Brian Zrimsek, Research Vice President for Gartner Research, addressed the newly-formed OAKS Cabinet Advisory Group on April 2 (see related story). Zrimsek supported the OAKS approach, which is designed to leverage the best practices inherent in commercially available Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems.

Using the term package-enabled re-engineering, Zrimsek stressed the benefit of relying on ERP functionality, which mirrors best-practices learned through years of refining the applications. Business processes should be changed to meet the package where possible, Zrimsek said and cautioned that the application should only be changed when true value is obvious.

Zrimsek went on to compare the average costs of an ERP system to the costs of both in-house application development and stand-alone commercial applications. The total cost of ownership for a custom-built application, according to Gartner research, is 60 percent higher than package applications and 135 percent higher than ERP systems.

Zrimsek acknowledged the importance of the top-down support for OAKS. Having the right people assigned to the project is key.

"These are the people who can make change happen," Zrimsek said. "These are people who have the same vision as those at the top and who are empowered to make decisions and to make change happen."

The ERP software is just an enabler, Zrimsek stressed. A more important aspect of OAKS, he said, will be how the state chooses to use the ERP tool to change the way it does business.