SITA continues to boost municipal IT
The State IT Agency (SITA) says it will extend its working relationship with Belgian inter-municipal ICT group CIPAL - the Centre of Informatics in the Province of Anwerpen and Limburg.
Following a “successful working relationship” with the publicly owned ICT company, SITA hopes that its ICT solutions for municipalities will help improve service delivery.
The initial contract with the inter-municipal ICT centre, which was due to expire in November 2013, will be extended to 2015 and will be automatically renewed for successive 1 year terms.
Introduced in 2002, the multi-million rand partnership aims to improve the implementation of financial management systems for municipalities in an effort to enhance service delivery through effective management of costs. The project also aims to help municipalities comply with the regulations contained in the Public Financial Management Act (PFMA).
In December 2008, SITA acquired the Brocade Library Information Management System from CIPAL for a period of 3 years - from November 2008 until November 2011. The existing contract between SITA and CIPAL for the SITA Library Information Management System (SLIMS) will be extended for an additional 2 years.
The relationship between the two agencies began in 2002 when SITA entered into a partnership with CIPAL for the Thabo Mofutsanyane district municipality Financial System project – which saw it implement the Hercules Financial Management System. This agreement is still in place and the system is maintained by the agency through a Service Level Agreement with the municipality.
According to the agency, SLIMS will replace an existing legacy library system that has been in operation for almost 18 years.
The libraries that are targeted for the initial 3 year period are currently running PALS. These include the provincial and public libraries in KwaZulu Natal, North West Province, Northern Cape, City of Cape Town Metro, Western Cape, Mpumulanga and Limpopo.
During November 2011 to November 2013, SLIMS will be implemented in additional provinces and metro’s as well as other government departments and public entities.