Kuali Test Drive: A Look

Kuali Test Drive: A Look Into the Future

Information Flows And Financial Management

Kuali Test Drive:

A Look into the Future

The Kuali Financial System is an open sourced, internet-based financial system designed to function as well as current Financial Systems. In essence it is "in the cloud," a web application which can be used anywhere a computer has internet access. In this way it is unique, especially when compared to legacy Financial Systems, which are bound to company servers. The Kuali Model may come to embody the future of administrative systems.

Kuali has multiple "test drive scenarios" which allow prospective customers to use the software before purchasing. The first two are, in order, "Project Code" and "Transfer of Funds." The first focuses on starting up a project. It teaches the user how to start a project, name it, send an ad hoc request, and review the Route Log. In truth, this was a supremely easy task. Going through it took two minutes, and in no way stretched any capabilities.

The second task, on the other hand, provided a tad bit more challenge. This task teaches the user to create an eDoc, a Transfer of Funds, which will be used to route funds to other accounts ("Test drives of," 2010) ). The most interesting, and useful, thing about open sourced software is that it tends to work with other software. This is especially true for Kuali, as it uses Comma Separated Value files to import information directly into the eDoc. Comma Separated Value files are common files which are generally used for database entry, but can be created and modified inside of Microsoft Excel or a similar program.

To be perfectly honest, the system has great potential. Some of that potential is wasted, however, in bureaucratic befuddlement. For instance, why does the eDoc need a description? The amount of training needed on Kuali could be enormous if it gets to be too large and byzantine. However, this is mitigated somewhat by its open attitude towards developers. Indeed, there is even a developer training section on the website which links to multiple pages which can teach users the ins-and-outs of Kuali. This system could theoretically save a lot of money on administrative costs, as its nature, free and open source, would mean that it could be tailored to fit the needs of that organization. Perhaps that is what is most exciting about this project: the novel approach. Instead of integrating and patenting, instead of secreting away information, all the information, the code, and the processes are out in the open. The swamp that software can so easily become will, theoretically at least, be drained.