The Legislature intends that the system meet all of the following objectives:
(a) Replace the state’s aging legacy financial management systems and eliminate fragmented and diverse reporting by implementing standardized financial management processes and systems across all departments and control agencies. For purposes of this subdivision, “financial management” means accounting, budgeting, cash management, asset accounting, vendor management, and procurement.
(b) Increase competition by promoting business opportunities through the use of electronic bidding, online vendor interaction, and automated vendor functions.
(c) Maintain a central source for financial management data to reduce the time and expense of vendors, departments, and agencies collecting, maintaining, and reconciling redundant data.
(d) Increase investment returns through timely and accurate monitoring of cash balances, cashflow forecasting, and timing of receipts and disbursements.
(e) Improve fiscal controls and support better decisionmaking by state managers and the Legislature by enhancing the quality, timeliness, consistency, and accessibility of financial management information through the use of powerful data access tools, standardized data, and financial management reports.
(f) Improve access and transparency of California’s financial management information allowing the implementation of increased auditing, compliance reporting, and fiscal accountability while sharing information between the public, the Legislature, external stakeholders, state, federal, and local agencies.
(g) Automate manual processes, to the extent that automation is feasible, by providing the ability to electronically receive and submit financial management documents and data between agencies, departments, banks, vendors, and other government entities.
(h) Provide online access to financial management information resulting in a reduction of payment or approval inquiries, or both.
(i) Improve the state’s ability to preserve, access, and analyze historical financial management information to reduce the workload required to research and prepare this information.
(j) Enable the state to more quickly implement, track, and report on changes to financial management processes and systems to accommodate new information such as statutory changes and performance information.
(k) Reduce the time, workload, and costs associated with capturing and projecting revenues, expenditures, and program needs for multiple years and scenarios, and for tracking, reporting, and responding to legislative actions.
(l) Track purchase volumes and costs by vendor and commodity code or service code to increase strategic sourcing opportunities, reduce purchase prices, and capture total state spending data.
(m) Reduce procurement cycle time by automating purchasing authority limits and approval dependencies, and easing access to goods and services available from existing sources, including, but not limited to, using leveraged procurement agreements.
(n) Streamline the accounts receivable collections process and allow for offset capability which will provide the ability for increased cash collection.
(o) Streamline the payment process and allow for faster vendor payments that will reduce late payment penalty fees paid by the state.
(p) Improve role-based security and workflow authorization by capturing near real-time data from the state’s human resources system of record.
(q) Implement a stable and secure information technology infrastructure.
(Amended by Stats. 2022, Ch. 569, Sec. 17. (AB 156) Effective September 27, 2022.)