Government Invests 155.7 Billion KRW to Launch Next-Generation Budget Accounting System 'Dbrain'

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] The Ministry of Economy and Finance announced that it has launched the next-generation budget accounting system 'dBrain,' developed over 24 months with a total investment of 155.7 billion KRW, and held a commemorative event on the 20th.

The opening ceremony was held at the Government Seoul Office (Annex) on the same day, inviting about 50 officials from related central government ministries and public institutions. The existing budget accounting system, which had been in use since 2007, was primarily used for on-site processing in 13 financial work areas (budget, revenue, expenditure, debt, performance, settlement, etc.) and contributed to improving the efficiency of financial operations. Subsequently, in response to the digital transformation era and considering the policy demand for more intelligent data analysis and scientific policy decision support, the development of the next-generation system was initiated in December 2019 by the Samsung SDS consortium.

After investing a total of 155.7 billion KRW (including 19.7 billion KRW for maintenance), the system underwent a 24-month development process and was launched on January 3rd. The core function of dBrain, the ‘Budget Formulation Support System,’ was first launched in May last year to support the 2022 budget formulation tasks. In particular, it performed tasks such as preparing statutory documents including budget requests from each ministry and the government budget proposal for 2022, establishing budget allocation and execution plans, and creating a database (DB) of over 8,000 budget project data using a Hangul UI program.

The next-generation dBrain system expanded from the previous system, which was limited to handling 13 financial tasks, by newly adding 11 financial management systems such as contributions, loans, and grants, totaling 24 financial tasks, thereby eliminating blind spots in financial management. Additionally, a new system for budget formulation support and actual financial execution management was established, enabling rapid understanding of frontline financial execution status.

Furthermore, the AI-based data analysis platform ‘KODAS (KOrea Data Analysis Service)’ was newly introduced, linking dBrain’s financial data in real-time with social, economic, administrative indicators, and private data, supporting direct use of AI-analyzed results in policy decision-making.

The data-driven policy situation management system ‘KORAHS (KOrea Risk Assessment & Horizon Scanning)’ was established to enable authorities to preemptively detect risk factors in policy management. This system automatically issues warnings when the change values of over 8,000 indicators linked in real-time with financial data exceed preset thresholds.

Especially for major policy indicators such as population, jobs, and livelihood, a dashboard for policy management was created to add immediacy and speed to public sector policy response. This system is utilized not only by the central government but also by 17 metropolitan and 226 local governments, allowing rapid grasp of field information on population, jobs, and livelihood.

Interconnections among various financial information management systems were strengthened to enhance the convenience of using financial information. It is linked with major financial information management systems such as local governments (e-Hojo) and education offices (EduFine) to produce and disclose integrated financial information according to the international standard Government Finance Statistics (GFS). Notably, through the upgraded ‘Open Finance,’ key financial project beneficiary information such as national subsidies, loans, and grants, which attract high public interest and are frequently used directly, can be easily viewed in one place. The types of disclosed financial information have also expanded by 62.9%, from 132 to 215.

At the event, Deputy Prime Minister for Economy Hong Nam-ki said, "The next-generation dBrain, which supports data-driven financial management and policy decision-making, will be a game changer that brings fundamental change and innovation to national financial work," and urged, "Please continuously evolve and develop the system to accelerate financial innovation and create a foundation that can care for the lives of the people more thoroughly and warmly."