The Client

The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) develops and implements programs that ensure that transportation and other public works facilities and services in the state, including highways, airports, waterways, flood protection, and mass transit, are adequate, safe, and efficient.

The Challenge

Facing a critical need to retire aging systems, reduce operating costs and centralize processing, DOTD was selected as the pilot agency for the implementation of LaGov, the State of Louisiana's new ERP system for financial management, procurement, human resources and payroll, project financial management, grants management, and federal aid billing. As the only state agency that does not utilize the current statewide financial reporting system, DOTD needed to replace twenty-nine aging legacy systems and adopt statewide business processes. In addition, the new ERP had to meet DOTD’s unique, specific requirements, which include federal authorization and billing and the integration of a third-party linear asset management system.

The Solution

DOTD selected Dye Management Group to help with the three-year-long statewide ERP and linear asset management system implementation, due to DMG’s understanding of a state DOT’s unique requirements and broad service range. During the planning and implementation phases, DMG provided the following services:

• Requirements definition
• Project management oversight
• Comprehensive future business process design through interactive workshops
• Implementation support services and fit/gap analysis, including testing and data conversion
• Organizational change management contributions to statewide training materials and continued process education

DMG is currently providing DOTD with post-implementation support for the new ERP system. DMG continues to facilitate, lead, and support agency-level business process improvements, as well as to provide project management and organizational change management support to DOTD project manager.

The Results

DOTD experienced the following notable measurable results from the ERP implementation:

• Improved financial awareness. A comprehensive, integrated work order system; a consolidated project life cycle process; and integrated financials tell DOTD the cost of doing business – today.
• Increased automation. A fully automated federal authorization and billing system reduces reliance on human interaction and improves the efficiency of the billing process.
• Enhanced reporting and reduced administrative costs. By focusing on mission critical activities, DOTD is able to better manage the business.
• Increased visibility of key performance measures. DOTD officials use an executive dashboard and other reporting tools to meet transparency goals more easily and accurately.
• Improved efficiency. DOTD now has a single repository of financial data, reported in real time and shared across business units.
• Reduced paper costs. The adoption of electronic approvals and vendor self-service reduced paper cost, storage space, and staff time needed to maintain paper documents, enter duplicate data, and reconcile duplicative systems.

• Improved financial planning capability. Because DOTD fully implemented the Governmental Accounting Standards Board Statement Number 34 (GASB 34) and maintained the value of infrastructure (road section, bridge, and parcel), it now possesses the basis to identify the average cost to build and maintain roadways.
• Increased response times for inventory. DOTD improved inventory management by planning for the purchase and replenishment of materials and using state-of-the-art bar code scanners to increase order fulfillment.
• Improved resource management decision making. Staff are better equipped and better trained to manage state resources effectively, including time, money, and assets.