2019

This is a Finalist in the Government Best Practice Recognition Awards

Title

Community Finance Management (CFM) System

Organization

Department of Social Welfare and Development Field Office XIII (DSWD Caraga)

Best practice Focus Area(s)

Strategic performance management, Process management and improvement

Summary

The Community Finance Management System (CFMS) is an innovation of DSWD Caraga through the Kalahi-CIDSS Finance Unit, headed by the Regional Finance Analyst John Voltaire S. Ancla. The system can be accessed through http://apps2.caraga.dswd.gov.ph/kalahi. The use of CFMS started in 2016.

The system helps the management on the following:

  1. Accounting of Community-identified subprojects;
  2. Tracking of Community’s Requests for Fund Release (RFRs);
  3. Accounting of Disbursement Voucher (DV) and Cancelled Checks;
  4. Accounting of Local Counterpart Contribution (LCC) delivery;
  5. Auto-generation of the required monthly financial reports and other relevant documents; and,
  6. Storage of scanned documents.

Background and Problem

Previously, all Finance databases were maintained in the  Google Drive-based Spreadsheets and offline Excel files of each staff.  This manual generation of financial data usually results in the following:

  • A lot of spreadsheets and excel files maintained at different sources;
  • Time-consuming generation of financial reports;
  • Inconsistency in data entry;
  • Has a lot of room for errors;
  • The inflexibility of Finance Staff; and,
  • Greater reliance on paper especially during retrieval

For Field Office Caraga, a total of P1,750,800,850.00 worth of community investment grants must be released for the five-year implementation of KALAHI-CIDSS NCDDP alone. This amount is exclusive of the grant funds for PAMANA, BUB, and other KALAHI-CIDSS modalities. With the huge amount that needs to be accounted for, RPMO KALAHI-CIDSS Finance has seen the need to strengthen Community Finance Management that will aid in the monitoring of fund release, utilization, and liquidation.

Solution and Impact

During the November 2014 KALAHI-CIDSS National Work and Financial Planning for 2015, DSWD Caraga proposed the hiring of a  Financial Analyst II – IT who will be in charge of  the development and maintenance of the program database. This was approved by the DSWD Central Office in 2015.

The development of the system  happened in the year 2015 to 2016. All developments and enhancements were  discussed to gather feedback and recommendation/suggestion from all  the Financial Analysts. New system modules and features were discussed to the system users during the Regional office-initiated activities and through one-on-one coaching. To safeguard the  system data, restrictions are set for each user account to limit user access. Financial Reports are not signed and accepted unless it is generated through the CFM System.

At present, the KALAHI-CIDSS Finance system is being fully implemented at all levels, where all transactions are accounted for up to the last centavo. 2nd End User Survey Tool on Quality which was conducted on September 25, 2017, revealed the following benefits  of the system compared to the manual system:

  • An increase of 42% as to the level of quality in ensuring that the reports are consistent with its source documents;
  • 37% increase as to the level of reliability that the reports can be used as the basis for management’s relevant decision-making;
  • a decrease of 2.12 days or 65% for the time spent in consolidation and reconciliation of financial reports both at the RPMO and SRPMO Level while a decrease of 1 day or 61% for the time spent in consolidation and reconciliation of financial reports at Municipal Level;
  • 58% increase on the level of ease in securing financial data and copy of original documents; and,
  • 53% decrease in the level of risk of loss of original documents.

Milestones

DSWD Caraga received the following recognitions on the implementation of  the CFMS:

  • Gawad Kalahi for Innovation and Breakthrough in CDD Management during the 2015 Year-end PREW on February 9, 2016.
  • Recognition as an innovative approach resulting in indirect benefits to the department. Awarded during the 68th DSWD Anniversary Celebration on March 14, 2019
  • Plaque of Recognition for winning  1st Place under the Category Best Good Practice Documentation. Awarded during the 2018 Knowledge Management (KM) Productivity Recognition Innovation and Development for Effectiveness (PRIDE) Awards on March 28, 2019.