Legislature gives ERP the green light
Seven agencies to get tech upgrade

Originally Published in Statewise Fall 2009

by Barbara Neyens

The effort to modernize the state's human resources (HR)/payroll and financial systems took a step forward with the approval of enterprise resource planning (ERP) funding for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), the Department of Information Resources (DIR) and the five Health and Human Services (HHS) agencies.

TxDOT and DIR will use this funding to replace both HR/payroll and financial systems, while the HHS agencies will be upgrading HR/payroll only.

"We are going to host the solution for the agency, and we're going to work with all the agencies as they join the project to make sure that their business needs are met by the solution," says Sandra Woodruff, Special Projects section manager.

Now that the funding is in place, the ERP process is moving quickly. Comptroller staff have already met with representatives of each of the funded agencies to discuss the project, and planning is under way for the procurement process.

"Once the implementation vendor is on board, we'll have the project plan and timeline finalized," Woodruff says. "We would like to have a vendor on board in October, and we're hopeful that the vendors will have some creative solutions to ensure our success."

Time is of the essence, because the ERP project managers have already set their first deadline. "We want to have part of ERP implemented by Jan. 1, 2011, so we can demonstrate concrete results," Woodruff says. "Then we'll have the rest of ERP implemented for those agencies by Aug. 31, 2011."

For the most up-to-date information on the ERP process, check the Texas ERP website.