End User Concerns with Integrated Financial and Acquisition Management System Training

VA’s Financial Management Business Transformation Service (FMBTS) is leading and managing the implementation of the Integrated Financial and Acquisition Management System (iFAMS), an enterprise-wide modernization effort to replace legacy systems that facilitate the department’s financial and contracting activities. FMBTS personnel are responsible for training end users, which is critical to a successful iFAMS deployment across VA. FMBTS conducts a post-training survey but does not solicit feedback on end users’ tasks and daily activities, and the timing of this survey immediately after training does not allow FMBTS to assess how users apply instruction when conducting role-specific activities in iFAMS. The VA OIG surveyed a statistical sample of 255 end users to assess satisfaction with iFAMS training. The team found that end users had concerns with the training provided for some tasks and day-to-day activities, leaving FMBTS with opportunities to enhance the training program. Addressing training weaknesses now is important because over 100,000 employees have yet to be trained on the system.