STATEMENT BY PREMIER AND MINISTER OF FINANCE
HONOURABLE ANDREW A. FAHIE
DURING THE SEVENTH SITTING OF THE FIRST SESSION OF THE FOURTH HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
Thursday, 17^th October, 2019

Mr. Speaker, I will now speak on the Oracle JD Edwards (JDE) software.

Over the past 25 years, Government has operated with the JD Edwards Green Screen/World Platform which was now considered obsolete.

As a result of this, it was agreed through the 2017 Budget Estimates to support the upgrade of the version of the JDE software in operation, ensuring a modern accounting system, along with enabling the enhancement of productivity, and efficiency service-wide.

The JDE software consists of components that are utilised within several Ministries and Departments of the Government of the Virgin Islands.

This Government initiative is being led by the Ministry of Finance and was implemented on 23^rd September, 2019.  The process is being executed in two phases through the migration of the JD Edwards World Platform to JD Edwards EnterpriseOne.

JDE EnterpriseOne is a cloud-based Enterprise Resource Planning and Supply Chain Management solution that provides applications and tools for finance, consumer goods, human resources, distribution and manufacturing sectors, catering to small, midsize and large businesses.

With the implementation of the JDE Migration, the Government was able to provide officers immediate access to a user-friendly platform while giving the ability to reduce unnecessary overhead costs and new features were introduced, such as a new menu driven interface, a new Point of Sale system and new reporting capabilities. 

The new software also offers all stakeholders the opportunity to establish and document operational and procedural measures as necessary. 

Mr. Speaker, as with the implementation of any new system there were technical modifications which resulted in some inconsistencies.  On 30^th September 2019, the Ministry of Finance and the Department of Human Resources issued a statement to Public Officers concerning the delay in the payment of salaries for some public officers during the transitional period between the two systems. However, 99 percent of Public Officers were paid salaries by the 1^st October 2019.  They were reassured that the payment of salaries was not a financial issue, but rather due to some technical modifications to the system that was required.

Yesterday, further to the Ministry of Finance and the Department of Human Resources' 1st October 2019, notice on the implementation of the new JDE Edwards Enterprise One, communication was sent out to provide Public Officers with an update on the 15^th October 2019 pay period which was processed successfully with minimal issues and in some cases processed earlier than normal.  

There are additional programming adjustments being made to the deposit distribution and to the administration of the housing allowance to eligible officers.    Public Officers were requested to carefully review their direct deposits to assess the gross payment received and to report any pay inconsistencies to the Department of Human Resources' Compensation and Benefits Unit.

Your continued patience is requested as the Implementation Team works with the consultants towards resolving these inconsistences.

The Government through the Ministry of Finance will continue to explore avenues of the JDE Software in efforts of enhancing operational use of the system by introducing additional modules and features like Fixed Assets, Inventory Management and electronic signatures that will allow electronic submissions for various operational processes. These will value add to transparency, accountability, efficiency and good governance.

Mr. Speaker, moving from the old system was a must because if we did not move from the old system, Mr. Speaker as we say in certain cultural terms, “we would have died”, moving to the new system Mr. Speaker we have a better chance now of moving the Virgin Islands, the Treasury and everything dealing with the accounts into a better light.