The Makerere University Financial Management System launched on Wednesday 10^th July 2024 by the Chairperson, Finance, Planning, Administration and Investment Committee (FPAIC) of Council, Mr. Bruce Kabaasa has been heralded a timely addition to our transformation into a digitally-driven research-led University. Since the beginning of the year, the University has launched systems to digitalise Research Information Management (RIMS), Academic Records and Processes (DARP), Student and Staff Attendance Management (SAMS) and to amalgamate records from all the above, the Makerere Data Repository (MakDATA).

The system developed in-house by the Directorate for ICT Support (DICTS) is part of the University Council’s strategy to adopt a cost-effective and sustainable approach to Makerere’s business automation needs. It will enable the Finance Department to streamline budget management at cost centres and budgeting units at the University as well as automate the requisitions and generation of digital reports for decision making.

Presiding over the event held in the Council Room, Mr. Kabaasa congratulated the University Management upon taking yet another step in improving the efficiency of the University “I am very happy with your leadership Mr. Vice Chancellor. The processes of improving financial management continue to come a long with your guidance.”

He equally paid tribute to the University Bursar, Director DICTS and their respective teams on a job well done in developing the system but nevertheless challenged offices directly in charge of financial management to review the line manual so as to cater for the growth in development financing and other grants. “We must have a robust framework within which all these policies that speak to finances are grounded.”

Mr. Kabaasa further called for the appreciation that timelines and deliverables are very pertinent in a Public-funded University such as Makerere and called upon the offices in charge to go beyond release funds for procurement to ensuring that the goods and services purchased meet the requisite quality and timeliness of delivery. In the spirit of ensuring transparency, he urged that the system should grant limited access to all users to view amounts and dates when releases are effected.

Adding his voice to Mr. Kabaasa’s, the Vice Chancellor Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe acknowledged that the launch of the system is testament to Makerere’s commitment not to be left behind in the global digitalisation drive. Furthermore, he noted that the system is a game changer in the drive to reduce the paper trail generated by business operations especially in light of inefficient search processes associated with physical documents.

The Vice Chancellor therefore paid tribute to the Director DICTS, Mr. Samuel Mugabi and his team of young developers that have been at the helm of implementing the University Council’s in-house software development strategy. He nevertheless tasked the developers to incorporate alerts in the system that are reflective of the University Organisational Manual’s stipulation of the maximum period within which documents ought to be cleared by the concerned offices.

Prof. Nawangwe thanked the University Council for creating an environment conducive for the digialisation of business processes. “I am happy that Council put its foot down and said ‘we must digitalise’ and we can now see how many systems we have in such a short time; what remains is to integrate all these (systems) so that they speak to each other and I urge DICTS to expedite that.”

“At Makerere we want to be the best and if we want to be the best, we must make sure that we are efficient” continued the Acting Deputy Vice Chancellor (Finance and Administration), Prof. Henry Alinaitwe. He added that the system would greatly enhance transparency in the administration of budgets as relevant offices will be able to view real-time balances during implementation.

Pre-empting the notion that too many systems were being launched, the University Secretary Mr. Yusuf Kiranda explained that “digitalisation is only coming to translate what we have been doing on paper onto a digital platform, which improves efficiency and most importantly for Makerere, transparency.”

He therefore thanked the Vice Chancellor for leading the drive to digitalise the University and FPAIC for the strong interest taken in budget processes and enabling Makerere to achieve a stronger compliance. “Lastly, I thank the University Bursar and Director DICTS for working under pressure to deliver the system.”

The University Bursar, Mr. Evarist Bainomugisha noted that the system launch was a key milestone for the Finance Department, University Council and Makerere. He explained that whereas the University is already implementing the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS), the system consolidates all administrative units into one pool which makes managing budgets at unit level complicated. He further noted that IFMS neither processes payment vouchers for various requisitions nor has the ability to capture supporting documents.

“I therefore thank the University Council and Management led by the Vice Chancellor for the support and DICTS for all the technical backing” acknowledged Mr. Bainomugisha.

The event attended by Members of Central Management, College Principals and staff from the Finance Department was moderated by the Principal Public Relations Officer, Ms. Ritah Namisango.