Education

Yes. I think that it is practical and necessary to put your “best” on the project. The alternative is putting your “less than best” people on the project and setting up the system in a way that doesn’t set up that foundation for future success. We recommend that you don’t completely remove those individuals from…

What is the typical life cycle of an ERP system?From our research and experience, ERP systems need to be upgraded regularly. Most governments hold onto a system for 15-20 years between entire replacement projects. However, poor implementations, or lack of regular upgrades will require a shift much sooner (10-12 years is not unusual).

1) Current vendor no longer supporting system 2) Your business processes are fragmented, not consistent, rely on shadow systems or manual work 3) Your original system implementation did not fully implement the planned scope 4) The system itself presents business continuity risk from security issues, lack of internal support, or technology compatibility issues 5) Future…

Core ERP (finance, procurement, HR, payroll) should be part of one system. It creates too many issues if your split up this “integrated core” Extended functions however, which in the past may have been modules of an enterprise-wide system such as utility billing, permitting, recruiting, etc. can be (and in my opinion should be) evaluated…

Don’t limit training to only the system. Remember these are change projects and users must understand why they doing tasks in the way that is now required. Train on business process, train on chart of accounts, train on policies that are different. Also, assume training doesn’t end with go-live.

MDGFOA will be hard at work over the Autumn and Winter updating our content for the Intermediate Governmental Accounting Seminar. The GFOA released a new Blue Book over the summer of 2020. As well, new uniform guidelines are rolling out. We will send out notification once a date is scheduled in the Spring for IGAS.

Congratulations to Maryland’s newest CPFOs! Pamela S. Diaz, Assistant Director of Commissioners, Allegany County Commissioners, MD Mary S. Martin, Senior Management and Budget Analyst, City of Rockville, MD