FNG - Finance Next Generation Introduction

Finance Next Gen

We’re building an integrated cloud-based finance solution with new functionality for Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs);

Our latest finance solution will streamline school budget management and simplify statutory reporting for all schools including LA/Maintained, Independents and MATs/school groups.

Key benefits:

• In the cloud - secure and flexible access anywhere, anytime
• Easy to navigate - complete key tasks quicker and with less effort
• Retained database structure - simple migration, no training needed and all historical data preserved
• High quality integration- everything 'under one roof' in one MIS and all current interfaces retained
• Understands school groups - new functionality for MATs;

How does this impact upon Technical Integrators?

In some ways, everything changes because the product is web based and has a set of public APIs which are available to technical Integrators.  In the first release, the set of APIs will be equivalent to those provided in FMS.  For example in budget planning, FMS 6 had interfaces for Chart Of Accounts (Read), Financial Years (Read) and Budget Import (Write).  FNG has like for like interfaces from a data perspective even if the calling model is very different. We have retained the XML formats by design with the aim that existing integrations can be re-plumbed rather than re-written.

How Does this impact on eProcurement Providers?

See FNG - Finance Next Generation Introduction for eProc Providers | ESS Portal 

How are the APIs secured?

FNG is secured by SIMS ID but has the added complexity of the need to support multiple 'databases' per school.  TIs will need to have an account in SIMS ID. They will be set up by partner support as Vendors and have a 'Site' Created and set up for them.  This will enable the TI to harvest their own client id and secret without the need to send it by less secure means.  The client ID and secret will be used to obtain a JWT from SIMS ID with a scope of fngapi which will enable access to the API set.  In addition, within the FNG application there is a set up screen for applications which records the email contact for the TI, creates a pre-shared key which is passed with each API call and space to store a pre-shared key from the TI.  Pre-shared keys are assumed to be GUIDs and the act of hand shaking these both identifies the FNG database and the TI's pre-shared key confirms the grant is to the caller concerned.    Please ensure that the pre-shared key provided by the TI is unique for each school \ database. 

What documentation is available?

We do not plan to publicly share documentation for the web endpoints because these offer an obvious attack surface for hackers. We will however share postman collections with contracted TIs under non-disclosure. 

Are sandboxes available?

Sandboxes will be made available to contracted TIs to enable development. 

We are in the acceptance test phase for the product and will update this advice once we can make sandboxes available.

Is Consultancy available?

Yes.