NASA’s business operations took a giant leap forward
this week as all 10 NASA field centers began using the same
system to pay bills and manage financial accounts.
The new system, part of NASA’s Integrated Financial
Management Program (IFMP), is one component of a major
overhaul of the way the agency does business. The program is
replacing duplicative legacy systems with new ones for
common use across the agency.
“NASA is changing the way it does business,” said Patrick
Ciganer, program executive for IFMP. “The new system allows
us to work with common tools toward common goals, not as 10
different centers with different ways of budgeting or
managing their finances,” he said.
“Under the new system, we’ll be able to track our finances
all the way from the overall agency budget down to the
individual transaction level,” Ciganer said. “We’ll be
providing NASA managers with up-to-date information on where
their programs stand financially, and they’ll have the tools
evaluate tradeoffs required in the program planning. We’ll
also be able to take a consistent look across programs,” he
said.
The Core Financial Module, rolled out this week, replaces
145 legacy systems across NASA. Under IFMP, NASA replaced
nine of 10 legacy travel-management systems with one system,
called Travel Manager. In the coming months, the Budget
Formulation Module will replace 18 budget-formulation
systems. Within the next two years, the Integrated Asset
Management Module will replace more than 100 additional
systems.
NASA’s human resource offices have been using other modules
to create position descriptions for new jobs and to allow
job applicants to create resumes online. Before these
personnel programs came online, prospective applicants had
to mail resumes to individual NASA centers to apply for
jobs, and prospective employers could only select from
applicants who applied at the manger’s center.
With the new system, prospective applicants can apply online
for jobs across NASA, and prospective employers can evaluate
resumes from anyone. As a result, NASA is receiving from two
to 10 times more applicants for each job opening than under
the old systems.
The personnel tools were essential for the Educator
Astronaut program, which received more than 1,600
applications in three months. The Staffing and Recruiting
System (STARS) allowed NASA to efficiently collect analyze
and process the applications.
For information about the Integrated Financial Management
Program on the Internet, visit:
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