The City of New York’s integrated financial management system—From mandate to working system in 18 months

The development and implementation of New York City’s Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) is precedent-setting in both its scope and its purpose. It is an excellent example of the successful implementation of a largescale computer system, a 20-million-dollar investment using the combined efforts of five consulting firms, into a complex organization, a municipal bureaucracy with 250,000 employees in 109 agencies and with a constantly shifting executive management. This paper describes how it was accomplished in terms of the development philosophy, the building of the system and, finally, the post-implementation environment.