A Financial Management System for the Future: A Legend Lives On!

Abstract

This paper discusses Iowa State University's implementation of a new financial management system built around its legacy financial system. Cost considerations and concerns about the value of purchased package solutions led ISU to undertake a strategy of building on successful, highly integrated, in-house developed systems. The new Financial Management System (FMS) incorporates 7 key features: dynamically linked databases, multiple-year data availability, management-oriented data views, access to information that crosses applications and databases, aides to help locate information, GUI-like navigation, and year 2000 compliance. The success of the new system shows that well-managed legacy systems can be cost-effectively improved to meet the needs of the future.

Download Resources