4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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As the Singapore Public Service makes payments to about 90,000 suppliers, implementation of the e-invoice initiative required close collaboration with suppliers. As payment processing was decentralised across Government, cooperation between internal stakeholders had to be established as well.
As such, the initiative was implemented in key phases.
Phase 1: Consultation with key suppliers and public agencies was conducted to gather feedback and address concerns from stakeholders. The feedback was a valuable source of input to ensure that the solution was designed and implemented in a way that would increase productivity and cost-efficiency, without introducing inconvenience and additional costs to our stakeholders. Where stakeholders had uncertainties, we encouraged them to come on board this initiative by allaying their concerns.
Phase 2: Together with our IT consultants, the e-invoice system was developed after taking into consideration user requirements. User requirements were determined through the feedback gathered from stakeholders. Comprehensive testing was performed to ensure that the e-invoice system was functioning properly before rolling it out.
Phase 3: The e-invoice system was completed and rolled out in 2006. At this point in time, only some pilot suppliers were on board the e-invoice initiative. Public agencies continued to process paper invoices. Over the years, paper invoices were phased out and e-invoicing was mandated in 2008. Currently, the Singapore Public Service accepts only e-invoices, with the exception of a small group of suppliers who are unable to submit e-invoices. These include very small suppliers like newspaper vendors and fruit sellers.
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5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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- Private sector companies were engaged to assess if submission of e-invoices was feasible and to understand any concerns that they had.
- Government Ministries and Statutory Boards were consulted to ensure that the e-invoice system and processes would be compatible with their IT systems and payment processes.
- User requirements of public service officers who process invoices were gathered to ensure that the e-invoice system would be convenient to use and contained the necessary functionalities.
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6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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Financial Resources:
This initiative was implemented with full Government funding. Government funding was approved as the proposal to introduce e-invoices yielded many potential benefits. They include raising productivity, increasing cost-efficiency, tightening controls over payments processing and enhancing our service quality to public stakeholders.
Technical Resources:
To ensure that adequate IT support was available to during the implementation of the initiative, an external IT consultant was engaged to provide advice and design the e-invoice system. A tender exercise was conducted to compare proposals from various IT consulting firms before the tender was awarded to the firm with the best proposal.
With advice from the external IT consultant, the necessary IT infrastructure was prepared to support the new e-invoicing system. Comprehensive testing was performed to ensure that the system would function properly after being rolled out. System interfaces were also established and tested to ensure that different agencies’ IT systems can properly exchange relevant data for the e-invoicing system to work.
Human Resources:
Management support was vital in getting a pilot group of suppliers to come on board at the initial stages of this e-invoice initiative. Most suppliers had reservations over being the first to move onto the e-invoice platform. Management facilitated for the Government to partner business trade associations to conduct talks and forums so as to reach out to small and medium-sized enterprises. With the collaboration of a small starting group of early adopters, the e-invoice system design was refined. After the new system stabilised, key Government suppliers were encouraged to join the e-invoice initiative. Such major suppliers have established IT systems that could potentially be incompatible with the e-invoice system. It was thus important for the first few key suppliers to successfully join the initiative as they provided the momentum for the rest of the Government suppliers to follow suit. When the majority of Government suppliers were finally on board the e-invoice platform, Management again supported the proposal to mandate the use of e-invoices across the entire Singapore Public Service.
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7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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- Proper communication with stakeholders ensured that we addressed concerns regarding the move towards e-invoices. This allowed us to have a good understanding of stakeholders’ needs and design the e-invoice system around user requirements.
- Effective change management ensured that the resistance to change was addressed. Besides proper communications with suppliers, Government ministries and statutory boards, user training and user guides were provided to educate users on the functionalities of the e-invoice system. Comprehensive testing was performed to ensure that the system was functioning correctly before being implemented.
- Consistent support from top management was crucial in ensuring that the initiative received sufficient resources. Management’s support was also vital in overcoming some key challenges. For example, Management facilitated for the Government to partner business trade associations to reach out to small and medium-sized enterprises to join as early adopters of the e-invoice system.
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8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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Consultation Phase:
Key suppliers and public agencies were consulted on their views and concerns of the e-invoice initiative. The percentage of suppliers and public agencies consulted was tracked and the gathered feedback was evaluated to understand how the initiative would have to be designed and implemented to meet stakeholders’ needs.
Pre-Implementation Testing Phase:
Before the new system was rolled out, a comprehensive set of processes covering a wide range of scenarios was performed in a system testing environment to ensure that system functionalities were performing as expected. Regular updates on the percentage of test scenarios covered and the test results were provided to Management to ensure that tests were being carried out according to schedule and any errors encountered were promptly rectified. The new system was only rolled out after successful testing.
Post-Implementation Phase:
After implementation, the percentage of suppliers that have come on board the e-invoice platform was tracked and regularly updated to Management. Progress assessment was based on the percentage of suppliers on board so far, as well as the number of major suppliers on board. When the majority of suppliers were on board, a mandate was then proposed and subsequently approved to require all public agencies to accept only e-invoices.
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9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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Encouraging all Government suppliers, from top tier firms with established IT systems to small and medium-sized enterprises that may not be IT savvy, was a challenge. Each group of suppliers presented its own challenge. Major suppliers had established IT systems that might not be compatible with our e-invoice platform, while small medium-sized enterprises might not have the IT literacy to adopt e-invoicing. To overcome this, proper communication with suppliers was key in ensuring that each concern was properly addressed. User education and training also had to be provided to the less IT savvy suppliers. More importantly, a readiness to refine our system to ensure user-friendliness and catering to new requirements was essential to get all suppliers on board.
Also, the sheer number of suppliers transacting with the Singapore Public Service meant that engaging all suppliers was a challenge. A key strategy was to start off with a pilot group of suppliers after the e-invoice system was just rolled out, to refine our system during the pilot phase. After refinements, major suppliers were then approached to ensure that our e-invoice system was compatible with their established IT systems. Through such an approach, the common requirements of most suppliers were addressed.
Nonetheless, as new suppliers and public agencies come on board the e-invoice system as time goes by, we will constantly receive enquiries and feedback. As a long-term measure, a customer service portal was set up to allow suppliers and public agencies to log issues.
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