From vision to reality
Department of Service and Innovation Annual Report 2025
Department of Finance and Risk Management
Financial systems, digital development and automation
The Department of Finance and Risk Management oversees Reykjavík City's financial administration and participates in all aspects of Section A – Core Operations of the Reykjavík Municipal Treasury. The department provides managers with oversight, consultation, and information to support informed decision-making and promote the efficient, targeted use of resources.
In 2025, work continued based on goals established in 2024:
- To operate efficient financial services
- To pursue robust development
- To support successful decision-making
Digital development and innovation remain key priorities. Throughout the year, the department strongly emphasized simplifying workflows, improving data use, and increasing automation across operations.
Working from its own project schedule, the Department of Finance and Risk Management relies on its digital leader as a crucial liaison to the Department of Service and Innovation. The Financial Technology Office manages the department's project schedule and project management.
Increased automation
The year brought significant progress toward greater automation and digital development. Key highlights included developing and implementing a new compliance system built on Microsoft technology. This system launched during the year and marks a vital step forward in the department's internal solutions; meanwhile, staff continued developing procedures for insiders and related parties.
The department also continued building a central incident-reporting system that went live this year, and it participated in projects digitizing procurement authorizations. These efforts aimed to simplify the City's overall procurement procedures, support the responsible use of funds, and improve the experience for staff handling procurement and approvals. Additionally, the department implemented the Jira project management system to strengthen project oversight and follow-through internally.
Data-driven management
Data-driven management remained a major priority, leading to new Power BI dashboards for department leaders. Specialists from the data and software development office contributed to this project to improve access to operational information and strengthen data-driven decision-making. The department migrated financial transparency reporting to Power BI and actively helped develop Reykjavík City's data landscape, with KPMG handling project management. This work supports more consistent data management, broader access to information, and more purposeful data use across the City's operations, analysis, and policy development.
My Pages
Development of My Pages also continued, focusing on improved services, expanded self-service options, and a better user experience for residents.
Digitization of requisition books
The department completed a proof-of-concept project for digitizing requisition books in 2025, laying the groundwork for full implementation by summer 2026. Introducing electronic purchase requests marks a major step toward simpler, more efficient procurement procedures, and the City will phase out paper-based requests entirely by the end of 2026. Digitized purchase requests ensure a faster procurement procedure, automated invoice processing, timely oversight, and improved traceability and safety.
Varðan
In 2025, FAS began migrating its operations manual to a new system, Varðan, and expects to complete this project in the first half of 2026. Varðan makes the department's quality documents accessible to FAS staff and across other departments, significantly improving how teams distribute instructions and forms while eliminating the manual effort previously required to update documents in multiple locations. FAS prioritized migrating these quality documents because the department now systematically documents its processes, especially those related to the City's financial systems.
Growth Lab
The department also brought two projects to the 2025 Growth Lab. Run by the Department of Service and Innovation, the Growth Lab is a service design sprint that brings together staff from across the City administration to develop new ideas, improve services, and streamline workflows. These projects focused on contract management and automation to reduce manual work, improve oversight, and increase operational efficiency.
Sæborg
Outcomes included further development and expanded use of the AI solution Sæborg, initially introduced to process property rates in 2024. Throughout the year, staff expanded the solution and increasingly used it for automated reconciliations and centralized contract oversight. Sæborg automatically cross-references submitted invoices against contracts, flags deviations from agreed terms, and supports more targeted oversight and better visibility into contract performance. This automation simplified workflows, increased traceability, and optimized staff resources. The first centralized contracts will move to automated oversight in fall 2026, with full implementation across all contracts planned for spring 2028.
More efficient financial services
Overall, 2025 brought steady progress in digital solutions, increased automation, and stronger data management. These projects delivered more efficient financial services, greater transparency, and a stronger information base for Reykjavík City managers and staff.
