Are you ready to implement an ERP system? GFOA assists a mid-size county.(Solutions)(Enterprise Resource Planning )(Government Finance Officers Association )

It 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 ...