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Systems
Governments often under-invest in financial management systems with predictable results.
In many countries there is a patchwork of often incompatible and incoherent legacy systems (sometimes within a single department) many of which are either at the end of their lifecycle or out of support completely. Systems are often geared up for compliance and historic reporting with little evaluative or predictive power. They can be hard to interrogate flexibly or reconfigure to meet changing needs.
Often individual departments have modified off the shelf systems or built their own bespoke systems that are then difficult and expensive to support or modify, in some cases making them over-reliant on particular contractors who charge premium rates for their services. In the worst cases opportunities are missed because responsibility for system design and commissioning is given to staff without sufficient relevant expertise or domain knowledge. This can give rise to unrealistic expectations (which contractors charge a premium to meet), or in worst cases a failure to deliver systems of sufficient utility to meet the original objectives. As much of the development activity is outsourced misunderstandings can and do arise as to system capabilities or functionality, resulting in missed opportunities and more limited functionality than is needed.