Nearly 1,000 state agency representatives attended the Ohio Department of Administrative Service's (DAS) Human Resources Conference Tuesday, September 26, 2006. The conference provided a general overview of the first of six releases of Ohio's enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. The Human Capital Management (HCM) release will occur on December 18, 2006 and will include software functionality for the state's human resources processes.

Carol Nolan Drake, Director of Administrative Services, and Mary F. Carroll, State Chief Information Officer and Director of the Office of Information Technology presented opening remarks, highlighting the importance of OAKS' success. Other presenters included Mary Lynn Monge of the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, and Eric Barker of Accenture who provided an overview of the new web-based training course entitled, "OAKS in a Nutshell" and "Introduction to HCM". Captain Kevin Teaford and Keith Albert of the Ohio Department of Public Safety shared their past experience with a PeopleSoft rollout, and discussed lessons learned.

Pictured from left to right David L. White, OAKS executive program manager; Brian Welch, OAKS deputy program manager and Alphrena Baker, OAKS human capital management lead.

Patrick T. Grady, luncheon keynote speaker presented, "Juggling Elephants?" which provided key strategies to become more focused and ultimately more productive in professional and personal endeavors. The presentation also included focus on helping organizations lead with character, clarity and confidence; traits that all agencies will be encouraged to use during the OAKS implementation.

Participants attended afternoon breakout sessions in various subject matter areas associated with the Human Capital Management (HCM) module. Sessions focused on several areas of the OAKS HCM module and included personnel processing, payroll, time and labor, benefits, and other functionality. The sessions, lead by DAS Human Resources and OAKS program management staff, offered a view into the new operations of the OAKS system.

OAKS End User Training courses will be delivered across the state by State employee Primary and Alternate Instructors beginning early October.

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. Completion of the entire system is set for July 2008.

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