The Bottom Line - Winter 2019 - 4

Why a New
Financial System?

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

Jeffrey S. DeWitt

s many of you know by now, the new financial system
has an official name. The "District Integrated Financial
System" (DIFS) that will replace our reliable but antiquated
SOAR system. The OCFO is putting a lot of time and
resources into replacing our SOAR financial system. There
are more than 35 full-time OCFO employees and roughly
an equal number of contractors and consultants dedicated
for the next several years to install a modern system with
the best technology available. The capabilities of the new
system range from the traditional functions in SOAR, such
as financial accounting to the addition of a treasury management system and a grants management system. We
will also better integrate with what will be an upgraded
procurement system known as PASS as well as the other
systems throughout the District. One may ask, "Why do we
need to replace SOAR? Doesn't it work fine?" To answer
that question, let's cover a few facts about SOAR.
SOAR was implemented in the late 1990s, and is based
on a computer language called COBOL that was created in
1959. COBOL is a legacy mainframe-based language used
for large batch and transaction related jobs. It has been
the work horse of businesses for decades and often uses
the "green screen" monitors to communicate and process information. Because of its age, there are only a very
limited number of people who can program or fix SOAR
(COBOL) systems if they breakdown. And forget about any
upgrades or enhancements-not happening with technology this far outside its prime.

THE BOTTOM LINE

The Bottom Line - Winter 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Bottom Line - Winter 2019