Corporate Services Transformation (CST) is a key part of Birmingham City Council's efficiency agenda; to save money and invest in areas that enable the Council to provide better services to customers.

The programme has changed the way budgets, projects, plans and corporate performance are managed and how goods and services are sourced including:

• More effective procurement of goods and services, enabling significant financial benefits for the Council.
• Improved financial and non-financial monitoring and reporting - delivering "one version of the truth."
• Upgraded cash collection functions
• Transforming business planning and budgeting to align services with the Council's strategies and plans
• Improved discipline and consistency for project management and project initiation.

A key part has been the development of Voyager, a new SAP system that integrated the Council's financial and operational performance management processes into a single tool, to deliver a step change in performance and more effective decision making. The Voyager system went live in October 2007 and there are now over 6,000 live users.