Report to the 86th Legislature: CAPPS — ERP in Texas

CAPPS Program Oversight

Implementing a statewide ERP financials and HR/payroll solution in Texas is no small task. By implementing CAPPS in phases, CPA and participating agencies are learning from previous deployments while improving upon those to come. Each year the CAPPS project team and the CAPPS Managed Services provider develop a detailed lessons learned document used to improve processes for future years. Since the CAPPS program began in November 2009, the ProjectONE/CAPPS effort has undergone regular reviews. Each group of agencies deployed on CAPPS Central is treated as a separate project. All projects undergo oversight by the state’s Quality Assurance Team (QAT) that includes the SAO, LBB, CPA and DIR. The QAT requires regular updates on project status and a final report when a project completes.

This approach provides the opportunity to:

• Manage the large, complex, multi-year CAPPS ERP effort as a series of smaller, focused projects with clear, definable goals subject to oversight.
• Make process and project improvements. With each project, areas for improvement are identified that enhance the overall effort to produce a refined and effective CAPPS deployment plan.

In addition, General Appropriations Act, Article I, Rider 16, 85th Legislature, Regular Session, Report on the Implementation of the Centralized Accounting and Payroll/Personnel System, requires CPA to report annually to the LBB by October 1st of each fiscal year on the status of the implementation of CAPPS.

In October 2017, the SAO issued The Office of the Comptroller of Public Accounts’ Controls Over the Centralized Accounting Payroll/Personnel System (Report No. 18-002). The SAO’s overall conclusion was that the CPA has implemented controls and processes governing the operation of CAPPS. The SAO provided several recommendations; CPA implemented many activities and processes by August 2018.

In March 2018, CPA issued a request for proposals to solicit proposals to conduct a readiness assessment for a SSAE 18 Audit, SOC 1, Type II, of CAPPS. The results of the engagement provided CPA with the control objectives and control tests that would be used to evaluate CAPPS during an SSAE audit and provide recommendations for improvements and identification of any significant weaknesses. CPA will seek to have annual SSAE 18 Audits performed on CAPPS beginning fiscal 2019.

Lastly, CPA has contracted for an independent analysis of the ERP program to identify, inform and educate CPA management and staff on areas of weakness and risk to the ERP Program, and to propose solutions for improvement, remediation and/or mitigation. To date, CPA has received two reports for consideration and action.