1. EKURHULENI METROPOLITAN MUNICIPALITY Presented by Hannes Dednam
PRESENTS
OUR SCOA JOURNEY
Presented by Hannes Dednam

2. Contents Overview - Timeline
What happened from September 2013 to 1 July 2015
Critical decisions made
Critical success factors / Lessons learnt
Communication
So where to now…?

3. What does SCOA means to us? Change
Gary Player
Nobody likes Change, but change brings development

4. Overview
Sept 2013
EMM was nominated by Minister of Finance to be a pilot municipality
Oct 2013
Accepted nomination as a pilot
Made a presentation to NT regarding State of Readiness
July 2014
Submit an Item to Council regarding
The SCOA Regulations dated 22 April 2014
The nomination of EMM to be a pilot
Oct 2014
Do site visit to Cape Town after IMFO conference
Nominate members to be part of SCOA Task Team
SCOA Task Team appointed
SCOA technical work begins
SCOA Project Manager appointed

5. Overview Go-Live! Budget module 80% finished
Nov 2014
Budget module 80% finished
Feb / March 2015
System changes (transactional level) completed by service provider
Test data base (platform) was created
Testing begins
March-June 2015
Regular meetings in Finance Department to involve other officials in Finance – Change Management
Start to do data clean up
Preparing for Year-end and impact of SCOA on year-end
Final testing of financial processes
Population of SCOA framework for budget
July
Go-Live!

6. What happened from September 2013 to 1 July 2015
Accepted to be a pilot without knowing what is the impact.
Made a presentation to NT regarding the State of Readiness.
Initial plan was to implement 1 July 2016 (as was expected in the letter from the Minister)
During the ICF meetings pilot municipalities was requested to implement 1 July 2015

7. What happened from September 2013 to 1 July 2015
Submitted an item to Council about
The SCOA Regulations dated 22 April 2014
The nomination of EMM to be a pilot
Did not established a SCOA Steering Committee
EMM established a SCOA Task Team

8. SCOA Project Task Team
Project Sponsor/ Leader
Divisional Head: Budget Office
MIS
Divisional Head: MIS
Program & Systems Controller : Financial Data Processing
DBA
INCOME
Manager & Senior Accountant
OPEX
Manager
CAPEX
Chief Accountant & Accountant
EXPENDITURE & STORES
Manager Budget Office Management Accounting
FINANCIAL REPORTING
Executive Manager
Project Manager
Project Administrator
Representatives from Financial System Service Provider

9. Terms of Reference for SCOA Project Task Team
Develop a detailed project implementation plan
Meet on a regular basis and compile progress reports
Monitor deadlines as set out in project plan
Take strategic decisions relating to SCOA
Ensure compliance with NT requirements relating to SCOA project
Will have regular meetings with service provider regarding business application changes
Review all policies and the delegation of powers to accommodate SCOA compliance
Attend meetings and workshops at NT
Engage with other pilot municipalities if necessary

10. What happened from September 2013 to 1 July 2015
Initial plan was to form Work streams to work with departments on the SCOA framework
Realized that time is not sufficient to go with extensive workshops and
Very little knowledge of SCOA framework
SCOA Task Team took a few critical decisions

11. Critical Decisions Made
No big bang approach
SCOA can be very disruptive
Implement vote change in phase 1 (1 July 2015)
Implement refinements in phase 2 (1 July 2016)
Decision 1 – Implement in phases
Biggest impact on these two sections
They have the skills to oversee correct implementation
They can act as centres of knowledge and guidance after implementation
Decision 2 – Project driven from Budget and Reporting divisions
Non-SCOA production (old system),
Testing environment and
SCOA production environment
Can start seeing SCOA behaviour before go-live
Testing environment enables on-the-fly changes while production continues
Decision 3 – 3 ICT environments

12. Critical Decisions Made
Entities on different financial systems
Migration plus SCOA too risky
In process to create an entire SCOA vote structure of the entities on the EMM platform
Integration for now will be done manually
Decision 4 – Exclude entities in phase 1
The municipality must own the project and the whole SCOA process
The implementation must be guided by municipality preferences and constraints
Vendor involvement must be early and constant
Vendor input is critical to successful implementation and to risk management
Decision 5 – Municipal ownership with heavy vendor involvement

13. Critical Success Factors
6 critical success factors identified
These were crucial in ensuring timely implementation and avoiding pitfalls

14. Critical Success Factors
COMMITMENT and CLEAR PROJECT PLAN
Must identify a core team to take charge of the project
Acting DH: Budget & Management Accounting and DH: Financial Systems present and guiding the SCOA working group
Quick escalation of issues to the DH or CFO via the DH
Quick resolution of problems and decisions made timeously
Set yourself target dates
Meet regularly – weekly if possible

15. Critical Success Factors
MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP
SCOA project must be run by municipality.
This assists with buy-in and understanding
It also shortens the training cycle. People in departments can ask their colleagues about things they need clarified
Intellectual property is developed and preserved within the municipality (Don’t let your service provider build the SCOA framework)

16. Critical Success Factors
WORKGROUP VS. STEERING COMMITTEE
The workgroup must be the operating level of the project
The steerco must provide guidance and support
The workgroup must have executive representation and delegated authority. This is to speed up implementation and decision making
The workgroup must meet frequently compared to the steerco
Each workgroup must be accountable for its own schedule and quality of work

17. Critical Success Factors
SERVICE PROVIDER INVOLVEMENT
Ideally service provider must be involved full time with the project
Service provider must be represented at workgroup and steerco levels
Service provider must add value by providing advice and warnings to the SCOA process
Service provider must not own or lead the SCOA implementation

18. Critical Success Factors
RISK MANAGEMENT
All risk must be identified at workgroup level, no matter how minor
Risk analysis and resolution expertise resides at workgroup level where the technical work takes place
Workgroup must decide which risks to ignore, defer, solve and escalate. This ensures that risks are dealt with as soon as possible
Risks can paralyse a project if not decided and acted upon timeously
WHAT IS REGARDED AS THE BIGGEST RISK TO MEET THE TARGET DATE ?
Commitment of officials to make the change (must have a core team to drive project)
IT Infrastructure
Political Buy-in
Financial system vendor not assisting (or at huge cost) –
EMM EXPERIENCED NO RISK ON THE LATTER

19. Critical Success Factors
FULL-TIME PROJECT ADMINISTRATION
There must be a full-time project co-ordinator whose only job is SCOA
This makes project administration and co-ordination of activities, deliverables and issues more efficient
It also provides a convenient single source of truth for stakeholders

20. Communication At Ekurhuleni the SCOA project was driven from Finance
The departments were initially informed via communication to senior management
Later, presentations, videos, internal communications and presentations/workshops were used. Departments had an opportunity to make input and raise concerns where appropriate
Material to help with SCOA transition like spreadsheets and conversion tables were created and put on the intranet
00 Comparison.wmv
00 ScoaEnquiry.wmv
00 DepartmentFile.wmv

21. …and now we’re here… so, where to now…?
Is EMM SCOA compliant now?
No – Not at all, but we are getting there. EMM is SCOA ready. We will comply by 01 July 2016

22. So where to now…? Build on phase 1 success
Phase 2 started
Build on phase 1 success
Apply lessons learnt Appoint SCOA Steering Committee Data cleansing
Integrate entities
Migrate entities to one financial system
Maintain legal independence
Build electronic interfaces to financial system
AGSA requirement
Create strong IT infrastructure (ERP) to allow portal access view Improves integrity of SCOA

23. So where to now…?
SCOA Refinement
Start and involve departments with the refinement of the SCOA framework - Break down votes
Evaluate each segment i.e Is funding correctly applied and - Is Project segment correct Ensure that HR system and payroll complies with SCOA requirements Make sure the IDP and SDBIP requirement on SCOA is accommodated
Implement SCOA processes
Review and Implement all the SCOA processes (approximately 15 business processes)
Compile budget for next financial year Integration of sub systems must be reviewed Ensure training to all the relevant staff is conducted

24. What is EMM’s advice to other Municipalities ??
There is light at the end of the tunnel

25. Thank You