HOW WE CREATE VALUE

Digitisation

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION JOURNEY

SAICA’s Digital Transformation programme is essential for implementing the overall SAICA strategy. Aligning the IT strategy with the business strategy and optimising the existing IT architecture are crucial for the success of digital transformation.

The journey began in 2016, introducing key strategic projects such as Ushintsho. Despite a few challenges with Ushintsho, after a revision of the scope of work and change of implementation partner, the project is now on track and the benefits are being realised.

IT MISSION
IT VISION
The Ushintsho programme is unfolding in three focused stages aiming to:
  • Stage 1: Deliver Case Management, Profile Management, Online Membership Applications (AGA and CA(SA) including the Member Portal), and D365/iMIS Data integration
  • Stage 2: Deliver Finance system, Membership, Continuous Professional Development, Exam functionality through the Member Portal, D365 Customer Engagement (D365 CE) and D365 Finance and Operations (F&O). Enhance data quality and system stability
  • Stage 3: Covers delivery work across D365 CE, the Web Platform, Finance and Operations, Infrastructure Environments (DevOps) and Project Management. Additionally, regular release cycles have been planned, rather than a large monolithic release at the end of the stage

STAGE 1 DELIVERED 2019

VALUE DERIVED
  • Enriching member engagement
    • The implementation of D365 CE, which is a customer relationship management suite, has facilitated a seamless integration of systems and data, empowering us to deliver a more personalised and engaging member experience. This is evident in the enhanced member profiles and improved case management capabilities available through the member portal
  • Unifying member data for enhanced insights and service
    • By integrating all customer data sources into D365 CE, we can cleanse and consolidate information, eliminating duplicates and misalignments. This will create a unified and consistent view of our members across the organisation, enabling us to provide more personalised and impactful services

STAGE 2 DELIVERED IN 2023

VALUE DERIVED
  • Member benefits
    • Easy access of billing and account information online
    • New accounts query management feature for members to track progress (refunds, penalties, etc)
    • Enhanced digitised user journey for member applications, including practice registrations, tax practitioner registrations, etc)
    • Exam candidates will be able to register for examinations, cancel registrations, request refunds, and obtain copies of admission letters online
    • Exam candidates will have access to a single system to apply for special concessions and receive feedback
    • Implementation of a new user-friendly mobile app where members can now access the same comprehensive features as the member portal, providing greater convenience and accessibility wherever they are
  • Internal business unit benefits
    • Automated finance processes (auto-creation of invoices, auto-allocation of payments, auto-matching of receipts, etc
    • New and enhanced reporting (exams, finance, membership and committees)
    • Minimise contact centre queries due to the availability of self-service options on the member portal
    • New digitised exams management process (marking, booking and analytics)
  • New applications
    • Finance and operations functions
    • Expanded member portal functions
    • Power business intelligence (BI) reporting
  • Decommissioned apps
    • GP (archived financial data)

STAGE 3 DELIVERY IN 2024−2025

INTENDED VALUE
  • Member benefits
    • Enhanced learning and development ecosystem (training and education)
    • Ability for prospective members to complete online membership applications
    • Prospective Thuthuka Bursary Fund applicants will have an end-to-end online-based application platform
    • Interactive, online-based platform for Thuthuka bursars to access donation info
    • Improved enterprise and supplier development, socio-economic development and SMME development service offering will enhance members’ economic and B-BBEE points
    • Updating of member data will ensure that SAICA designs products suited for members based on accurate data
    • Member processes will be enhanced and simplified to ensure that members have a great experience when using SAICA applications and systems
  • Internal business unit benefits
    • Automated bursary management processes
    • Improved disciplinary management process
    • Improved decision-making based on enhanced education and training data
    • Central repository of information to improve query resolution
  • New applications
    • Enhanced member portal functions
    • New member application system
    • New Thuthuka Bursary application
    • New enterprise development application
    • Mobile app platform
  • To be decommissioned apps
    • iMIS
    • Legacy exam systems

ENHANCED MEMBER EXPERIENCE WITH A MODERNISED MEMBER PORTAL

The exciting new features of the member portal which will allow direct and real-time responses to member queries as well as improved access to SAICA services will be realised at the end of Stage 3 of Ushintsho programme. This is our continuing digitisation journey aimed at improving and delivering world class services to our members.

Outlook for 2024

The following features introduced at the beginning of 2024 will further enhance members’ experience when interacting with SAICA:

  • Advanced payment settlement for payments that have been referenced correctly. This feature allows our Finance team to easily settle outstanding balances with an advanced payment by the member via credit card or electronic transfer.
  • The Thuthuka Legal Entity has been moved from Great Plains (GP) to Finance and Operations (F&O), allowing for their accounting functions to be performed in F&O. GP is a legacy financial system that will be deprecated shortly, and it is therefore important that all dependencies on GP be removed. The benefits of F&O are that it is a cloud-based service that is secure and can conduct data analytics.
  • The ATSA reinstatement functionality has been enabled which allows members to reinstate their ATSA membership via the member portal. SAICA membership staff can process these applications easily, automatically and securely.
  • Members can now request and print their membership certificates via the member portal. This is particularly useful for members who may have to replace their membership certificates.
Disciplinary matters 2023

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