Accenture Completes Phase One Implementation of U.S. Army’s New Financial Management System

GFEBS is multi-year project to streamline business processes at more than 200 Army locations worldwide

RESTON, Va.; Oct. 10, 2006 – Accenture has successfully completed the first phase of the U.S. Army’s new financial management system, known as the General Fund Enterprise Business System (GFEBS), at Fort Jackson, S.C.

GFEBS is designed to help the Army standardize and streamline its financial business processes in order to provide continuous access to accurate, reliable and timely financial information across the entire organization. The new system is based on commercial-off-the-shelf software from SAP.

Through a robust technology demonstration conducted at Fort Jackson in July, GFEBS proved its ability to meet the information requirements needed to operate and support the management of Real Property Inventory, part of the Army’s general fund.

The successful completion of the GFEBS Release 1.1 technology demonstration indicates that the system can effectively perform real property inventory as a single solution, though real property inventory is just one of the functions that the system is designed to provide when fully implemented. GFEBS will maintain the Army’s general fund – which will provide information to more than 79,000 users in over 200 locations around the world, as well as giving top Army decision makers the power of real-time data on the entire range of financial and budgetary matters.

“For the first time, in one system, we will be able to capture financial execution data in standardized ways like we’ve never had before in the Army. Regarding costs, we’ll know how we are spending funds and how they are tied to specific leadership initiatives, how the work breakdown structure is related to costs and how costs are linked to performance objectives,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army (DASA) for Financial Information Management John Miller.

“This initial implementation of GFEBS Release 1.1 proves that the U.S. Department of Defense can clear the technological requirements, the support needs, and the infrastructural capacity necessary to standardize its business processes,” said Eric Stange, managing director of Accenture’s Defense practice. “GFEBS is now well positioned to embark on the next phase of the implementation.”

The next phase, GFEBS Release 1.2, is significant in that it involves the analysis, planning and design activities that will be applied to all of the Army’s financial management installations. GFEBS’ capabilities will be fully applied at Fort Jackson during Release 1.2, expanding the system to address the base’s Installation Management Agency (IMA) functions including financial processes for Command and Staff, Personnel and Community, Information Technology, Operations, Logistics, Facilities Engineering, Resource Management, and Acquisition.

“This is a significant milestone for the GFEBS program and a major step towards transforming the Army’s financial management capabilities,” said Rand Blazer, president, SAP Public Services, Inc. “Ultimately the new system will provide the financial information tools to help the Army operate more efficiently, reduce operating costs, and provide leaders with the financial information they need to make informed business decisions in support of our troops.”

The GFEBS project began in July 2005, and is slated for a 10-year global deployment and operations schedule. When complete, GFEBS will replace a host of legacy systems within the Army including -- the Standard Army Finance System (STANFINS) and the Standard Operation and Maintenance Army Research and Development System (SOMARDS).

GFEBS is a product under the Program Executive Office Enterprise Information Systems (PEO EIS). For more information on GFEBS and Release 1.2 visit www.gfebs.army.mil.

About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. Committed to delivering innovation, Accenture collaborates with its clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. With deep industry and business process expertise, broad global resources and a proven track record, Accenture can mobilize the right people, skills, and technologies to help clients improve their performance. With approximately 140,000 people in 48 countries, the company generated net revenues of US$16.65 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2006. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

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