On January 17, 2006 the State of Ohio selected Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus Operations to provide Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) services for the Ohio Administrative Knowledge System (OAKS).

Battelle is an experienced IV&V service provider whose past projects have included private-sector companies from across the country and public sector projects at the federal, state and local level. Additionally, Battelle brings extensive experience working with the Oracle PeopleSoft application being implemented on the OAKS project. Besides receiving PeopleSoft's highest designation as a "Platinum Partner", Battelle was recently named the "Integrator of the Year" for its PeopleSoft services by the Oracle Corporation.

IV&V is a set of deliverable review activities based on standards developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). As commonly defined, validation is concerned with checking that the software meets the user's needs and verification is concerned with checking that the system is well engineered. System lifecycle best practices suggest that IV&V reviews be performed by an independent entity. For OAKS, the IV&V procurement process stipulated that these assessment services be provided by an organization other than Accenture LLP, the contractor selected to provide system integration services for the OAKS project.

The State of Ohio intends to incorporate the IV&V activities as part of the overall quality management process. Battelle will provide assessment services throughout the OAKS project lifecycle that include reviewing project plans, procedures and practices. The verification and validation activities will provide increased project oversight resulting in benefits such as:

• Improved accuracy and correctness of project deliverables
• Increased adherence to industry best practices
• Greater reliability, usability and supportability of all OAKS project components

Battelle was awarded the contract under a competitive sealed proposal process evaluated by a team of individuals from the Ohio Office of Information Technology and other State of Ohio agencies. Next, Battelle and OAKS will hold a kick-off meeting to discuss, plan and schedule the IV&V project activities.

The purpose of the OAKS project is to implement an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the administrative processes of the State of Ohio. The first of four scheduled implementations will occur on December 18, 2006 and will include software functionality for the state's human resource processes. Completion of the entire system is set for July 2008.

For further information contact:
OAKS Communications at OAKS.Communications@oaks.state.oh.us