Situation: In 2008, 25+ Department of Defense (DoD) agencies faced a dilemma, their systems were aging, in need of costly repair and did not meet the required reporting, process and controls. These agencies were struggling to sustain aging inflexible systems in the face of ongoing requirements from a variety of stakeholders. Emerging requirements from financial reporting, financial audits, IT audits, system modernization and overarching Congressional and DoD policy changes were overwhelming these aging systems. Effectively, each of these agencies faced the same requirements. However, each agency viewed themselves as unique. They were unique in their missions which varied from cutting edge research, missile defense, education / schools, healthcare providers, threat reduction, knowledge management and information technology providers. Past efforts at IT transformation failed due to a variety of reasons. Was this due to true requirements differences or simply a “this is how we’ve always done it” mindset?
Action: This is the story of how we got there and the differentiators that enabled the Defense Agencies Initiative (DAI) PMO to replace legacy systems at 25+ customer agencies and the USMC with a single DoD shared-service ERP financial management system.
Great People - Rather than selecting a single system integrator, the government took the approach of acting as the system integrator. The government hired highly qualified experts from industry to act as the system integrator with the government as the ultimate decision maker. From there, the government knew they needed talent with the systems, process, policy knowledge and communication skills to drive change. The government awarded three separate contracts with a heavy emphasis on small business niche subcontracting teams with the functional, technical and communication skills necessary to succeed with a major change effort. This approach led to recruiting and retaining the best talent for the program as the firms were competing to provide the top resources to a discerning government client that recognized talent. The best talent costs more initially but saves money in the long term with the reduction of re-work or the lack of results. Great talent enables you to discern between a system requirement that is there because it’s always been done that way versus one that is truly a unique policy, regulation or procedure. Great talent enables you to identify the underlying policies and procedures that must change to support a single integrated system. As an example, when we initially asked each of our 25+ separate customer agencies for requirements each one provided a unique requirement for a MIPR form. The expertise and talent of our team allowed us to identify that in essence this was the same form for all customers and if we came up with one standard, it would suffice for all. Once this was identified, our talent, expertise and communication skills allowed our team to show a wary stakeholder community that this single form met the need for all. We did this via something we call a “Process Mock” which leads us to the next differentiator.
Process Mocks, Seeing is Believing - As you might imagine, we faced a range of skeptics scarred from past system changes. To address the skeptics and their concerned management, we developed the process mock approach. A process mock identifies and outlines key business processes for each organization and uses real life scenarios, data and reports to demonstrate how the new system works for them. We let our new users “drive” and execute the steps in the process so they can envision how the new system will work for them. We used their documents, language, approval steps, people, customers, suppliers and contract numbers so that what they saw was familiar even though the system was new. Our mantra was “show me, don’t tell me” with everything we did. During the process mocks, we learned that despite their disparate missions, there were an extremely high percentage of common global business processes across these 26 customer agencies and USMC. The process mock shifted the discussion from “tell me your requirements” to “tell me why this global process won’t work for your agency."
Start with the Biggest and Toughest - We took inspiration from the “fight the biggest guy first” approach if you are ever in prison to validate our implementation methodology. We prioritize our messaging to the people who are the most connected, outspoken and skeptical rather than cutting them out of the process. We put in the work to know that the solution met our client’s needs. This allowed us to confidently target vocal skeptics and turn them into allies. At a customer agency customer kick off meeting their financial manager asked a question, “how many of these screens can I change?” Our answer was simple, “None of them, but let me show you how it will work for you.” After a couple of weeks that financial manager would go on to attend future design meetings and explain to her colleagues how the solution will work for them. We turned vocal skeptics into allies and then let them speak for us.
Customer Support and Service wins the day - Summit2Sea focuses on our client’s needs and developing the trusted advisor relationship. We hire not just for functional / technical skills, but for people who have the motivation and personality to deliver a great customer experience. We share our knowledge, answer any questions within 24 hours and do what we say or as events change, keep everyone apprised of changes. Customer service builds the trust that enables 25+ different customer agencies to move to a single system.
An iterative approach - With intention, we did not attempt to migrate all these entities off of their systems at the same time. Summit2Sea evaluated the priorities, complexity, human resources and external timelines for all agency stakeholders to develop a comprehensive and flexible plan. The plan migrated between 1 and 4 agency systems per year. We understood that the Commissary and IT service organizations required specific revolving and working capital fund requirements. We prioritized customer agencies with more straightforward requirements or had an impending deadline or other stakeholder need to make a move to the new system.
Impact: This approach resulted with the first customer agency being implemented in 2008. As of January 2022, there are a total of 25 customer agencies and the US Marine Corps General Fund including 80,000 users utilizing the system daily. As more customers have on-boarded to DAI, new requirements have been met and enhancements deployed to continuously improve this DoD shared service financial management system. Process mocks, an iterative approach and a talented team of consultants have made DAI a fantastic example of success for the DoD while also meeting the goal of audit readiness for the DoD customers agencies.
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