Technology and the finance officer.

• Author: Mucha, Michael J.
• Position: Technology Forum

Starting this month, Government Finance Review will include an article in each issue about how to improve the interaction between finance and the technologies needed to support best practices, how to increase the efficiency of processes or the productivity of the finance officer, how to realize new features demanded by customers or stakeholders, or how to improve outcomes for the organization.

Technology is something of a necessary evil for many finance officers. While technology is unavoidable in a 21st century finance office, taking on all of the technical details can be intimidating. As a result, many finance officers, not quite sure how to best approach the technology "monster" figure out how to just get by. They learn what they need to know in order to process financial transactions, run reports, and keep the auditors happy, and they identify who they can go to for help when they need it. But this approach fails to make full use of technology's power, capability, and promise.

Another common issue is failing to realize the expected return on what is almost always a significant investment. Fortunately, finance officers don't need to understand the details of server virtualization, SQL table joins, scripting requirements, and ETL (extract, transform, load) database functions to fully embrace technology and harness its power. They just need to concentrate on the business case--the functional plan for making the best use of the system or systems in a strategic way that is consistent with the business goals. (See "The Dollars and Sense of Government IT: Building the IT Business Case" in this issue of Government Finance Review for more information on technology business cases.) Whatever project the organization is considering--investing in enterprise resource planning (ERP), asset management, records management, public safety, or performance management applications; planning to replace desktop computers with virtual desktops or tablets; or considering whether to move existing data centers to the cloud--a business case is an important step for planning and an essential step in defining guidelines that will also play a key role during the procurement and implementation phases of the project.

DEVELOPING A BUSINESS CASE

Ultimately, technology decisions are policy decisions, so even the most technical components of IT require a sound business case that focuses on benefits, costs, and risks. The decision and rationale for investing in any kind of...