The HSE has confirmed that the first part of the ‘build and test’ stage for its planned integrated financial management system (IFMS) was completed on schedule at the end of 2022.
As previously reported in the Medical Independent (MI), the project has been beset by numerous delays, such as the termination of contract with the former system integrator, DXC Technology, last year.
A public procurement process was conducted for a new system integrator to build, test and implement the approved IFMS design, and IBM was engaged in July 2022.
A HSE spokesperson told MI that following the on-schedule completion of the design validation and review stage in October 2022, the IFMS project progressed to the build and test stage which runs to May 2023.
“The first milestone for build and test stage (Sprint Group 1) was completed to plan in December 2022,” according to the spokesperson.
The build and test stage also includes: The development of detailed functional specifications; management of change activities for implementation group 1 (IG1); IG1 ‘go-live’ preparation activities, including establishment in December 2022 of the IG1 steering group and local working groups; and IFMS data readiness for IG1 ‘go-live’.
Other elements of this stage are the development of a shared services operating model, including the establishment of the master data unit; the development of a procurement support model; playback demonstrations; system integration testing; and user acceptance testing.
“The project is due to progress to implementation and ‘hypercare’ stage in June 2023, with the first two of five implementation groups on track for go-live at half-year (July 2023) and at year-end (December 2023), respectively,” according to the spokesperson.
Hypercare is the period of time immediately following a system ‘go-live’ where an elevated level of support is available to ensure the adoption of a new system.
The spokesperson said the project is advancing on schedule to achieve the target of having 80 per cent of the expenditure of the health service transacted on the IFMS in 2025.
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