For the past year, city, county and state governments have been implementing enterprise resource planning software suites to repair, upgrade and streamline business and technology operations.
Spurred initially by the need for Year 2000 compliance, civic agencies have leveraged financial management, human resources management and other ERP applications to achieve improved access to data, cross-functional integration, ease of use and increased automation. Within the next year, they plan to incorporate World Wide Web-enabled versions of ERP to realize such efficiencies as electronic procurement.
But none of that has come easy. By all accounts, implementing ERP takes time, and there is a steep learning curve. "You have to grow live instead of going live," said Gregg Jacob, the information systems and services manager for Tuolumne County, Calif. "It's a heuristic process. You can't expect to get it right the first time."
Still, in the end, these customers are seeing the hard work pay off as they learn to take advantage of the off-the-shelf tools and capabilities offered by PeopleSoft Inc. and SAP America Inc.
"A good example of using the Y2K issue to take a positive step forward is ERP in the state and local government. Here, they are making a more strategic business investment in software than they had before," said Dennis Drogseth, research director for Enterprise Management Associates, Boulder, Colo.
Other analysts also have observed local government's use of ERP as a launching pad for improving overall use of technology. "With the naming of [chief information officers], the focus has become more critical. CIOs are making strategic decisions about what technology they want to implement, and ERP allows them to get a snapshot of what is really going on across the jurisdiction," said Rishi Sood, principal analyst for Dataquest, Mountain View, Calif.
To simplify the process, most ERP customers are bringing the applications online in several phases. They move on to new applications or new users after each success.
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