HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003-04-01 City Council (5)City of Palo Alto
Manager’s Rep r
TO:HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL
ATTENTION: FINANCE COMMITTEE
FROM:CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT: ADMINISTRATIVE
SERVICES
DATE:APRIL 1, 2003 CMR: 207:03
SUBJECT:QUARTERLY UPDATE ON THE ENTERPRISE RESOURCE
PLANNING SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION OR (RESOURCE
AND FINANCIAL TRACKING SYSTEM, RAFTS)
This is an informational report and no Council action is required.
BACKGROUND
On July 22, 2002, Council approved staff proceeding with: the purchase of a software
license and services agreement with SAP, Inc; a professional services agreement with ea
Consulting, Inc., to conduct the software implementation; and an agreement with the
Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) to assist with implementation
oversight. Council requested that staff provide quarterly reports on the status of the
project. This is the third quarterly report and it contains an update on work completed
since the middle of December 2002.
DISCUSSION
Project Status
The Resource and Financial Tracking System Project will be implemented over two
phases in an 18-month period. Phase I will include the functions of financials, project
management, procurement and inventory management and work orders. Phase I will go
live in July 2003. Phase II includes payroll and human resources, and it will go live
January 2004. This status report covers Phase I implementations with a plan update for
Phase II.
Since the last report to the Finance Committee, staff completed two major milestones, the
"blue-print" process and the Business Process Procedures (BPP). The blue print stage is
an important step in the implementation, since team members must gather business
process requirements for each area involved in order to start the system configuration.
This process was time consuming since team members conducted meetings with users
CMR:207:03 Page 1 of 3
from each department to gather requirements. Team members explored best practices or
best use of the SAP system by attending SAP courses and working with ea Consulting to
expand on the basic BPPs embedded in the SAP software configuration. The BPPs
provide staff with online step-by-step procedures for every function being implemented.
Some of the critical BPPs were expanded to include very detailed information and to
generate training materials for end user training. GFOA staff is also providing best
practices advice during each step of the implementation. Each project team is working
concurrently and managed by leads consisting of City staff and ea Consulting.
Other major accomplishments for the period are:
Training plans were developed for power (highend) users as well as course
outlines for end users.
An enhanced employee communications plan was developed that includes an
internal newsletter, sound bites, and an intranet website to update employees
on the project status.
System use authorization tables for each module were developed, to be
reviewed by the City Auditor.
Project education and orientations were held with departments.
Basic system configuration was completed for each module.
Completed 65 percent of master data conversions.
Items to be accomplished in the next quarter are:
System inte~ation testing and limited modification as needed for Phase I
Complete end user training materials for classroom instruction
Train the trainers (City staff will become trainers who will then train end users
to avoid consulting costs)
Train end users
System performance validation
Staff created a RAFTS Phase I progess chart (Attachment A) that provides a picture of
project progess. This is based on the steps necessary to complete the implementation
and go live on July 1, 2003. The shaded area marked ~pro~ess" represents the
completed tasks.
In partnership with ea Consulting, a RAFT team training plan was developed and
commenced at SAP to familiarize the team with system functionality. Approximately
117 employees have attended SAP training on the various functions of Phase I. The
training has been instrumental in the development of employees’ system ~knowledge and
an enhancement to the ea partnership in configuring the SAP system.
CMR:207:03 Page 2 of 3
RESOURCE IMPACT
Utilities staff identified a wider group of users due to the vast capabilities of the work
orders module and has requested to expand the number of trainees to better suit the
department business needs. The Utilities department is requesting $12,000 to train
additional employees.
As a result of experiences during Phase I, staff intends to move up the preparation and
SAP system training for Phase II from next fiscal year to this fiscal year. The lesson
learned during Phase I is that the more familiarity staff has with SAP functionalities, the
better the transfer of "knowledge becomes and the easier it is to establish the blue print
and configuration requirements. Staff proposes to move up $23,000 in training from the
next fiscal year to this fiscal year to train Payroll, Human Resources and Information
Technology personnel. The funding for both requests will come from existing budgets
within the Enterprise and General Funds. The earlier training allows staff more time to
prepare for and implement Phase II. Staff will present Council with a separate CMR
requesting the increase of $35,000 to the SAP contract for SAPsystem training in the
Month of April.
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT
Approval of this agreement does not constitute a project under the California
Environmental Quality; Act (CEQA); therefore, no environmental assessment is required.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment 1
PREPARED BY:
Phase I progress chart ]
LALO PEREZ
Assistant Director, ASD
.!RON FON.G c~-
Manager, Information Technology
DEPARTMENTAL HEAD APPROVAL:
CARL YE~FS
Director, ~dministrative Services
CITY MANAGER APPROVAL"
EMILY HARRISON
Assistant City Manager
CMR:207:03 Page 3 of 3
ATTACHMENT A
Project tLgFTS Status Report 03/03
QA System Set UpBlue-Printing Started
Official Project Start Blue-Print Sign-off Interfaces Designed
Production System
Set Up Training Completed GO LIVE t.!!
System Accepted
Blue-Prin
PROGRESS
Change Management ~Develop Reports
Process Starts ~and Forms Specifications
Development Environment
Setup
Feb
~- "
Training Material
Preparation
Data Conversion
Processes
Defined
May
I ntegration Testing
Completed
Fin4 Prep to G ive
Jun
Jun 30, 2003
CMR:207:03