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Weekly UpdatesIt is not uncommon for a government to spend many months procuring an enterprise system and then contracting with software and services vendors only to delay the project right at the outset. Why? The government had not prepared itself to begin the project. A false start on an ERP project can be a costly undertaking and, just as importantly, it can breed skepticism about the likely success of the enterprise project. GFOA is increasingly being asked to provide advisory services to help governments get better prepared to implement enterprise software and to structure the project for success.
What actions should the organization be taking now to get prepared? What changes will an ERP system bring to the organization? How will employees be affected? What are the likely business process impacts? A mid-size county government in California recently found itself asking these very questions after the GFOA Research and Consulting Center completed a technology needs assessment on its behalf. Although the business case for replacing the existing system had clearly been made, the county wanted to protect its future investment by making sure it could tackle a complex ERP implementation project. That is when county administrators turned to GFOA to help them assess the organization's readiness.
THE IMPLEMENTATION READINESS PROCESS
GFOA consultants organized the work in two main phases. The object of the first phase--prototyping--was to map several county business processes. These processes included budget development, grants administration, procurement, and payroll. Once these processes had been mapped, they were then compared to the processes embedded in leading ERP systems to assess the possible impacts on county business functions.
Second, GFOA interviewed county staff to assess implementation readiness in four major areas--project governance, technology, change management/training, and implementation staffing. For each of these areas, GFOA provided an assessment rating to identify any significant gaps between the ideal state of readiness and the county's current position. An assessment rating of green meant that no gaps existed and that the county was fully prepared for implementation. A yellow assessment rating meant that while there were some gaps, these gaps were unlikely to jeopardize the success of the project if either they were not closed at all or were closed after the implementation had begun. For readiness gaps that posed a significant risk to project success, GFOA assigned a red assessment rating.
The following paragraphs identify some of the key issues considered in assigning readiness ratings for the four implementation categories.
Project Governance. Does the organization have any experience implementing projects as complex as ERP? Is the organization familiar with any project management methodologies? Has the organization developed a project governance structure for the upcoming implementation?
Technology. Does the organization already have specific technology standards in place? Is there connectivity throughout the organization? Does the organization have experience with ERP-like technologies? What level of technological expertise does the organization possess in-house?
Change Management/Training. What communication vehicles are in place? How effective are those vehicles? Does the organization have organizational development expertise on staff to assess job change impacts? How successfully has training been conducted in the past?
Implementation Staffing. Have project team members been identified? How will day-to-day activities continue to get accomplished? What is the backfill plan? Has the organization committed appropriate resources to the project?
FINAL REPORT AND NEXT STEPS
Upon the completion of process mapping and interviewing, GFOA consultants provided a comprehensive implementation readiness report. This report not only included the assessment ratings previously described, but also a number of other items to help the government prepare for ERP implementation. These items included a sample project charter, a timeline for project room set-up, a timeline for sizing hardware, roles and responsibilities for key implementation team members, estimated staffing requirements for the implementation and post-implementation, and selection criteria for team member selection.
Governments that take the time to conduct an implementation readiness assessment are finding the exercise to be a worthwhile one, especially if they are taking action based on the assessment findings. The client described in this article used the sample project charter provided in the implementation readiness report as a basis to formally designate and convene an executive steering committee. The charter has been the catalyst for engaging executive stakeholders in the process of delineating the guiding principles and business drivers for the new ERP system. These guiding principles and business drivers will be beneficial in outlining the changes the organization must absorb with the implementation of a new enterprise system.
The county is using the report to develop strategies to close the gaps identified in certain areas of the assessment. For example, the county is planning to offer basic financial training prior to the implementation so that end users will be able to take full advantage of the functionality of the new financial system. This strategy could also benefit the county in implementing a backfill plan, as more employees gain additional skill sets from the financial management perspective.
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