Prism IT project
From SR
Aims
The seven-year Prism IT project, which began in 2002, is intended to replace and integrate 30 existing separate finance, payroll, personnel and procurement systems in more than 200 FCO posts worldwide.
Prism is intended to be an IT enabled change management programme: the IT is important, but the ultimate objective is change in the FCO. At one level, that change involves replacing some 30 stand-alone back-office IT systems with a single integrated applications package. More fundamentally, the FCO is being asked to handle its finances in a radically different way through the introduction of resource accounting, and improve its support for the strategic priorities through better use of management information.
Difficulties
The project was halted in 2005 whilst a report was carried out by senior diplomat Norman Ling into the problems with the Prism rollout.
