Monday, November 23, 2009
   

OAKS at a Glance
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OAKS at a Glance
Select a topic below.
 
Scope Benefits
Participants Funding Strategies
Recent Activities Implementation Timeline
Estimated Costs

Transforming the Way Ohio Does Business
The Ohio Administrative Knowledge System (OAKS), is a project in which Ohio's state government is viewed as an enterprise, replacing numerous decaying and fragmented systems around the state with one integrated computer system for performing some of the State's primary administrative tasks.

In 2002 the Ohio Department of Administrative Services (DAS), Auditor of State (AOS), Office of Budget and Management (OBM), Office of Information Technology (OIT), and Treasurer of State (TOS) assessed the state's existing central administrative computer systems and determined that an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system would be a better tool for performing the State's critical central business functions.

An ERP system is a type of software that supports administrative functions, such as finance and human resources, that cut across an entire organization, or enterprise. ERPs are widely used in private industry, and many federal agencies, states, counties, and large cities have implemented or are in the process of installing public sector ERP systems.

The goal of OAKS is to implement this computer system as-well-as aid state agencies in re-engineering the way the state processes these kinds of administrative materials.
 
Scope
OAKS is in the process of integrating the following major statewide business functions: capital improvements, financials, fixed assets, human resources and procurement. When implemented, OAKS will replace the Central Accounting System, Fixed Assets Management System (FAMS), and the human resources system (HR2K).
 
Participants

Every state agency and every employee of the State is involved in OAKS in some way. Many state agencies have volunteered to commit staff members to the project full time, while others support this effort through managing processes and guiding discussion. All State employees are involved as well, some in executing the project deliverables and others are simply called upon to adapt and provide feed back on the OAKS self-service systems. OAKS does not only effect the State’s agencies but also includes the legislative and judicial branches of government. More than 500 individuals from 83 state agencies, boards, commissions, universities and other organizations participated in defining the nearly 2,100 business requirements, and counting, that go into building OAKS.

Continued participation from agency staff is essential during this project. When OAKS is fully functional, state agencies, state employees, vendors and citizens will be able to benefit from its advanced technology, such as "self-service" applications on the World Wide Web.
 
Recent Activities

The Ohio Administrative Knowledge System (OAKS) implemented the last of the originally planned implementations Friday, July 4. This release, known as Release 6, implemented two Financials (FIN) modules; Budget and Planning, and Asset Management. Prior releases included the FIN Billing module in January 2008 and the Purchasing, General Ledger, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, eProcurement, EPM for FIN modules, Expense, and the Central Accounting System (CAS) Data Warehouse in July 2007.

The Human Capital Management (HCM) Employee Self Service modules were first implemented in April 2007, permitting state employees to use eBenefits during the open enrollment period to make health care elections. The eBenefits module continued to be rolled out in February 2008 enabling state employees to view their health benefits summary and make changes to their health insurance coverage. The second HCM employee self service module, ePay, was released early in 2008 allowing state employees to access their own payroll records online. The third component of the HCM employee self service module, Time and Labor, will be implemented enterprise-wide in late 2008. Employees will enter Requests for Leave/Overtime directly into OAKS, as well as update their timesheets as needed for Combo Code reporting. Employees also will be able to view leave balances as of the latest published earnings statement less any approved leave.

 
Estimated Costs
The cost to implement OAKS is approximately $158 million. Included in these costs are project management consultant staff, the OAKS Program Management Office (PMO), ERP hardware and software, and ERP integrator services.
 
Benefits
Enhancing government operations requires business processes that are efficient and effective. The benefits of implementing an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system range from intangible benefits, such as improved data to support decision making, process efficiencies, and improved service levels to more tangible hard dollar savings. Within five years of full implementation, Ohio expects to realize savings from such things as:
  Leveraging the State's purchasing power;
  Increasing the use of vendor payment discounts;
  Using bar coding to conduct physical inventories;

Using "Employee Self-Service" to eliminate paper processing for many routine activities; minimizing or eliminating the need for agencies to maintain systems that duplicate the functions of OAKS; and building in "Best Practices" by using ERP software that will receive ongoing upgrades and enhancements.

 
Funding Strategies
The OAKS project is funded by a variety of sources, including the general revenue fund, federal funds through Statewide Cost Allocation Plan (SWCAP) assessments and Certificates of Participation (COPs). Once in operation, the main source of funds used to support OAKS will come from charges to state agencies for their use of the system.
 
OAKS Implementation Timeline

The OAKS project implementation schedule is segmented by human capital management (HCM) or financials (FIN) functionality:

  • FIN Release 6 - July 2008
    Asset Management, Budget and Planning

  • FIN Release 6 - June 23, 2008
    Payroll Modeling

  • HCM Release 4.1 – May 18, 2008
    Time and Labor

  • HCM Release 4 - February 4, 2008
    eBenefits

  • HCM Release 4 - January 28, 2008
    Time and Labor Pilot (DAS)

  • FIN Release 5 - January 14, 2008
    Billing

  • HCM Release 4 - December 2007
    Year-End Processing

  • FIN Release 3 - July 1, 2007
     Purchasing, General Ledger, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, eProcurement, EPM for FIN modules, Expense, and the CAS Data Warehouse

  • HCM Release 2 - March 27, 2007
    Benefits Administration, COBRA, eBenefits (open enrollment only), EPM for Benefits Administration and COBRA

  • HCM Release 1 - December 18, 2006
    Core HR, Payroll, Base Benefits, Time and Labor, ePay, Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) for HCM modules, HR2K Data Warehouse

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