OAKS

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Governor Taft and OAKS Sponsors Host Cabinet Advisory Group

April 15, 2004

Governor Bob Taft addressed the OAKS Cabinet Advisory Group April 2 and emphasized the importance of the statewide ERP project. Noting that agencies are becoming more interconnected, Taft commented that OAKS will provide the tools for analyzing information across agencies. "OAKS," he said, "supports the state's e-commerce initiatives for moving information from in line to on-line."

In announcing his decision to move forward with the OAKS project this past January, Taft requested that project sponsors establish a Cabinet Advisory Group that would keep sponsors informed of factors or events that could influence the successful outcome of the project. The April 2 event marked the first meeting of this group.

The governor encouraged cabinet agency directors and others in attendance to actively support the OAKS business transformation initiative. "Our legacy," Taft said, "will be leaving government better than we found it."

Jack Hershey, Interim OAKS Project Director, facilitated the meeting that also featured short presentations from a guest speaker representing Gartner Research and three of the OAKS executive sponsors.

Brian Zrimsek, Vice President, Gartner Research, described package enabled re-engineering and how it relates to the implementation approach the state is using for OAKS (see related story)

Greg Jackson, State Chief Information Officer, reviewed the project's timelines procuring the ERP software and integrator services and for implementing the various software modules.

Tom Johnson, Director, Office of Budget and Management, reviewed the project's estimated budget and a possible funding model.

Scott Johnson, Director, Department of Administrative Services, reviewed several of the benefits identified in the project's business case that will help the state operate more effectively and efficiently.

Short question and answer sessions followed each presentation. Paolo DeMaria, Chief Policy Advisor on the governor's staff and an OAKS executive sponsor, participated in the Q&A sessions.