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GOVERNMENT OF SINDH
FINANCE DEPARTMENT
(Economic Reform Unit)
Karachi dated the 14th April, 2015
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WORKSHOP ON INFORMATION SYSTEMS FOR IMPROVING
DEPARTMENTAL PERFORMANCE
With a view to extend the use of SAP (Systems Application & Products)
software to all the administrative departments as part of Public Financial
Management Strategy approved by the Provincial Cabinet, Finance Department
with the assistance of European Union, organized a workshop on
“Information Systems for Improving Departmental Performance” on
31st March, 2015 from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM at Pearl Continental Hotel Karachi
for orientation of administrative departments with the system.
2.
The prime objective of the workshop was to encourage use of GFMIS in
the line departments. The workshop served as a part of the implementation of
the Public Financial Management Reform Strategy of the Government of Sindh,
which focuses on improving public financial management to improve service
delivery. It provided an overview of GFMIS of its many uses in improving
financial control within a line department. The workshop also gave more details
about the type of information that can be accessed through the system. The
questions and answers session of the workshop generated many interesting
questions from the participants, including questions about authorization,
expenditure checks on payroll and using the PIFRA/SAP system for formulating
the budgets. The workshop was meant to be the first in a series of workshops
on improving the use of PIFRA/SAP within line departments. The future
workshops will focus on going into more detail on some of the issues raised
during this workshop and also providing more practical training to line
departments in accessing and using the system.
The workshop was well attended by Administrative Secretaries Sindh. The
Secretaries who attended the workshop include Dr. Fazallullah Pechuho;
Secretary Education & Literacy Department, Mr. Ahmed Bux Narejo, Secretary
(G.A), SGA&CD, Mr. Aftab Memon, Secretary (Antiquities), Culture, Tourism,
Antiquities Dept:, Mr. Abdul Rasheed Solangi, Secretary Women Development
Department, Mr. Sajjad Hussain Abbasi, Secretary Forest, Environment &
Wildlife Department, Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah, Secretary Works & Services
Department, Mr. Shahid Gulzar Shaikh, Secretary Agriculture, Supply & Prices
Department, Mr. Ghulam Akbar Leghari, Secretary Rehabilitation Department,
Mr. Shariq Ahmed, Secretary Social Welfare Department, Dr. Sheeren Mustafa,
Secretary Planning & Development Department, Mr. Zulfiqar Ali Shalwani,
Secretary Information & Archives Department, Mr. Taha Farooqi, Secretary
Transport Department, Mr. Ahsan Kehar, Accountant General Sindh, Mr.
Tashfeen K Niaz, Chairman, Sindh Revenue Board, Dr. Noor Alam, Special
Finance Secretary (Res), Finance Department, Syed Hassan Naqvi, Special
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3.
Finance Secretary (B&E), Finance Department, Mr. Riaz Soomro, Special
Secretary, Home Department, Mr. Irfan Memon, Special Secretary, Local
Government Department, Mr. Riaz Ahmed Siddiqi, Special Secretary, Sports &
Youth Affairs Department. In addition to the Secretaries of the departments, the
workshop was attended by the Additional Secretaries and Drawing &
Disbursing Officers of the departments and officers of the Finance Department
(List of participants is attached).
4.
Mrs Shadia Jaffer, Deputy Secretary (B&E), Finance Department was the
Master of Ceremonies for the event. The proceedings of the workshop are
detailed below:
Opening Remarks:
5.
Dr. Fazallullah Pechuho; Secretary Education & Literacy Department,
Government of Sindh inaugurated the session. He highlighted the problems and
issues faced by Education & Literacy Department to verify the HR payroll of his
department and how these problems can be rectified by having access to reports
and data through a single click. He shared how his department has used
PIFRA/SAP system in their reform initiatives to track the data of ghost
employees of his department in order to save revenue of the province. He
thanked Secretary Finance to give him an opportunity for sharing his view
about the SAP system and requested the Administrative Secretaries to use SAP
system for accessing required information for better financial control. He also
stressed that efforts should be made to give training to the officers /officials for
enhancing their acquaintance with the system.
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6.
Following this, Mr. Mohammed Sohail Rajput; Finance Secretary Sindh
gave an overview of the reform agenda of Public Financial Management Strategy
adopted by Finance Department to improve service delivery of the Government
of Sindh. He informed the participants that Public Financial Management
Reform Strategy had been approved by the Sindh Cabinet and that workshop
was the one of initiatives of this strategy to enhance the use of existing
technology to improve reporting and financial control.
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7.
He briefed the participants on the themes of the Public Financial
Management Reform Strategy developed by Government of Sindh. He stressed
that the PFM strategy is being implemented to ensure a public finance system
that is based on the principles of transparency, accountability, equity, fiscal
discipline and efficiency in management and use of public resources for
improved service delivery and economic development. Main areas of reforms of
the PFM strategy are:
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
Planning & Budgeting;
Budget & Financial Reporting;
Budget Execution, Reporting, Accountability and Transparency;
Budget Control, Auditing and Oversight.
8.
Secretary Finance also informed the participants that revenue
mobilization is the first and foremost priority of Government of Sindh to
enhance collection, accounting and timely reporting of public revenues at
provincial and district levels.
9.
Secretary Finance also shared that the PFM strategy would to be
implemented through two main PFM projects:
i.
Sindh Public Sector Management Reform Project (World Bank
Funded Project)
PFM Support Programme (European Union Funded Programme)
ii.
10. He thanked the World Bank and European Union for their support in
carrying out reforms activities for strengthening public sector performance in
the Province of Sindh through improved revenue generation and expenditure
management.
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11. Sindh Public Sector Management Reform Project will be implemented with
the support of the World Bank for tenure of 5 years focusing on two main areas:
i.
Revenue mobilization, especially working with Sindh Revenue
Board;
Expenditure management, especially focusing on internal audit,
transparency in public financial management, procurement and
management and transparency in the development portfolio.
ii.
12. PFM Support Programme will be implemented with support from the
European Union for 5 years focusing on operationalizing the PFM reform
strategy by:
i.
Supporting the Finance Department draft a phased Action Plan for
the PFM strategy;
Providing support in key areas of the Action Plan, especially those
related to strategic planning and budgeting, in-year and end-year
reporting and review and update of the regulatory framework.
ii.
13. A key element of the PFM reform agenda is the use of technology and
automation of systems for better financial management. PIFRA/FMIS can help
line departments’ better control their finances. Enhancing the understanding of
line departments about PIFRA to improve financial control and help those better
decisions, spot irregularities and be better informed about the performances of
their departments.
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14. Secretary Finance thanked all the Administrative Secretaries who
attended the session and showed their interest to extend use of SAP system in
the line departments.
15. The technical session of the workshop was conducted by Mr. Nohman
Ishtiaq, Mr. Shehzad Hassan and Mr. Waqas Ahmed. Mr. Nohman Ishtiaq who
is a Public Financial Management Consultant having experience of working at
the Federal and Provincial levels over the past 10 years and currently working
as Deputy Team Leader with EU funded PFM Support Programme gave a broad
overview of the PIFRA/SAP system and its uses in the current financial
management environment. He highlighted that for improving service delivery,
improving departmental performance is key. Improving departmental
performance is linked with service delivery, better management of policy, HR,
finances, procurements, etc. He stated that the Government of Pakistan had
made a huge investment on information system that computerized finance,
payroll and pension processes, called Project to Improve Financial Reporting
and Auditing (PIFRA). More than 5,000 officials use it on daily basis across
Pakistan. PIFRA runs world’s leading software called SAP. Pay of civil servants
and all bills are currently being processed through this system. At present, the
system is predominately used by Accounting Offices; it can be used by line
departments as well. The system can generate reports regarding budget,
expenditure, (recurrent and development) releases, payroll – by employee,
pensions (work in progress). Through the system, departments can print out
multitude of analytical reports, re-appropriate funds, and monitor payroll,
pensions, ADP expenditure, releases, and even enter budgets, etc. The system
has enormous capacity to work on new innovations.
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16. He requested the Administrative Secretaries of line departments to take
benefit of the system by using it in their departments and also give training to
their employees to get maximum output from the system.
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17. Mr. Shehzad Hasan followed the presentation of Mr Nohman Ishtiaq by
going into more detail of the PIFRA/SAP system and describing its architecture.
Mr. Hassan is a team leader for EU funded Public Financial Management
Support Programme in Sindh and has previously worked as Director, (PIFRA)
with the Controller General of Accounts where he was instrumental in
implementing PIFRA system to a large number of entities across Pakistan. He
gave a brief introduction of the PIFRA project. He mentioned that over the last
10 years, Government of Pakistan and Provincial Governments had set up an IT
based Financial Management system whose objective was to replace
manual/stand-alone budgeting and accounting systems. Project is completed
and closed in December 2014. Now the ownership rests with Controller General
of Accounts (Accountant Generals) and Finance Department. System uses
software called SAP (System Applications and Products). He presented the
orientation how the system was connected with Federal to Provincial
Governments and Provincial to Distract Treasury offices. He also shared how
the budget was distributed to the treasury offices by Finance Department
through the system and no bills could be passed if the budget was not on the
SAP system. He apprised the participants of how to access the system with the
help of user name and pass word for generating required reports/information.
18. He requested to Principal Accounting Officer (s) to use the system for
better reporting and control as they are answerable before the Public Accounts
Committee for the expenditures they incurred.
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19. Mr. Waqas Ahmed concluded the technical presentations, by giving an
overview of how to access reports in the PIFRA/SAP system. Mr Waqas Ahmed
is a Public Financial Management Professional, currently working in Finance
Division at Islamabad, is a qualified Accountant and SAP certified. In his
briefing, he mentioned that there were two ways of extracting information:
i.
ii.
Information available on CGA’s website;
Analytical reports can be generated through PIFRA system.
20. He presented various screen shots of the different reports i-e development
schemes releases & expenditure report, cost & center wise report, personal
information of employees such as salary slip, GP fund deductions report,
receipts collection of various taxes report. System also allows graphical display
of information. He emphasized to have system’s connectivity in line departments
with usernames and authorization and that employees should be given training
in line departments to access and use the system appropriately. Top leaderships
of Departments were encouraged to start using SAP system and ask their
juniors to generate different reports to check the expenditure periodically.
Q & A Session:
21. The Questions and Answers Session was the final technical element of the
workshop. The questions were fielded by a panel headed by Finance Secretary,
Mr. Ehsan Ali Kehar, Accountant General Sindh, Mr. Shehzad Hassan and Mr.
Waqas Ahmed. The participants raised a number of questions relating to
functioning of SAP System. They question raised including issue of data
transportation, authorization protocol, expenditure checks on payrolls for
sanctioned posts and designations, multi-year perspective of budgeting.
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Concluding remarks:
22. Mr. Ehsan Ali Kehar, Accountant General Sindh was requested to
conclude the workshop being major stakeholder to use the SAP system. He
concluded that the system had enormous capacity to give maximum output but
there was a dire need to use the system and take its benefits for improving
financial control. He assured his full cooperation to work together to make the
new innovations and resolve the concerns at any stage for better financial
management.
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LIST OF PARTICIPANTS OF WORKSHOP ON INFORMATION
SYSTEMS FOR IMPROVING DEPARTMENTAL PERFORMANCE
Sr.
No.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
Name & Designation
Mr. Frank Rijnders,
Development Advisor, Public Finance Management
European Union Delegation to Pakistan
Mr. John Gray,
Team Leader, SPP European Union,
Mr. Fazallullah Pechuho,
Secretary, Education & Literacy Department, GoS
Mr. Muhammad Sohail Rajput,
Secretary, Finance Department, GoS
Mr. Ahsan Kehar
Accountant General Sindh
Mr. Ahmed Bux Narejo,
Secretary (G.A), SGA&CD, GoS
Mr. Aftab Memon,
Secretary (Antiquities) , Culture, Tourism, Antiquities Dept: GoS
Mr. Abdul Rasheed Solangi,
Secretary, Women Development Department, GoS
Mr. Sajjad Hussain Abbasi,
Secretary, Forest, Environment & Wildlife Department, GoS
Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah,
Secretary, Works & Services Department, GoS
Mr. Shahid Gulzar Shaikh,
Secretary, Agriculture, Supply & Prices Department, GoS
Mr. Ghulam Akbar Leghari,
Secretary, Rehabilitation Department, GoS
Mr. Shariq Ahmed,
Secretary, Social Welfare Department, GoS
Dr. Shereen Mustafa,
Secretary, (Planning), Plannin & Development Department, GoS
Mr. Zulfiqar Ali Shalwani,
Secretary, Information & Archives Department, GoS
Mr. Taha Farooqi,
Secretary , Transport Department, Gos
Mr. Iftikhar Ali Shallwani
Secretary Health Department, GoS
Mr. Tashfeen K Niaz,
Chairman, Sindh Revenue Board
Dr. Noor Alam,
Special Finance Secretary (Res), Finance Department, GoS
Syed Hasan Naqvi,
Special Finance Secretary (B&E), Finance Department, GoS
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21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
Mr. Riaz Soomro,
Special Secretary, Home Department, GoS
Mr. Irfan Memon
Special Secretary, , Local Government, RD, PHE & HTP Department, GoS
Mr. Riaz Ahmed Siddiqi,
Special Secretary, Sports & Youth Affairs Department, GoS
Mr. Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui,
Director, Excise & Taxation Department, GoS
Mr. Khair Muhammad Kalwar,
Additional Secretary (Dev), Finance Department, GoS
Mr. Ghullam Mujtaba Joyo,
Additional Secretary (Res), Finance Department, GoS
Mr. Sohail Ahmed Qureshi,
Additional Secretary (Admn), Agriculture Department, GoS
Mr. Nisar Ahmed Shaikh,
Additional Secretary (Admn), Finance Department, GoS
Syed Ahmed Ali Shah,
Additional Secretary , Transport Department, GoS
Mr. Zahid Shah,
Additional Secretary, Works & Services Department, GoS
Mr. Niaz Ahmed Laghari,
Additional Secretary (T), IT. Department, GoS
Mr. Abdul Rahim Shaikh,
Additional Secretary, Finance Department.
Mr. Asif Jahangir,
Additional Secretary (B&E) Finance Department, GoS
Mr. Hanif Muhammad,
Additional Secretary /Women & Dev, GoS
Ms. Zakia Uqaili,
System Analyst, Finance Department, GoS
Mr. Farooq Ahmed Memon,
Coordinator, IPC
Mr. Shahmir Khan Bhutto
Director (ERU) Finance Department, GoS
Mr. Aftab Ahmed Qazi,
Director IT Finance Department, GoS
Mr. Siddique Ali Chandio,
Director IT Finance Department, GoS
Mr. Pathan Abro,
Director IT Finance Department, GoS
Mr. Muhammad Aamir Ansari,
Sr. Program Officer (ERU), Finance Department, GoS
Mr. Moazzam Ali Mari,
Deputy Secretary, Finance Department, GoS
Mr. Majid Mohsin,
Deputy Secretary(Res), Finance Department, GoS
Mr. A.K. Rind
Deputy Secretary, Finance Department, GoS
Ms. Sadia Jaffar,
Deputy Secretary, Finance Department, GoS
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46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
53.
54.
55.
56.
57.
58.
59.
60.
61.
62.
63.
64.
65.
66.
67.
68.
69.
70.
71.
Dr. Ajiaz Alam
Deputy Secretary (Dev); Finance Department, GoS
Imtiaz Ali Joyo,
Deputy Director, Information Department, Sindh
Mr. Ghulam Murtaza Sheikh
Deputy Secretary Chief Minister Secretariat Sindh Karachi
Mr. Raheel Anwar Soomro,
DC, Sindh Revenue Board.
Mr. Abdul Manan Soomro,
Senior Programmer, Finance Department, GoS
Mr. Aamir Zia Isran,
Section Officer (B&A)/DDO (ERU); Finance Department, GoS
Ms. Safia Aamir Isran,
Program Officer (RCU), ERU, Finance Department, GoS
Mr. Nek Muhammad Soomro,
Program Officer (MTBF), ERU, Finance Department, GoS
Mr. Ghullam Sarwar Mangi,
DDO/ SO (G), Chief Minister’s Secretariat Sindh
Mr. Abdul Qadir,
Section Officer (B&E-I), Finance Department, GoS
Mr. Muhammad Mahfuzul Haq,
Section Officer, Finance Department, GoS
Mr. Habib-ul-Islam,
Section Officer (B&E), Finance Department, GoS
Mr. Muhammad Arshad khokhar,
Section Officer, Finance Department, GoS
Mr. Nauroz Abbasi,
Section Officer, Energy Department, GoS
Mr. Nisar Ahmed,
SO (G), SGA&CD, GoS
Mr. Nisar Ahmed Shaikh,
SO, Finance Department, GoS
Mr. Sarfaraz Ahmed,
BO, PWDS.
Mr. Yousif Gill,
SO(B&E-VII), Finance Department, GoS
Mr. Zakir Hussain Larik,
Section Officer, Finance Department, GoS
Mr. Saleem Ahmed,
Section Officer, Finance Department, GoS
Mr. Muhammad Azam Ali,
Section Officer, Finance Department, GOS
Mr. Muhammad Azeem,
Section Officer, Finance Department, GoS
Mr. Abdul Hameed,
Section Officer, Finance Department, GoS
Mr. Shafiq Gazdhar,
Section Officer, Finance Department GoS
Mr. Ali Nawaz Talpur,
Consultant, SGA&CD, GoS
Mr. Muhammad Malook Jokhio,
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72.
73.
74.
75.
76.
77.
78.
79.
80.
81.
82.
83.
84.
SO(Gen), SGA&CD, GoS
Mr. Mian Ashraf,
Section Officer, Energy Department, GoS
Mr. Mir Muhammad Chamma,
AD(F), PDMA.
Syed Zafar Hashmi,
APO to CS, SGA&CD, GoS
Mr. Zulfiqar Mirza
Fiscal & Financial Manager (MTBF) Cell
Mr. Muhammad Hassan Memon,
Data Base Manager, Finance Department, GoS
Mr. Farman Ali Tanwri,
DAZ, Zakat & Usher Department GoS
Ms. Nyda Mukhtar,
Consultant, OPM.
Mr. Salman,
Editor, Roze TV
Mr. Ansar Hussain,
Consultant.
Mr. Abdul Basit,
F.A (MTBF), Cell
Ms. Amreen Nasir,
DPA (MTBF)Cell
Mr. Maqsood Ahmed,
DPA (ERU), Finance Department
Mr. Muhammad Abbas,
DPA (ERU), Finance Department, GoS
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