237.     The Capital Account for the biennium has increased from the US$ 9.4 million estimated in the PWB 2006-07 to US$ 14.8 million in this revised budget, due to additional unspent arrears resources. The account is funded by US$ 4.7 million from the appropriation for Chapter 8 and US$ 10.1 million in unused arrears under Conference Resolution 6/2001 carried forward from 2004-05. The amount proposed for utilisation in 2006-07 has increased from US$ 9.1 million under ZRG to US$ 13.6 million in the revised PWB, with US$ 1.2 million reserved for carry over to the next biennium.

238.     Implementation of reforms in the Organization will have a significant impact on capital expenditure requirements. In particular, there will be new or expanded efforts in streamlining of administrative and financial processes and the pilot implementation of decentralization in Africa and Central Asia. Therefore, the scope and timing of every investment projects initially shown in the PWB 2006-07 has been re-evaluated and, when needed, adjusted to reflect the effective requirements and to take into account any operational or technological change.

239.     The project under 8AA01: HQ and Regional Telephony System has been deferred since VoIP (Voice over Internet) PABX technologies are still evolving and it is premature for the Organization to commit significant funds in this area. AFI will follow evolution of VoIP, with the aim of preparing a technical roadmap for the future.

240.     Under 8AA02: Corporate Administrative Applications, US$ 150,000 will be invested (in 2006) to replace half of the servers which support administrative systems and which are now obsolete. A practice of regular, planned replacement of life-expired servers will provide a more reliable information systems infrastructure, underpinning the delivery of services to all units in the Organization.

241.     An investment of US$ 800,000 will be made for the replacement of the Atlas travel system and to upgrade its supporting infrastructure. The new application will address best practice business needs in travel processing and respond to External and Internal Audit recommendations that require major changes to the current system. The corporate Programme Planning, Implementation Reporting and Evaluation System (PIRES) will be adapted and extended with an investment of US$ 500,000 for integration with budget forecasting and monitoring and HRMS. Adjustments will be made to improve performance in decentralized locations to support delegation of programme management responsibilities to MDTs.

242.     US$ 500,000 is planned to improve information and communications technology in the reconfigured Subregional Offices in Africa and Central Asia. This will permit full use of FAO’s technical, administrative, and operational applications, including the roll-out of Oracle applications functionality.

243.     Under 8AA03: Server Software and Client Access Licenses for HQ and ROs, the upgrade of network and email software for HQ and ROs, which is closely linked to Microsoft product upgrade cycles, is to be almost entirely deferred to the next biennium. FAO plans to implement the next version, whose release date is now expected to be late 2006 or early 2007. Hence, only US$ 100,000 is retained for 2007 in order to fully test the new versions, with actual rollout expected to take place in 2008-09.

244.     To meet a long outstanding need for email connectivity for all FAO staff, US$ 400,000 will be required to start introducing desk-to-desk email in existing country offices, replacing single account arrangements, putting staff there on a par with the rest of FAO.

245.     The goal for 8AA04: IT Support to Meetings is to replace unreliable facilities over 20 years old in the most critical meeting rooms, namely the Plenary Hall and the Mexico Room, requiring US$ 575,000. The funds will also cover limited works for other meeting-related services such as videoconferencing and web-casting services, contributing to more efficient and widely accessible meeting arrangements. The need for refurbishment of other meeting rooms will be assessed for implementation in 2008-09.

246.     The HRMS (8AA05) project remains the top priority in line with guidance from the Finance Committee⁴, accounting for more than two-thirds of the Capital Expenditure budget for the biennium. Successful implementation of the HRMS is a prerequisite for a large number of streamlining and efficiency saving initiatives. An amount of US$ 6,220,000 is required in 2006 to complete the project.

247.     In addition, to ensure a smooth migration to HRMS within the Organization, US$ 1.1 million will be needed for one-off post-implementation support, resolution of initial problems and some parallel processing with legacy systems.

248.     To take maximum advantage of HRMS functionality, US$ 830,000 will be invested to integrate HRMS with existing systems. This includes adjustment of Oracle Financials system in order to support HRMS-related and other Oracle ERP features required by the Organization.

249.     Finally, US$ 1,100,000 will be for the HR Management Model (HRMM) capitalizing on the foundation laid by the HRMS to reform HR Management. Streamlining of HR processes requires significant development work at procedure and business rule level, and a re-training of managers with HR management roles.

250.     The project under 8AA06: Field Accounting System (FAS) Replacement remains unchanged from the PWB 2006-07 at US$ 500,000.

251.     Entity 8AA07: Electronic Document Management System is to implement more modern tools in support of streamlining processes. Complementary to the HRMS, the document management system of administrative records (US$ 400,000) will maintain paper administrative records electronically, thereby enabling the use of, for example, electronic sign-off procedures on human resource related actions. The Document and Workflow Management System (US$ 400,000) supports business processes, managing documents and tasks, enabling users to initiate, execute, manage and track internal processes. These systems, of which some features are to be implemented in 2007, will significantly reduce the paper-flows within the Organization and further streamline processes.