Vol. 574 No. 1
232 Mr. McGuinness asked the Minister for Finance the number of ICT projects or initiatives being undertaken by his Department; the cost of each project; if they are being or have been delivered within budget and on time; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26069/03]
A total of five system development projects have been undertaken by my Department in the past three years. The human resources management system, HRMS, is part of a civil service-wide initiative where a common system is being implemented in Departments and offices. Contractors were engaged to implement this system in my Department at a cost of €207,722. Significant in-house resources were also used for tasks such as data entry and validation, system testing, report writing, etc.
A time and attendance system was developed by contractors at a cost of €112,270. The system, currently being tested by a group of staff, is due to be rolled out on a Department-wide basis over the coming months. Both of the above systems were delivered within budget and on time.
Contractors were engaged to implement a financial management system in my Department at a cost of €1,142,000. This system is part of a civil service-wide management information framework initiative, where modern financial management systems are being implemented by Departments and offices. Implementation of the system is now near completion. Project milestones have been met and the project will be delivered on time and to budget. Developments and training additional to the contract amounting to an estimated €80,000 were sanctioned during the course of the project. As with the HRMS, a significant level of internal resources was used to test and implement the system and also to deliver a Department-wide training programme.
Work has begun on an e-Estimates system which will support the annual Estimates cycle. The first phase of the system will be implemented by external contractors and subsequent phases will be developed in-house. As part of preparing a tender document, specialist consultancy advice was acquired at a cost of €60,000. Tender responses are currently being evaluated and the resulting system will be implemented by June of 2004. All project milestones set for this project have been achieved to date. Requirements analysis work is under way on specifying a pensions benefits management system. To aid this process, consultants who had expertise in this area were employed at a cost of €25,000.
