Doc Mirelson/Brian Dunbar<br />Headquarters, Washington June 25, 2003<br />(Phone: 202/358-1600)<br /><br /><br />RELEASE: 03-213<br /><br /><br />NEW FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT TOOLS UNITE NASA<br /><br /><br /> NASA's business operations took a giant leap forward <br />this week as all 10 NASA field centers began using the same <br />system to pay bills and manage financial accounts.<br /><br /><br />The new system, part of NASA's Integrated Financial <br />Management Program (IFMP), is one component of a major <br />overhaul of the way the agency does business. The program is <br />replacing duplicative legacy systems with new ones for <br />common use across the agency.<br /><br /><br />"NASA is changing the way it does business," said Patrick <br />Ciganer, program executive for IFMP. "The new system allows <br />us to work with common tools toward common goals, not as 10 <br />different centers with different ways of budgeting or <br />managing their finances," he said.<br /><br /><br />"Under the new system, we'll be able to track our finances <br />all the way from the overall agency budget down to the <br />individual transaction level," Ciganer said. "We'll be <br />providing NASA managers with up-to-date information on where <br />their programs stand financially, and they'll have the tools <br />evaluate tradeoffs required in the program planning. We'll <br />also be able to take a consistent look across programs," he <br />said.<br /><br /><br />The Core Financial Module, rolled out this week, replaces <br />145 legacy systems across NASA. Under IFMP, NASA replaced <br />nine of 10 legacy travel-management systems with one system, <br />called Travel Manager. In the coming months, the Budget <br />Formulation Module will replace 18 budget-formulation <br />systems. Within the next two years, the Integrated Asset <br />Management Module will replace more than 100 additional <br />systems.<br /><br /><br />NASA's human resource offices have been using other modules <br />to create position descriptions for new jobs and to allow <br />job applicants to create resumes online. Before these <br />personnel programs came online, prospective applicants had <br />to mail resumes to individual NASA centers to apply for <br />jobs, and prospective employers could only select from <br />applicants who applied at the manger's center.<br /><br /><br />With the new system, prospective applicants can apply online <br />for jobs across NASA, and prospective employers can evaluate <br />resumes from anyone. As a result, NASA is receiving from two <br />to 10 times more applicants for each job opening than under <br />the old systems.<br /><br /><br />The personnel tools were essential for the Educator <br />Astronaut program, which received more than 1,600 <br />applications in three months. The Staffing and Recruiting <br />System (STARS) allowed NASA to efficiently collect analyze <br />and process the applications.<br /><br /><br />For information about the Integrated Financial Management <br />Program on the Internet, visit:<br /><br /><br />http://ifmp.nasa.gov/<br /><br /><br />For information about NASA on the Internet, visit:<br /><br /><br />http://www.nasa.gov