The technical architecture of the NCAS is comprised of both centralized and decentralized functionality.  The NCAS meets the statewide uniform reporting requirements of the State's central managers, while also fulfilling the unique agency reporting and management requirements.  To assist the agencies in meeting their business needs, the NCAS features agency-level, decentralized on-line data entry, on-line query, fourth-generation ad-hoc reporting, on-line report distribution, and client/server based DSS information access. DSS transforms data into information useful to agencies in managing operations.  The statewide technical architecture recommends that decision support be a separate and distinct function from operational transactional processing systems.  NCAS follows this recommendation.

The need for appropriate statewide financial controls and timely and consistent reporting is met in NCAS by centralized mainframe data storage, general ledger posting, and production of standard reports.  As explained in Section 4, "Impacts and Benefits of the NCAS," this allows for better management of financial activities, more consistent and comparable reporting at the statewide and agency level, and more effective management of agency programs.

In the current environment, the OSC uses the Geac financial mainframe applications, which provide a solid, reputable, and reliable source for the NCAS.  As explained below, the OSC works with ITS to ensure that it can meet statewide needs for hardware, on-line processing, production, and data storage capacity.  The NCAS applications have been upgraded to the current release. The OSC systems administration and planning efforts ensure that the system performs optimally and provides service to all users.

The OSC has adopted a NCAS strategy to move to new technologies that enhance the overall system capabilities and meet the test of cost/benefit.  New strategies will be pursued if the functionality of an application will provide a measurable benefit to the State.  The technical direction for the State is to LANs, with desktop tools and connectivity via the WAN to the ITS central mainframe/server environment.  The majority of centralized accounting groups access the NCAS in this manner.  The technical standards for accessing the NCAS also include continued connectivity for dumb terminals.  This allows State agencies to retain hardware in the field and replace it with current recommended PC configurations at the appropriate time.

The OSC has pursued a client/server strategy by adopting the DSS as a primary information access tool. As stated previously, this approach supports the statewide technical architecture.  Key financial information is downloaded from the ITS mainframe to agency clients on a daily basis to provide timely access to the data.  This also allows central and agency management to analyze and dissect information using a point and click metaphor, further enhanced by drill down functionality.

Figure 13 shows the NCAS current technical environment and the planned technical direction.