Guatemala City Council: Technological Innovation for Better Citizen Experience Supported by SAP ERP

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1 Picture Credit Guatemala City Council, Guatemala City, Guatemala. Used with permission. SAP Business Transformation Study Public Sector Guatemala City Council Guatemala City Council: Technological Innovation for Better Citizen Experience Supported by SAP ERP The Guatemala City Council implemented the SAP ERP application to support technological innovation in finance and budget management, as well as improvements in collections, services, and citizen care. A year after the installation, significant benefits have been noticed, the most important being 20% growth in the collection of the Single Property Tax.

2 Institution Guatemala City Council Location Guatemala City, Guatemala Industry Public sector Products and Services Infrastructure, construction sites, maintenance, parks, green areas, culture, education, technical management, collection of utility fees and taxes Employees 4,500 Budget US$ billion Web Site Partner LatCapital Solutions Business Transformation The government s top objectives Information integration for more reliability and transparency Stronger budget and finance management Greater internal process efficiency Improvement of services and citizen care The resolution Process validation and consolidation in a central location Creation of single account concept for paperwork and service management Better quality of citizen care Budget management as the basis for process organization The key benefits Full automation of the collections process Single account implementation, and integration of collections information on a central platform Improved citizen care thanks to more reliable and transparent information Read more Not only have we gained quality improvement with SAP ERP, but we are now able to change the future of the City Council, its information systems, and its complex finance machinery. Álvaro Arzú, Mayor, Guatemala City Council Top Benefits Achieved 99.5% Recovery of income paid with rejected checks 20% Monthly growth in collection of the Single Property Tax 33% Government procedures managed in SAP ERP See more metrics 2

3 Competitiveness through technological innovation The Guatemala City Council, headed by Mayor Álvaro Arzú, has constantly sought to modernize and innovate operations, systems, and services to ensure that the city is competitive with any in Central America. At the top of the City Council s priorities is improving the experience of its citizen by providing a better level of care and automating processes to foster service efficiency. Other high priorities are lowering response time and improving interagency communication, to deliver services faster. Worldwide, there is a trend among governments toward adopting enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to help modernize management practices. The City Council decided to take this step as well. The goal was to make a positive, measurable change to strengthen the reliability and transparency of management in the eyes of the citizens. The decision to implement SAP ERP was part of a technological innovation project to meet this goal. SAP ERP, and specifically its financial components, has proven ideal for strengthening budget and finance processes by integrating all the financial information onto a single platform. This has allowed for budget control across the different departments and areas of the City Council, as well as the trusteeships that the City Council manages. 3

4 Improving the citizen experience SAP ERP was implemented to fit the objectives of the City Council. This included validating processes, downsizing current systems, and automating and integrating the following: Finance, including accounting and costs Budget management Purchase and material management Project management Internal audit Case management Analytic reporting Trusteeships are managed for four financial institutions, which feed real-time information to the same software platform. Integration of city information with the central government financial system is now automated. This is necessary for operating efficiency and to meet Guatemala s legal requirements. Discrete expenses are reduced with the implementation of checks based on local legal requirements. This leads to proactive planning in areas where budget limits may be potentially exceeded, with fewer chances of generating debt by the end of fiscal periods. SAP ERP automates budget management as well as follow-up tasks on allocation and use of resources. It enables warehouse management to control inventory levels and revenue management to handle paperwork and services through a single account. Benefits include knowing the budget account balance, streamlining inventory levels, and having better control of revenue. This information is now provided online at all times, and paperwork and services can also be handled online. In fact, 99 out of 300 of the City Council s activities are now managed online, including queries on building licenses, land registry, and the Single Property Tax (SPT), as well as issuing the municipal solvency certificate. All this has improved the experience citizens have when interacting with the municipal government. 4

5 Innovation that transforms processes and services With the implementation of SAP ERP, the City Council has been transformed in everything from budget, finance, and warehouse and materials management to management of projects, collections, and cases. A tool customized to make automatic calculations to comply with legal and technical requirements now supports transparent management of the elements affecting the accurate estimation of collections and debt. Benefits are readily apparent. Accounts that pay with rejected checks are now blocked, resulting in an Key benefits increase in recovery of revenue from 50% to 99.5%. Collection of the SPT has increased by 20%, enabling the city to make further investment on public works. Management of warehouse materials and finances has been simplified through the implementation of centralized physical and financial controls. Process optimization and better interagency communication have been accomplished through automated processes and services for citizen care. 99.5% Recovery of income paid with rejected checks 20% Monthly growth in collection of the Single Property Tax 33% Government procedures managed in SAP ERP 5

6 Guatemala City Council Plans for taking more services online The Guatemala City Council plans to implement software for legal case management, integrating information from each process into a single case file that will be available for online consultation. This will give citizens a better tool for following up on legal actions quickly and efficiently. CMP21712 (12/09) Copyright/Trademark Privacy Impressum The city also plans to develop an interface with the municipal traffic system to link traffic fines collection with citizen records, establishing a milestone in transparency and reliability of municipal management. SAP software is expected to be used to integrate the municipal water supply and traffic systems to consolidate the administrative operations for these services. Citizens will be able to file queries online through auxiliary City Council offices and the Center for Citizen Care. The City Council team participates in an ongoing learning and training program to keep innovating and moving Guatemala City ever closer to being a city of the future. 6 Picture Credit Guatemala City Council, Guatemala City, Guatemala. Used with permission.