Statewide ERP Project Completed in Arkansas

SAP Public Services Inc. and Deloitte Consulting have completed implementation of SAP e-government solutions for all 148 Arkansas state agencies, the companies announced July 10.

The extensive implementation of SAP's enterprise resource planning software for financial and human resources brings more than 35,000 state employees into a shared, integrated administrative system.

The new, SAP-powered system will be the foundation for future state e-government initiatives, company and state officials said.

Prime contractor SAP of Newtown Square, Pa., received about $25 million for the project. Subcontractor Deloitte Consulting of New York did not disclose the value of its share. The Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration was the lead agency on the project.

The 16-month project, which began in March 2000, was completed on time and within budget, the companies said. In addition to designing, developing and implementing the system, SAP and Deloitte trained about 2,000 public employees to operate and maintain the system.

The Arkansas Administrative Statewide Information System will allow employees to access a variety of administrative functions, including asset and financial management, budget, procurement, human resources, materials management and payroll. The SAP solution provides a common platform for multiple administrative functions, enables better data access and allows compatibility between agency systems.

The SAP solutions automate many functions previously done manually, such as reducing redundant data entry and improving financial controls. The e-procurement capabilities of the system operate from requisition to payment and reduce the purchasing procedure from 42 steps to seven.