The city turns to SAP
New enterprise reporting program brings
business management into the 21st century
By Dave Schafer
It’s like switching from a typewriter to a word processor.
On July 1, SAP, a new software program, will bring the city’s enterprise reporting program into the 21st century, said John Silva, change management leader for HoustonOne, the team implementing the change. The enterprise reporting program is used for payroll, accounting, purchasing, financials, materials management and human resources.
“You’re basically doing the same thing, still hitting keys, but you have so many more options with SAP, and so many more benefits,” Silva said.
Last April, City Council approved $22.7 million for SAP to replace the nine-year-old AMS Advantage program the city has been using for enterprise reporting.
The summer 2005 City Savvy reported SAP would change the culture of the city by standardizing ERP functions among departments and by breaking down information barriers. It will also align the city with computer systems that are widely used in the private sector.
The new ERP will be implemented in two phases. (See ERP box.) On July 1, employees will use SAP to manage the purchasing and financial systems, such as budgets, grants, contracts, project accounting and procurement.
Tear down the wall
During this phase, SAP should usher in faster delivery of materials, such as parts and office supplies, and knock down the walls of bureaucracy that have grown around departments.
Under the AMS Advantage program, each department has its own purchase approval process, which can require many forms and signature approvals. SAP will bring one citywide process. Purchases of less than $3,000 will require only one approval.
“This will reduce the time from order to having it in hand from perhaps weeks to a few days,” Silva said. Employees will also be able to track shipments from retailers to delivery.
Also under SAP, inventory lists can be shared among city warehouses. For example, employees checking the Aviation inventory warehouse can also see the Police warehouse inventory.
“This opens up info to everybody,” Silva said.
How am I ever going to remember all this?
By allowing for real-time or instantaneous transactions, SAP will make his department’s job easier and allow for a “clean, crisp” delivery of services to customers inside and outside the city, said David Tanner, IT operations supervisor in the Controller’s Office.
Today, when a purchase is made, AMS updates the budget that night, meaning fund availability is unknown for a day. SAP will update the fund figures instantly, Tanner said.
SAP will also significantly cut the three to four months it now takes with AMS to complete the city’s financial report. Departments can analyze financial facts and figures in thousands of ways by requesting hundreds of reports. And vendor payments will be speedier.
To ease the pain of the transition, employees who will be using SAP will receive up to two days of hands-on training in May and June, Silva said. An ERP support team will help employees through the learning bumps.
return to the top
| 
