Friday, May 23, 2014
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Marketing Intern Position in FreeBalance Washington DC Office
FreeBalance helps governments around the world leverage robust Government Resource Planning (GRP) technology to accelerate country growth. FreeBalance software solutions for public financial and human resource management support reform and modernization to improve governance, transparency and accountability. Good governance is required to improve development results.
Founded in 1984, FreeBalance is a for-profit-social-enterprise (FOPSE) company headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, with international sales, support and development. FreeBalance solutions have been implemented in countries across the globe, including Canada, United States, Sierra Leone, Guyana, Pakistan, Mongolia, Afghanistan, Antigua & Barbuda, Timor-Leste, Republic of Kosovo, Palestine, Panama, and Uganda.
FreeBalance is currently seeking 2 Interns in Washington for a period of 3 months during June – September 2010.
The interns will work closely with the Marketing department to support FreeBalance activities. During this internship you will participate and support the following activities.
- Update position and branding
- Web 2.0 social networking (blog, wikis, Slideshare, YouTube etc)
- New web collateral
- Proposal responses and updating response templates
- Regional and country research for business development
- Product requirement gathering
- Conference and event support
- Product documentation
- Market, technology and customer research
- Translation
Requirements:
- 3 year students enrolled in a discipline of either Political Science, Bachelor of Business - Finance
- Excellent writing and editing skills in English
To apply for this position, please send us an email with your cover letter and resume.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
ICGFM Sustaining Members Publish: Embracing Government 2.0
This white paper is co-authored by Government 2.0 thought leaders Martha Batorski, Director at Grant Thornton, and Doug Hadden, Vice President of Products at FreeBalance. "Government 2.0 is driving transformation in transparency, participation and collaboration," said Doug Hadden, Vice President of Products at FreeBalance. "Our vision is that knowledge management and collaboration are integral to Government Resource Planning."
The FreeBalance Grant Thornton paper was encapsulates the essence of a series of articles from the FreeBalance Sustainable Public Financial Management blog to respond to a growing demand among Grant Thornton clients for greater clarity on what leaders need to do different to successfully transition to Government 2.0. Articles about Government 2.0 received substantial interest and attention from social enterprises and the broader public financial management community. The white paper shows how to employ effective change management skills in the emerging Government 2.0 open environment and describes the new skills and mindsets government leaders need to adopt to address and the many, emerging new challenges they face.
Embracing Government 2.0 Leading Trans Formative Change in the Public Sector
Martha Batorski has over 20 years experience leading business transformation initiatives in the public and private sector. She is currently leading Grant Thornton’s Government 2.0 and Change Management 2.0 practice in the Global Public Sector. And, she was a recent speaker at the Potomac Forum February 2009 Conference on "Planning and Implementing Social Media and Open Government Strategy and Efforts: What Executives and Managers Need to Know " in Washington DC.
Martha Batorski writes about a key difference in leading change in the Government 2.0 era. “Traditional change management frameworks work for a mandated, roll-out of change – where change is pushed to a target audience. Change Management in the Web 2.0 era (Change 2.0) is more peer-to-peer, viral – change is pulled by participants, constituents, employees, customers. One key difference for leaders is in the need to engage with others, to convert value from the network into meaningful products and services and knowledge, and to quickly identify practical solutions to challenges.”
Doug Hadden has over 20 years of management, sales, marketing and product management experience. He has been instrumental in creating a vision for GRP software that incorporates Web 2.0 collaboration and content. Recently, Mr. Hadden hosted an interactive session detailing how Government 2.0 will transform the practice of government performance and public financial management. And he participated on the "Government 2.0: The Next Wave of Open Government?" panel at the ICGFM Winter 2009 conference.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Coverage from ICGFM Global Survey
An unexpected silver lining of the economic downturn is that it has exposed many flaws in public financial management and even spurred improvement efforts. Citizens are becoming more intense in their scrutiny of how governments allocate, spend and report on public funds, and governments have responded.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
FreeBalance Job Openings
ICGFM sustaining member, FreeBalance, has numerous job opening. FreeBalance is a leading global provider of public sector financial management solutions helping government leaders improve accountability, transparency and good governance to promote development and growth. FreeBalance solutions are being used to achieve good governance in over 100 government organizations spanning five continents.
Ottawa, Canada
- Public Relations Specialist
- Financial Systems Implementation Specialist
- Project Manager
- Regional Sales Account Manager
- Product Trainer
- Senior IT Business Analyst
Antigua and Barbuda
India
West Bank
Sierra Leone
Timor-Leste
- Project Manager - Financial Systems Implementation
- Support Specialist - Technical
- Support Specialist - Functional
Kyrgyztan
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
FreeBalance predicts Government 2.0 will transform Public Financial Management
FreeBalance Vice President hosting Government Performance Management session at ICGFM Winter 2009 conference in Washington, DC
Ottawa, Canada(December 2, 2009) - FreeBalance, a For Profit Social Enterprise (FOPSE) software company that helps governments around the world to leverage robust Government Resource Planning (GRP) technology to accelerate country growth today announced participation in the International Consortium on Government Financial Management (ICGFM) 2009 Winter Conference conference. The event takes place from December 2nd to 4th at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Enrique Iglesias Conference Center at 1330 New York Ave. in Washington, D.C. The theme for the conference is “Performance. Results. Outcomes. Understanding Impact in Managing Public Finance”.Doug Hadden, Vice President of Products at FreeBalance will host an interactive session on Thursday, December 3rd at the Enrique Iglesias Conference Center detailing how Government 2.0 will transform the practice of government performance and public financial management. The session will focus on the limitations of current practices and the linkages between performance management and Government 2.0. This presentation will demonstrate practical approaches to improve performance in government.
“Government 2.0 equips governments with the tools needed to provide a 360 degree view of government performance and public financial management,” said Doug Hadden, Vice President of Products at FreeBalance. “Government 2.0 enables governments to evaluate the overall effectiveness and societal impact of government initiatives.”
The practices of private sector performance management is narrow focused and lacks crucial aspects of government performance. Government 2.0 is a new trend in government transformation. Government 2.0 will transform the practice of performance management and public financial management.
Doug Hadden also serves as ICGFM Vice President of Communications. Media coverage of the ICGFM 2009 Winter Conference will also engage social networking for knowledge transfer and collaboration. Real time event updates will be broadcast by twitter, blogging, video, presentation sharing, document sharing and social networking. Access ICGFM 2009 Winter Conference event coverage using the following social media services:
- Event blog at http://icgfm.blogspot.com/
- Picture gallery at http://www.flickr.com/photos/icgfm/
- Videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/icgfmconference
- Presentations at http://www.slideshare.net/icgfmconference
- Documents and Journal Articles at http://www.scribd.com/icgfmconference
- Social Networking at http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1677477
The ICGFM Winter 2009 conference includes workshops, presentations and interactive sessions which focus on the use of performance frameworks in Public Financial Management (PFM). Senior level government financial managers from more than 30 countries including Poland, China, Brazil, Benin, and Bosnia will present PFM case studies. Limited to 130 representatives from the range of government finance – budget, audit, accounting, IT, policy, and treasury -- the conference serves as a global forum to share successes and lessons learned in public financial management.
About ICGFM
Working globally with governments, organizations and individuals, the ICGFM is dedicated to improve financial management by providing opportunities for professional development and information exchange. More information about ICGFM is available at www.icgfm.org.
About FreeBalance
Founded in 1984, FreeBalance is a For Profit Social Enterprise (FOPSE) software company that helps governments around the world to leverage robust Government Resource Planning (GRP) technology to accelerate country growth. Proven FreeBalance GRP products and focused methodology supports financial reform and modernization to improve governance, transparency and accountability. Good governance is required to improve development results.
FreeBalance is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, with sales and support offices in Washington, DC (United States), Lima (Peru), Lisbon (Portugal), London (Great Britain), Pristina (Kosovo) and St. John (Antigua and Barbuda). FreeBalance solutions have been implemented in countries across the globe, including Canada, United States, Sierra Leone, Guyana, Pakistan, Mongolia, Afghanistan, Antigua & Barbuda, Timor-Leste, Republic of Kosovo and Panama.
International Government Performance Management Conference Kicks-Off
Performance - Results - Outcome
The International Consortium on Governmental Financial Management (ICGFM) Winter Conference starts shortly at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in Washington DC. The conference focus is on government performance management - understanding impact in managing public finance.
Conference speakers include:
- Mario Sangines of the Inter-American Development Bank
- James Brumby of the World Bank
- Jean-Baptise Sawadogo of Leader One Inc.
- Edouard B. Houssou and Gabin Mehou of the Government of the Republic of Benin
- Dr. Piotr Perczynski and
Dr. Marta postula of the Government of the Republic of Poland - Doug Hadden of FreeBalance
- Jerome Dendura of Quistron Inc.
- Lelia Aridi Afas and Steve Clyburn of Grant Thornton LLP
- Pokar Khemani of the International Monetary Fund
Thursday, November 5, 2009
ICGFM Government 2.0 Panel
Introduction to Government 2.0
Risks vs. Rewards in Government 2.0
Affect of Government 2.0 on the back-office and transactional systems
Government 2.0 and Government stimulus programs
Government 2.0 and Citizen Services
Impact of Government 2.0 and Performance Management
Government 2.0 Adoption Rates
Transparency and misinformation in the era of Government 2.0
Wisdom of crowds and community management
Government 2.0 Applications
Government 2.0 barriers to adoption
The ICGFM experience with Web 2.0 technology
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Government 2.0 – The Next Wave of Open Government?
November 4, 2009
Can collaborative tools available to Internet users like blogs, wikis and social networks transform government? Will Government 2.0 fulfill the promise of e-government? Can governments leverage the “wisdom of crowds” for internal government or external citizen collaboration? Should governments publish more and more data? How will this affect traditional back-office systems? What culture changes will be needed for governments to harness Government 2.0?
Join a panel of experts in social networking and governments moderated by Doug Hadden, ICGFM Vice President of Communications. There have been many lessons learned through the ICGFM social networking presence on Blogger, Flickr, Pageflakes, Scribd, Slideshare, Twitter and YouTube.
You can register at this link.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
1779 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036
sponsored by FreeBalance
Monday, June 15, 2009
PFM Conference Knowledge Base
You will find an updated PFM Knowledge Transfer series on the FreeBalance Sustainability Blog with notes, images and presentations from the 23rd Annual ICGFM Conference. This knowledge transfer series includes notes about:
- Introduction and References
- History of Public Financial Management Reforms
current cycle of PFM reforms
how the financial crisis is accelerating PFM reforms - Benefits of IFMIS
enabling government reform
improve efficiency and controls
improve conficence through transparency
reduce costs
improve budgets, planning and decision-making - Acquisition Practices
build or buy - Implementation Practices and Project Management
implementation practices lessons learned
project management
government ownership
planning and benchmarks
building the government team
role of IT - Implementation Sequencing
implementation success factors
issues and reasons for sequencing
implementation and roll-out phases
post implementation changes
diagnostic tools - Capacity Building
coordinating training and implementation plans
capacity development
staffing and skills - Subjects in PFM - Procurement, Budget Planning and Performance Management
procurement
budget planning
performance management
public private partnerships (PPP) - Transparency and Accountability
need for transparency
budget transparency
forms of accountability
service transformation
elements of good governance and transparency
international benchmarks - lessons learned
Monday, June 2, 2008
Board Meeting Presentation to Upgrade ICGFM Web Presence Available
This presentation proposes changes to the http://www.icgfm.org/web site and the use of social networking technology that is being piloted in this blog. Please add comments and ideas to this blog.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
The Government Integrated Financial Management System (IFMIS) of the Future
By Doug Hadden, VP Products, FreeBalance.
I presented an overview of the top ten trends in Government IFMIS last year at the May ICGFM conference.
What has changed in the past year?
Trend 1: Market Consolidation
* The market continues to consolidate. The large acquisitions of Hyperion, Business Objects and EDS points to this continuing trend.
Trend 2: Open Source Software
* Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) adoption continues, particularly in middleware.
Trend 3: Commoditization of the Software Stack
* Middleware continues to become less and less expensive. Commercial vendors are providing more functions for the same price. Open Source is gaining traction.
Trend 4: Decentralization
* Countries are moving rapidly to administrative and fiscal decentralization. There is great interest in systems that address local capacity yet can integrate with the national government system.
Trend 5: Business Process Management
* There seems to be a cooling of the BPM market. BPM is becoming integral in most software products. Customers are also discovering the limitations of BPM in collaborative and creative environments.
Trend 6: Software as a Service (SaaS)
* There is steady SaaS growth with major vendors providing alternatives. The take-up in government remains low.
Trend 7: The Web as Platform, Web 2.0
* Web 2.0 has exploded in government. There have been many Government 2.0 conferences and lots of talk in the blogosphere. Many government agencies are using these technologies for both internal and citizen-facing initiatives.
Trend 8: Wireless Government
* Wireless Government remains in its infancy. Mobile telephone adoption is increasing world-wide, so the use in Government is likely to grow. Mobile technology was used during the recent earthquake in China to provide up-to-date information.
Trend 9: Government Performance Management
* Performance budgeting and performance management continues to grow in government. There are some cultural issues to overcome in some governments.
Trend 10: Service Oriented Architectures
* Adoption and interest in SOA continues as it reaches mainstream adoption.
What trends have we seen since May 2007?
New Trend 1: Usability
* There has become a renewed focus on usability in software. Financial Management software has become feature rich and hard to use. The success of products designed for consumer use has begun to affect thinking on usability.
New Trend 2: Virtualization
* Virtualization enables organizations to leverage all computing resources more effectively. This includes the ability to deploy applications from different computing environments and from different servers. This cuts computing costs and simplifies support.
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