Bytes Universal Systems and Altron TMT have committed to a technology refresh of its South African Municipal Resource Administration System (SAMRAS) enterprise resource planning system.Although the investment amount was not revealed, Brian Brougham-Cook, GM: SAMRAS at Bytes Universal Systems, confirmed it is a multi-million rand figure.
SAMRAS was locally developed by Bytes Universal Systems specifically for the South African local government market. It is currently used by 34 municipalities across South Africa. In fact the top three district municipalities and
seven of the top 10 local municipalities use this software, according to the Municipal Productivity Index.
Brougham-Cook says that the technology refresh will see the application becoming SCOA compliant and moving onto a multi-tiered architecture that will enable easier upgrades of individual components in the future, as well as a Web-based front end.
As a first step, Bytes has embarked on a thorough scoping and research initiative.
“The refresh coincides with the current upgrade to the Standard Chart of Accounts framework. The end result will be a state-of-the-art ERP system that is fully compliant with all regulations relating to municipal accounting, and automates reporting to National Treasury,” says Brougham-Cook.
“Financial management and better overall management oversight hold the keys to improved service delivery, and SAMRAS will continue to play its part in helping local governments improve performance.”
He says that the software of the 34 existing SAMRAS clients will be updated by July 2017 to meet the National Treasury’s deadline for the new Standard Chart of Accounts.