Delta State Signs on SAP for e-Govt

Delta State has started using using elements of the enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution from SAP, software giant to move towards e-government and to achieve its growth goals, Nigeria CommunicationsWeek has learnt.
The state has now centralised payment processes - gaining tighter control of government expenditure as well as improving planning and budgeting capabilities.
This was made possible by the Implementation of the financials and logistics modules of SAP ERP, running on the SAP NetWeaver business process platform.
The new system has also positioned the state government to move from an accruals-based to a cash-based accounting methodology - further enhancing insight into revenues and expenditure for the Ministries of Finance and Economic Planning.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that originally on a manual system, Delta state ministries changed to a selection of discrete accounting and business packages in 2001 as part of its strategy of computerising all government systems. When those packages' lack of integration and scalability created duplication of hardware, software, and effort as well as threatening the accuracy and integrity of data, Delta State, assisted by Deloitte, went out to tender for an ERP system and chose the SAP solution from 20 contenders.
“SAP has a long history of providing solutions tailored to the special needs of governments, so we were able to demonstrate in practical terms to Delta State the very considerable improvements our solution would make to their productivity and efficiency,” says Yemi Keri, SAP Africa regional manger for West Africa. “At the same time, we were able to offer guidance on how they could adapt their existing processes to take advantage of the best practices built-in to SAP ERP.