s legacy accounting and business systems and provide standard business practices supported by a single, integrated financial system,” said Jim Cason, Interior’s Associate Deputy Secretary. “Continuing to retire business information systems that are no longer supported is critical to ensuring continued support for Interior’s broad mission responsibilities for the American public, land users, tribes, states and local governments.”

“Implementing the core financials portion of FBMS last year was not a trivial exercise,” said Bob Brown, Associate Director, Administration and Budget, for MMS. “We had our challenges, but we worked through them. Adding the acquisition functionality enables MMS to retire two legacy systems (ABACIS and IDEAS).”

“We have a year of operating the core financial functionality of FBMS under our collective belts,” said Daniel Fletcher, Interior’s Deputy Chief Financial Officer. “We learned a lot, and we continue to improve. The integration of core financials with acquisition is an exciting next step in the FBMS evolution.”

DOI has partnered with IBM Global Business Services to implement the Enterprise Resource Planning system from SAP® Corporation—system software that integrates cross functional multiple business processes. The FBMS acquisition functionality is supported by PRISM software from Compusearch Software Systems, Inc. The implementation of FBMS will allow the department to realize the benefits of common processes, a common technology platform, integrated real-time data, and improved operational decision-making.

“There is nothing easy about replacing legacy systems that have been in operation, in some cases, for close to 20 years,” said Nina Rose Hatfield, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Business Management and Wildland Fire. “Users became accustomed to these old systems because they have been using them throughout their careers. But there comes a time when we can no longer support our aging systems. We have reached that point. The addition of the acquisition functionality to FBMS is another major step forward.”

The point of contact for additional information in the FBMS Project Office is Melvin Hunter at 703-793-5546 or Melvin_Hunter@fbms.doi.gov.

 
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