To help prepare for the OAKS implementation, members of the Agency Implementation Team (AIT) communications committee for the Ohio Department of Administrative Services (DAS) and the Ohio Office of Information Technology (OIT) conducted their first OAKS Blitz Week.

The purpose of the OAKS Blitz Week, which ran from April 17 through 21, was to increase awareness and understanding of the OAKS project and its benefits among all staff members. OAKS Blitz Week will become a periodic event at DAS and OIT in anticipation of the OAKS implementation.

"We are pleased with the work being performed by our employees at the Program Management Office and the work being performed by our DAS/OIT Agency Implementation Team," stated Mary Carroll, OIT director/state chief information officer, and Carol Nolan Drake, DAS director. "The OAKS project is well underway and many people within DAS and OIT and throughout state government are dedicating significant time to ensuring that all of state government is ready for the first launch date in December. Because DAS and OIT are sponsor agencies, it is essential that our employees understand the activities occurring with the OAKS project in order to effectively communicate with our customers. Our Blitz Week approach will help make this happen."

Carroll serves as the principle executive sponsor of OAKS. Drake is an executive sponsor along with Tim Keen, director of the Ohio Office of Budget and Management.

Throughout the week, DAS and OIT employees were presented with OAKS information through daily OAKS educational messages and the first edition of the OAKS Leaflet, a quarterly newsletter about the OAKS project. It also marked the unveiling of a new OAKS Web site that provides a central location for employees to visit to receive OAKS information, including updates.

The event also helped to ensure that all staff members at DAS and OIT are up to speed about the OAKS project through a layered communication approach.

"Our Agency Implementation Team and communications committee created communication pieces which focus on DAS and OIT employees as end users of OAKS," stated DAS and OIT liaisons Julie Trackler and Katrina Flory. "This 'employee' focus will complement the project information generated by the OAKS Program Management Office. These combined resources will give our fellow employees a more complete picture of the work being done to prepare for OAKS at the state (enterprise) project level as well as within our agencies."

While some agency staff members will only use the OAKS system to view their personal payroll information, others will need to utilize the new system to complete their daily work. For example, an estimated 400 employees at DAS and OIT will use the OAKS system to perform critical business functions.

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 six scheduled implementations will occur on December 18, 2006 and will include software functionality for the state's human resources processes. Completion of the entire system is set for July 2008.

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