Prior to our intervention, HM Treasury operated three separate systems managed by different teams to gather and process financial reporting data:

General Expenditure Monitoring System (GEMS): Handled high-level outturn and forecast figures for the current financial year, overseen by the Public Sector Finances (PSF) team.

Public Expenditure Statistics (PES) system: Stored detailed expenditure plan and outturn data spanning three forward years, the current year, and five previous years, managed by the General Expenditure Statistics (GES) team.

Government Online Data (GOD) system: Audited outturn data for income and expenditure accounts and balance sheets across multiple years, operated by the Whole of Government Accounts (WGA) team.

 

The solution

Once instructed by HM Treasury, we streamlined its systems and enhanced the accuracy of its data collection procedures.

We conducted a thorough analysis of HM Treasury's existing data and system operations to gain insight into its data quality and processes, then compiled a comprehensive catalogue of the outputs essential for an integrated system.

After the discovery stage, we delved into the non-functional requirements, constraints and specifications of government departments that supplied data to HM Treasury.

We then employed a robust and transparent methodology, identified shared data and data structures among the three legacy systems, and distinguished them from those unique to each system.

We then outlined the prerequisites for the seamless transition and migration of data from HM Treasury's existing systems. This compilation formed the basis for the system of record (SOR) for the new integrated system, and helped their team to assess potential packaged solutions in alignment with their requirements.

 

The result

Our team created a data analysis program and devised a data model centred around shared dimensions. We documented the system requirements, showcased the design at the Government Accountancy Service (GAS) conference, and equipped HM Treasury with a data migration tool. This tool enabled them to evaluate the viability of a unified data system, for improved efficiency in data collection and processing.