Designing the next generation of the Secretariat debt management software

The Commonwealth Secretariat has begun a series of discussions with debt experts from a number of countries on developing the next generation of the Secretariat software to help countries manage their debt.

At a two-day meeting held from Wednesday, 15 December, debt experts from around the Commonwealth and beyond met with Secretariat staff from the Special Advisory Services Division (SASD) to brainstorm on the future development of the Commonwealth Secretariat Debt Recording and Management System (CS-DRMS).

CS-DRMS, which is free to Commonwealth countries, records and analyses debt to allow governments to manage their domestic, external, short, medium and long-term debt. Since its inaugural release 25 years ago, CS-DRMS has been deployed in 60 Commonwealth and non-Commonwealth countries, including Afghanistan and Kosovo.

Arindam Roy, Head of the Debt Management Section within SASD, told participants at the Secretariat’s Marlborough House headquarters in London: “This meeting marks the beginning of a critical phase of the debt management programme.

“We’re very lucky to have the continued commitment of all of our expert debt managers from Commonwealth member and non-member countries and it’s important to have a clear vision of this redevelopment, guided by your deliberations and expertise.”

Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General Ransford Smith said: “The Secretariat is looking to re-engineer the current system so that countries can continue to rely on it as an effective tool to support their decisions for debt management. More importantly, it will be re-oriented towards decision-making with enhanced analytical functions to monitor costs, risks and sustainability.

“The system will be designed to reflect evolving best practice principles and capture more sophisticated debt management instruments.”

Hannah Suleiman, Head of Department, Debt Recording and Settlement at the Debt Management Office in Nigeria, said: “CS-DRMS has helped us to keep accurate, complete and up to date information on our debts and it helps with most of our reporting requirements.

“Being part of this meeting will have a positive impact on managing our debts. I will relate my experiences from this meeting to other parties in Nigeria.”

Since CS-DRMS was launched in the 1980s, the Secretariat has adapted and modernised the software to meet the changing nature of debt across the globe.

A recent independent evaluation of the debt management programme showed it was highly regarded by Commonwealth countries and it has had a positive and lasting impact on debt management capacity. CS-DRMS itself has become an invaluable tool to its users and it has greatly increased the efficiency of their operations.

But the evaluation also stressed the need for some critical developments to maintain the software as a relevant and effective tool for user countries, given that the current generation was developed back in the late 1990s.

Baba Y Musa, Director of the Debt Management Department of the West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management, said: “Inviting us here to give our perspective and our countries' views is one of the prudent and best ways forward to redevelop the software. At the least, we feel the views of our countries will be taken on board.”

In its first phase of redevelopment, the Secretariat is enlisting the services of the Indian consultancy and development services provider - WIPRO - to advise on the solution architecture and roadmap to re-engineer the CS-DRMS using latest technologies.

Some of the proposed enhancements cover: management of debt assets, management of sub-national debt, contingent liability management, real time reporting, improved user experience, web based architecture, better integration with other management information systems and richer analytical functions.

Independent consultant, Mike Williams, said: “The Commonwealth Secretariat has been very imaginative in thinking about how best to redevelop the system so that it remains useful, pertinent, helpful and in sync with evolving debt management practices.

“This conference plays an important part in ensuring that the redevelopment takes account of not only users’ current needs but how their needs may develop in the future and how CS-DRMS could better interact with other systems that are part of the debt management landscape.”

Next year, the debt management software will be expanded to include a new product, the Commonwealth Secretariat Public Debt Analytical Tool. This tool will assist countries in formulating and implementing medium term debt management strategies to ensure prudent debt management based on sound principles and planning.

The planned enhancements to the Secretariat software are expected to further strengthen the capacity of government institutions to better manage evolving economic risks. This will help to significantly improve prudent debt management practices and the governance of borrowed funds, thereby leading to efficiencies in debt servicing and contributing towards better economic management as part of the broader objective to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

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• CS-DRMS