A lecturer at the Department of Accounting, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Gadjah Mada (FEB UGM), Dr. Fitri Amalia, has received the Best Young Scientist Award in the Social Humanities Innovation category at the 2025 Diktisaintek Awards. The award was presented during a series of Diktisaintek Award events held on 18-20 December 2025 at Graha Dikti, the 2nd Floor of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology (Kemdiktisaintek) Building in Jakarta.
The award was conferred on Dr. Amalia in recognition of her contributions and achievements in producing social humanities innovations with tangible societal impact.
She was assessed as having successfully integrated research, technology, and community service into various strategic initiatives.
Two key innovations that led to her receiving the award were the development of the Debit-Credit Information System-Enterprise Resource Planning (SIDEK-ERP) application and the Gadjah Mada Digital Transformation Governance Index (GM-DTGI).
MSME Digitalization
The SIDEK-ERP application she has developed aims to strengthen inclusive finance for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) while also enhancing students’ digital accounting literacy at secondary and higher education levels.
The application has been developed since 2023 by a team of lecturers, research assistants, and developers from the Information Systems Research Group (BKSI) of FEB UGM, with support from corporate partner Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP).
“To date, the application has been used by more than one thousand users across various regions in Indonesia and has received positive responses from MSME actors, high school students, and university students,” Dr. Amalia said on Friday (Dec. 19, 2025).
Dr. Amalia explained that the application she designed aims to help MSMEs prepare financial reports practically and efficiently, even for business actors without a strong accounting background.
Through SIDEK-ERP, the quality of MSME business management is expected to improve, thereby supporting operational performance and business growth, while also increasing digital accounting literacy in learning processes.
“SIDEK-ERP was developed to provide solutions to various MSME business and financial management challenges, as well as digital accounting learning at the senior high school/vocational school and university levels,” she explained.
Dr. Amalia further noted that MSMEs play a vital role in Indonesia’s economy, contributing significantly to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employment absorption.
Although the number of MSMEs continues to grow, they still face various challenges, including a lack of modern business management systems, particularly in digital financial reporting.
This condition limits access to formal financing and is most evident in the difficulty of obtaining funding.
“This is largely due to the absence of structured and transparent financial reporting, as many still rely on manual record-keeping. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is one information system that can help MSMEs overcome this challenge by integrating various business functions, such as finance, production, marketing, and inventory management, into a single platform,” she elaborated.
By using ERP systems, Dr. Amalia continued, MSMEs can improve operational efficiency, reduce administrative errors, and accelerate data-driven decision-making.
Moreover, ERP systems help MSMEs generate accurate and real-time financial reports, which are a key requirement for gaining the trust of financial institutions such as banks and investors.
From an educational perspective, SIDEK-ERP was also developed to address the current challenge that digital accounting and ERP learning applications are not yet widely available or easily accessible.
Strengthening Digital Transformation Governance in Local Governments
Meanwhile, the GM-DTGI she developed together with a team of lecturers and assistants from BKSI FEB UGM serves as an instrument to measure and strengthen digital transformation governance in regencies and city governments across Indonesia.
The index has become a strategic reference for local governments in formulating more targeted, transparent, and sustainable digital transformation policies and has involved hundreds of local governments nationwide.
Dr. Amalia explained that GM-DTGI is designed to encourage improvements in digital transformation governance at the local government level.
GM-DTGI is an innovative index developed to assess digital transformation performance in regency and city governments.
In collaboration with the Indonesian Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs, FEB UGM developed this instrument to evaluate the implementation of the Electronic-Based Government System (SPBE) and other digital innovations applied by local governments throughout Indonesia.
Unlike existing digital indices, such as the Digital Government Readiness Assessment (DGRA), GovTech Maturity Index, OECD Digital Index, and the IMD World Digital Competitiveness Index, which focus on national-level measurement, GM-DTGI is the first index to specifically measure digital transformation governance at the regency and city levels.
“GM-DTGI also serves as a strategic instrument to measure readiness and the implementation of digital transformation governance in regencies and city governments across Indonesia. The assessment uses 50 comprehensive indicators to provide data-driven evaluations and strategic guidance for improving digital effectiveness, efficiency, and transparency,” she explained.
Furthermore, Dr. Amalia noted that GM-DTGI is built upon seven main supporting pillars: Governance and Leadership; Regulations and Policies; Public Administration Reform and Change Management; Data Governance; Digital Ecosystems; User-Centered Platform Design; and Cybersecurity and Privacy. GM-DTGI data are collected through reviews of official government websites, verification with relevant institutions, and credible online sources.
The GM-DTGI assessment process in 2024 and 2025 involved 497–508 regency and city governments and was conducted by an Enumerator Team through direct clarification mechanisms with local governments.
Dr. Amalia expressed her gratitude for the award she received.
She acknowledged that the achievement was inseparable from the support of her colleagues at FEB UGM, including Professor Sony Warsono, the SIDEK-ERP Project Management Office (PMO) team, the GM-DTGI research team, Professor Syaiful Ali, and the Information Systems Research Group (BKSI) of FEB UGM.
She hopes the achievement will motivate her to continue developing research and innovation that deliver tangible social impact.
“Thank you. There is a sense of fulfillment when the development of SIDEK-ERP and GM-DTGI innovations brings real change, not only in academic spaces but also in the daily practices of MSME actors, students, and local governments,” she said.
The Diktisaintek Awards are an annual initiative of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology that recognizes outstanding academic figures across various fields.
Dr. Amalia’s achievement further strengthens FEB UGM’s commitment to promoting research and innovation oriented toward societal impact and meaningful contributions to national development.
Reporter: FEB UGM/Kurnia Ekaptiningrum
Author: Agung Nugroho
Post-editor: Lintang Andwyna