The State of North Dakota. proudly submits to the NASCIO Awards Committee

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "The State of North Dakota. proudly submits to the NASCIO Awards Committee"

Aubrey Carr
6 years ago
Views:

1 The State of North Dakota proudly submits to the NASCIO Awards Committee Office of Management and Budget Central Service s Vendor Registry Work Request System in the Government to Business category

2 B. Executive Summary The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) set a goal to improve Vendor Registry accessibly state-wide. These initiatives involved creating a system used by state agencies to request vendor additions and edits, submit questions regarding 1099 s, and purchase orders. OMB partnered with Information Technology Department (ITD) to work on this Vendor Registry project. ITD designed the Vendor Registry Work Request System, a customized web-based system, to meet OMB s initiatives. The benefits of the Vendor Registry Work Request System are incredible. By providing a centralized location for all work orders, Registry staff is able to process requests more efficiently eliminating duplication of efforts. Prior requests were communicated via ; this system alleviated thousands of s. It also transfers necessary paperwork directly into the enterprise document management system eliminating many staff hours of scanning and verifying documents. The variety of search criteria allows agencies and staff to search for requests more efficiently. Prior to this new system, reporting features were unavailable. These features are important to identify and track progress, which allows opportunities for improvement. The Vendor Registry Work Request system ensures secure data exchanges by using a secure SSL certificate. This system has provided incredible cost savings of time, paper and labor. Because this is a custom built solution it should transfer quite well to any other state using the FileNet system. I hope this project provides some ideas to you on how you can improve your states interaction. Thank you for your consideration. Sincerely, Dr. Lisa Feldner ND CIO Page 2 of 6

C. Description Business Need/Problem: Office of Management and Budget s (OMB) Vendor Registry provides service to a number of customers from every state agency.

3 C. Description Business Need/Problem: Office of Management and Budget s (OMB) Vendor Registry provides service to a number of customers from every state agency. These customers include state accounts payable personnel, purchase order users and administrators, and some fiscal officers in charge of 1099 reporting. Currently, all requests from these individuals come through Outlook , both dedicated and personal accounts. There can be anywhere from s per month for setting up new Vendor accounts or maintaining Vendor accounts. The 1099 information is maintained on spreadsheets, one for each agency which amounts to separate documents. What is harder to track but is also very time consuming are the many s back and forth with agencies for questions and assistance with purchasing. The following 4 items are the key business objectives the system needs to solve. Solution: Security/Authorization Improve security to ensure agency staff making requests on behalf of vendors is authorized to submit the request. This system would provide clear customer authorization for Vendor Registry staff to make adjustments on agency purchase orders, requisitions, 1099 reporting, and to set up vendors according to agency instructions. Access and Workload allow Vendor Registry staff to work on any request, no matter what stage the request is in. This improves processing times and provides backup support. Retrieval and Reporting There is no real reporting using the current system of s. The system will deliver reporting on a number of topics. This is the most measurable improvement. Records Retention There are three different records sets with different retention periods that are virtually impossible to manage via . Vendor Registry is currently unable to retain any requests for the defined period of time and has no way of identifying the specific vendor ID attached to each . The system will allow each record set to be managed as scheduled. There were three proposed solutions: keeping as is; developing an "add-on" solution to PeopleSoft that some other states have used or have ITD build a custom application. After considering each alternative, the team decided that the benefits of designing their own system outweighed the concerns of the cost. They felt that the ITD estimate was comparable to similar custom-designed systems. The ITD solution was chosen. ITD designed a customized web-based system that allows agency and Higher Ed users to log in and request help with a vendor, 1099 correction, or Purchasing issue. It Page 3 of 6

4 provides access for all Vendor Registry staff and gives agencies the ability to see if their request is pending or still in queue. Security/Authorization setup Workflow Reporting The system uses Active Directory (AD) for access. All users of the system are required to have Active Directory accounts. Agency staff submits a request to Vendor Registry to get access to the application. After Vendor Registry staff approve the request, the application is added to the users AD account. The system allows more than one user the ability to work on incoming requests. It provides the ability to assign requests as necessary. In the case of absences, other Vendor Registry staff can access and continue processing the requests. This feature provides a measurable improvement in response time to requests. The new reporting feature provides the ability to determine: a. Accurate volume of requests within each area: i. Vendor Requests ii. 1099s iii. Purchasing Requests b. Which agency or college is the largest customer c. Who is having difficulty and needs training d. If specific services or system processes need to be adjusted or added This information can be used to improve service, deploy training, and provide improved customer service. Records Retention The system now allows for management of the three primary retention periods: a. Retention for support and changes to purchase orders is 6 years b. Retention for 1099 corrections is 13 years c. Any vendor documentation (requests, forms, etc.) should be kept for the life of the vendor, or until it is purged from the PeopleSoft system. The system was developed in Java/Websphere using Oracle as the data repository. All application data will be transmitted securely using a SSL certificate. It will secure user access to functionality using Microsoft Active Directory accounts/groups. The system leverages the state s enterprise document management solution (FileNet). The project used the state s project management methodology ( Schedule/Budget Metrics The project completed in 6 months (9.2%) behind baseline schedule, however the customer requested the project schedule be extended to accommodate additional functionality requested during acceptance testing. The original budget was $53,040. The actual cost was $44,371 for a 16.3% under budget variance. Page 4 of 6

5 Implementation: The system was moved to production in June The application was rolled out to agencies in six stages starting in November 1, 2011; with the last agency coming on the board December 6, Training for the customers was provided through s and a written instruction manual. D. Significance The Vendor Registry Work Request System provided an automated solution to more efficiently and effectively process customer requests. This solution aligns with OMB s goal of Improve, Upgrade and Leverage Our Technological Capabilities. The benefit to the public and taxpayers is a more efficient use of their tax dollars. The duties involved with setting up vendors for agency payments used to take a full FTE. With the implementation of this system, we are now able to add additional responsibilities to this individual as the process no longer requires 40 hours per week. Agency staff saw this project provide an easy interface to the Vendor Registry system, the ability to check on request statuses and assurance that all of the required data was correctly submitted. OMB staff gained a proficiency in handling requests and reporting capabilities that did not previously exist. The project aligned with the #1 NASCIO priority of Consolidation/Optimization by optimizing the work processes of the Vendor Registry staff. It also aligns with the #9 Priority Technology, Application and Tools of Document/Records management. The solution provides better security of requests, access by Vendor Registry staff to share workloads, authorization to make changes to agency data, reporting and monitoring of statistics, and records retention of these requests. E. Benefit of the Project Return on Investment is in the form of accuracy, accountability, and faster service to our customers. The benefits to the Vendor Registry section and agencies that utilize the system are increased efficiency and accuracy in processing the requests. Having a centralized location for all work orders has negated the use of individual accounts which has allowed Vendor Registry staff to process requests in a timelier manner and eliminates duplication of efforts with staff. Requiring consistent specific information when filling out the requests has reduced unnecessary communication with agencies in order to obtain the information needed to accurately process the request. Page 5 of 6

Approximately 2241 requests have been received and processed through the Vendor Registry Work Request System from November 2011 through May 2012.

6 Approximately 2241 requests have been received and processed through the Vendor Registry Work Request System from November 2011 through May In comparison to the same time period last year, this would have involved working through s. If we estimate just five minutes per , this equates to a savings of 183 hours over the seven month period. The report feature was non-existent prior to the new system. Through reporting, staff is now able to do auditing and statistics for things like: staff completing requests, comments regarding the request, turn-around-time, requestor name and verification of input data. It also provides an easy audit trail on vendors to identify those who made the initial request for set up or to make any modifications. Reporting capabilities are also available to the agencies. The new system transfers necessary paperwork directly into FileNet, saving approximately 4 hours per week in scanning and verification of documents and an estimated 82% reduction in printing and scanning of documents. This also equates to a savings of 82% in paper stock, toner and machine usage (printer and scanner). Approximately 3500 documents were entered into Filenet from November 2011 through May FileNet allows OMB to utilize records retention so each scanned document is appropriately managed. Page 6 of 6

Oracle Approvals Management (AME) drives approvals of Invoice images. Julie Peters, Equinix, Inc. Carin Chase, IT Convergence, Inc.

Oracle Approvals Management (AME) drives email approvals of Invoice images Julie Peters, Equinix, Inc. Carin Chase, IT Convergence, Inc. Agenda Goals of this Session Solution Overview Business Pain Points