Updated IT project processes, tools and more – EPMO 3.0
By Amy Spehar
The Office of Management and Enterprise Services continues our work to make state government more efficient through leveling up our Enterprise Program Management Office to better serve state customers. EPMO 3.0 directly affects how OMES manages state technology projects, equipping IT staff and leadership with enhanced tools and increased transparency to monitor and analyze projects from start to finish.
OMES’ shift to EPMO 2.0 in 2021 resulted in an 82% reduction in paperwork on IT projects, as well as an elimination of many processes that added no value. With a green light from Oklahoma Chief Information Officer Jerry Moore, the EPMO team continued the road to success in 2022 with improved organizational agility and transformation.
“Several agency leaders sent high praise for all the hard work the team put in,” Moore said. “Technology projects are complex, and we wanted to continue to work smarter and be able to shift focus quickly to help our state agencies.”
Once the project begins, the ServiceNow strategic portfolio management module creates automated status reports that are sent to our state customers. Additionally, the SPM module provides in-depth analytics across all project phases, allowing new ways to evaluate and track value for improvement.
With EPMO 3.0, the team focused on overhauling the statement of work process, continuous improvement of tools, new surveys to engage customer feedback and updates to the online project dashboard.
New processes to increase efficiency
The team automated the prioritization of projects by updating how and what benefits and key performance indicator metrics were collected. This automation helped the EPMO team complete 312 enhancements and projects over the past 12 months. At a total cost of $42 million, 85% of the projects were completed on schedule and 93% were on or under budget.
Some of the biggest hurdles Julie Dostal, enterprise programs director, faced were key updates that transformed into a whole new process for the EPMO team.
“IT project management keeps our state customers moving forward to modernization,” Dostal said. “Improving the evaluation at the start of a project provides the momentum needed to keep projects on schedule and on budget.”
The new process starts with the initial request. A customer provides information via our updated form in ServiceNow, the state’s cloud-based service request platform. This information is automated and sent directly to project stakeholders, who supply further information on scope, business success criteria and scoring.
From there, the EPMO team works on obtaining estimates, supplier contracts, signed statements of work and resource assignment all before it is ever assigned to an OMES project manager.
Once the project begins, the ServiceNow strategic portfolio management module creates automated status reports that are sent to our state customers. Additionally, the SPM module provides in-depth analytics across all project phases, allowing new ways to evaluate and track value for improvement.
With over 194 projects in flight at a total cost of $32.9 million, the new process adds significant value for statewide technology project management. Our project managers can keep a laser focus on what is most important – the project work and its successful, timely completion.
Improved transparency and increased collaboration
Real-time visibility into projects is crucial to monitoring status and identifying and resolving critical issues. Last year, the EPMO 3.0 survey recorded valuable feedback from customers, technicians and project managers. These perspectives allowed for a comparative analysis of each of the core roles. The insights spurred the implementation of a contracted supplier survey at the midstream and closeout phases of a project.
The EPMO team updated the online project dashboard by increasing reporting capabilities such as critical issues, project health by phase and completed tasks. A frequently-asked-questions section was also created to help customers navigate the online dashboard.
Invoice tracking by project name was another needed improvement and a big-ticket item for our state customers. A new tool simplified this process. Customers can now search and find the demand assessment, time entry code, and project and statement of work number tied to a project name. This enables customers to easily track invoicing back to a specific project.
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Significant strides in modernizing core services
The overhaul of processes and updates could not have had better timing. OMES and our state agency customers continue to make significant strides in modernizing state government by completing several large statewide projects, including:
- Adopting Workday@OK for updated employee self-service, training and benefits features.
- Updating PeopleSoft Financials enterprise platform from Version 5 to Version 41 for increased financial reporting and transparency for all state agencies.
- Launching ServiceNow to transition to an updated information technology service management system to improve customer service.
- Modernizing the online eProcurement platform to help suppliers provide services to the state and millions of Oklahomans.
With the complex and ever-changing nature of IT projects, improving customers’ experience with standards of efficiency, transparency, collaboration and right work at the right time will help enhance statewide project results and their impact on all Oklahomans.
