FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Laurel Butman, 503-823-6806
August 20, 2009
CITY OF PORTLAND SAP SOFTWARE SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION A SUCCESS
City Council Recognizes Project Team & Commends Award-winning Process
(Portland, OR) The City’s extensive EBS Project is now active for HCM, the personnel administration and payroll phase of SAP. Live deployment of this phase completes the installation of the primary modules needed for the City to retire its aging 1989 mainframe system and change over to a new modern integrated SAP enterprise software system for business operations.
The EBS Executive Steering Committee (ESC) and Project Advisory Committee (PAC) and a citizen advisory panel convened by the Mayor all concurred that the City was ready to activate the new system. Transactions for time entry and personnel action entry began in the system the morning of June 18 and the first 7,377 paychecks out of SAP were successfully delivered to City employees on July 2. Thus, the human resources side of the new system joins the financial elements that have been in successful operation since a smooth go-live last November.
The City’s experience using the new system over the last several months has reaped many benefits:
- real time data, eliminating delays in financial status
- drill down capability for transactional details
- attached documentation providing a full accounting of transactions
- on-line approvals, reducing paperwork and increasing accuracy
- improved fraud controls
- reduced paper use overall
This is an exciting step for the City and project leaders as well as the City Council are thankful to everyone who has worked so long and hard to bring this to fruition. This project is a great example of how, through teamwork, City employees can achieve great accomplishments.
The EBS Project recently received two awards. The Government Finance Officers’ Association bestowed an Award for Excellence in Government Finance in the field of E-government and Technology May 26th. On June 1, the Computerworld Honors Program named the City a Laureate, in recognition of advancement in the use of technology. Both awards recognize the vision, creativity in design and implementation, and technical significance that the project represents for City operations and for the public.
The City Council will recognize the EBS Project, its team, and the awards at its August 26 meeting at 9:30 (time certain).
