AAC NACo


ect need to understand that modernizing an ERP system is a significant investment in the organization’s financial manage- ment infrastructure. Te benefits you’ll receive from the proj- ect are directly related to the work that goes into it. To be successful, focus on best practices in change manage- ment, process improvement, project management and organi- zational governance. Based on our experience with ERP sys- tems, GFOA has also identified a few critical lessons:


• Analyze business processes and define requirements.


All projects should start out with clearly defined goals and requirements that are based on the individual government’s processes, well understood by both the government and the vendor, and continuously tracked throughout the project. It’s also critical that requirements, processes, and decisions are documented. Te project team should be held responsible for demonstrating that all requirements and project goals have been completed. • Ensure proper staffing. Vendors that claim to have un-


covered the secrets to an “easy” ERP project are selling a fan- tasy. All ERP projects should clearly identify sufficient staffing levels, and organizations must be prepared to commit staff and potentially back-fill existing positions. • Ask difficult questions. To avoid repeating bad processes in a new system, organizations must be prepared to bring in


NEWS FROM NACo Continued From Page 49 <<<


new ideas, to challenge the status quo, and to engage in dis- cussion and debate about future policies and business process. • Hold the vendor accountable. Vendors that sell the ben-


efits of an ERP system need to be held accountable for de- livering their products and services. Tis includes milestone- based pricing, a warranty on the project requirements, clear criteria for system and deliverable acceptance, and service- level agreements.


Old technology likely to produce poor results A government that operates an old, outdated technology is


probably experiencing some or all of the following inefficiencies behind the scenes, as staff works to satisfy the information needs of department heads, executives, elected officials and the public:


• Redundant entry of data and duplication of effort • Unnecessary paper-based processes that require significant manual intervention • Excessive use of shadow systems to track critical data • Significant time spent reconciling errors • Inconsistent application of policies and controls • Inconsistent, fragmented, or incomplete data • A high number of interfaces or customizations, and • Outdated processes that fail to take advantage of new stan- dards and expectations.


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50


COUNTY LINES, WINTER 2019


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