November 17, 2022
November NextGen Newsletter
The NextGen Project aims to modernize the state’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system by replacing PeopleSoft Financials and Human Capital Management with a new cloud-based solution that will propel Georgia government into the forefront of technology and change the way we do business. Click here to learn more.
What’s New
The NextGen project is marking another milestone! After a rigorous evaluation process, the team has selected Ernst and Young (EY) as its process mapping vendor. EY will engage agency representatives in a current state analysis that will serve as a baseline for future state development and implementation of best practices with the new cloud-based ERP system.
Over the past few weeks, the NextGen Change Management Lead has surveyed project team members and subject matter experts who assisted with software solution evaluations earlier this year. These surveys will provide a baseline for the team to determine the efficacy of our communications, future training and overall project understanding. For those who completed the survey, thank you for your input. Your feedback is invaluable to the success of NextGen. Surveys will be one of the tools we will be using again in the future. The surveys will be a critical means of collecting data and input, so please keep an eye on your inbox for future opportunities to help shape the NextGen project.
Surveys, newsletters and other NextGen communications will primarily be sent from the [email protected] mailbox. In recent communications, we learned that many of our emails are getting caught in spam filters. To ensure you receive our communications, you will need to allow NextGen as a Sender. If you need assistance with that process, you can follow the instructions outlined in the “How to check Spam for NextGen emails” document on the NextGen website homepage: sao.ga.gov/NextGen.
We would like to thank all the agency heads and their teams who attended our Fall 2022 Virtual NextGen Townhall on Nov. 16. The Townhall provided a general project overview, status updates and details about what’s on the horizon for the NextGen project. Participation and engagement from all of our state organizations is vital to the success of this project. If you missed the Townhall, you can view the presentation on the NextGen website homepage: sao.ga.gov/NextGen.
The NextGen team is continuing efforts to ensure a thorough evaluation and selection is conducted to acquire the right solution for agency needs.
What’s Next
EY will begin process mapping activities by sending a survey to HR Directors, Agency Procurement Officers and Chief Financial Officers. The survey will be asking questions about:
- Agency processes
- Processes completed outside of TeamWorks
- Software solutions outside of TeamWorks used to complete business processes
- List of agency representatives to participate in upcoming process mapping workshops
Surveys are due Dec. 2.
Following the surveys, EY will begin scheduling 3-hour workshops with groups of agency representatives to review current processes, address pain points and identify deviations from enterprise standards. These workshops are critical. This is the opportunity for agencies to have a seat at the table in determining what our future ERP system looks like. Please encourage your staff to participate in these mapping activities when requested.
You Oughta Know
Below you will find the definitions of some helpful terminology and / or acronyms that we’ll refer to throughout our project.
ERP: Enterprise Resource Planning is a set of common business practices and a software system that implements core business practices across an organization. A complete ERP system combines business functions (finance, procurement, budget, payroll and HR) across an organization’s main resources – its people, money, information and assets – and provides decision makers with real-time enterprise information.
Process mapping: Outlines the individual steps within a process, identifying suppliers (data origination), inputs (what data), process steps (what happens to the data), outputs (what is produced from the data) and customers (who gets what was produced).
Change management: A systematic approach to dealing with the transition or transformation of an organization's goals, processes or technologies. It ensures there is a consistent understanding of changes, provides communication avenues and resources to assist affected stakeholders, reduces the information vacuum and helps ensure that changes are implemented smoothly.
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Questions about NextGen? Email us at [email protected] or visit sao.ga.gov/nextgen.