Signs Of The Times

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- A server that runs Jefferson County's financial software system has crashed and halted financial activity in a number of county departments, officials said Thursday.

Since Tuesday, the hardware problem has slowed or stopped transactions in the finance, treasurer and purchasing departments, preventing vendor payments and deposits and delaying preparation of the fiscal 2011 audit, according to county officials.

The server runs SAP, the accounting software system the county uses to track financial activity.

"The SAP functionality is so diminished that it does not allow us to do the day-to-day financial operations of our county," Commissioner Jimmie Stephens said. "It's the financial backbone of the county. It's the language that we use to communicate with all of our vendors and all of our financial contacts throughout the county. And to have it go mute to where we can't communicate is a tremendous problem."

County Manager Tony Petelos said all of the servers that run the SAP program have outlived their useful life, and of the 16 servers in the Information Technology Department, only one has any life left.

 This is inevitable when budgets and resources are stretched without relief.  The servers won't run forever, and budget cuts have made replacements impossible.  Right now, they are shut down and the best scenario is sketchy at best.  A patch buys time but still leaves them open to a repeat at any time.  I expect we will hear stories like this more frequently.  What we will do about it is another matter entirely.  There is no good answer, and so much need for help that there's no obvious place to begin.