State of Texas Data Center Consolidation ProjectPrecision Task Group (PTG) partnered with IBM and Unisys for the $863 Million State of Texas Data Center Consolidation Project. The Project scope includes consolidation of 31 data centers across the State of Texas into primary and secondary data centers for 27 state agencies. PTG currently supports a broad range of data center services including asset management, Level II and III Help Desk support, network management and monitoring, performance and capacity planning, database administration, server administration, disaster recovery planning, change management, SAN storage administration, facility operations, and data tape library administration through a team of over 120 multi-disciplined personnel. During project initiation, PTG was successful with on-boarding over 60 new employees within a 60 day period. PTG’s ISO 9001:2008 certified Quality Management System provides the PTG team with the necessary processes and procedures for the ongoing successful management of this large scale initiative.
As part of an effort to streamline city operations, the City of Houston engaged a national consulting firm to evaluate the HR and Payroll functions. One of the key recommendations was automation of the time-collection process to eliminate manual timekeeping, improve processing accuracy and offer access to concise, audible and reportable data so that all City employees can fulfill their workforce management and time reporting needs.
After completing a thorough review of 15 automated time and attendance vendors, the City of Houston selected Kronos as their business partner of choice. They purchased the software and time clock hardware off of PTG’s GSA Schedule 70 to expedite the procurement process and began deployment of Kronos’ Workforce Central Suite of products ten days after City Council approval. PTG provided Time and Attendance System Application, Implementation, Training and On-going Maintenance Support Services Deliverables as part of the overall engagement.
The ATAS (Automated Time and Attendance System) was successfully implemented through all city departments. This system integrates seamlessly with the City’s SAP back office systems and has automated all employee time collection and leave requests, as well as tracking workers compensation and FMLA time. The City of Houston is projecting full recovery of all project costs within 18 months of implementation.
City of Houston SAP ImplementationPTG partnered with SAP on the ERP implementation for the City of Houston. This award-winning program was recognized as the first large-scale municipal SAP implementation to finish on time and on budget. PTG provided functional and technical expertise in the implementation of SAP Financials, Procurement, HR and Payroll and our responsibilities included leading the overall integration and conversion processes for all modules. PTG’s team was instrumental in the designing, blueprinting, complete module configurations, application and system documentation for Asset Accounting, Personnel Administration Organizational Management, Personnel Development and Recruiting.
PTG was engaged by Houston Community College System (HCCS) to perform an assessment of the current Help Desk services provided to the Students/Faculty/Staff of the system. The purpose of this review was to evaluate the service levels and make recommendations on the improvements necessary to reduce the call abandon rate and achieve a higher level of service for the HCCS customers.
PTG benchmarked the current operational performance against standard industry practices and metrics and completed a high level fit/gap assessment of current help desk technology. Recommendations were provided on the organizational structure, roles and responsibilities, staffing levels, operational practices and metrics, and required technology capabilities. A multi-year roadmap was provided which outlined the recommended process, technology and organizational improvements based on overall priority and customer service impact.
Lone Star College System PeopleSoft Implementation and Ongoing Support The Lone Star College System(LSC) is the fastest-growing community college system in Texas. PTG supported Oracle on the implementation of the largest footprint of PeopleSoft higher education software in the United States. The project involved the deployment of 48 modules of Oracle/PeopleSoft over 18 months. PTG supported all design and implementation activities for the HRMS, FMS, and Campus Solutions modules. PTG was additionally retained to provide ongoing support for the existing production environment and assist LSC with the build-out of an in-house support organization.
311 Contact Centers help local governments improve the services they provide their constituents and reduce traffic to overburdened 911 systems that are intended for emergency communications. When the City of San Antonio (COSA) decided to upgrade their outdated system, they chose Lagan Technology’s Enterprise Case Management system as their 311 platform of choice.
The Lagan/COSA environment consists of a multi-tiered configuration providing functionality for scripted agent workflows to capture service requests, supported by GIS mapping to pinpoint request locations and a knowledge-base to enable expedient response to information requests. Additionally, a self-service portal provides direct submission of service or information requests by the public.
The project involved installation and configuration of Lagan’s ECM 8.0.2 product suite and included integration to a City-developed enterprise service bus (ESB) which connects to SAP PM (Public Works, Solid Waste, and Parks departments), ECCO (Code Enforcement) and Chameleon (Animal Care Services) systems. The project also involved development of a Google Search Adapter for case eForm data and an Executive Portal as a reporting dashboard for City Council Members and Department Executive Staff.
PTG led the overall testing efforts which included all facets of planning and execution for Systems, Integration, Regression and Performance testing. As part of performance testing, PTG used Apache’s jMeter performance testing tool for load and stress testing; VisualVM and YourKit tools for code profiling and root cause analysis on performance issues; and Java Stack Traces for detailed Java thread and monitor analysis.
City of Houston 311 ImplementationWhen the City of Houston decided to replace their aging 311 system, they looked to Lagan Technologies to help usher in the next generation of constituent relationship management. The new technology will allow citizens to report issues via Smartphones and the web. The City of Houston chose Lagan to help reduce cost, streamline service delivery, increase government access, provide more transparency and increase government accountability.
PTG worked closely with Lagan on both the sale and delivery of this exciting product suite. Similar to the City of San Antonio engagement, PTG led the overall testing efforts for System Integration and Regression testing. PTG also supported the business analysis and package configuration of Lagan ECM product suite.
PTG currently manages the Disaster Recovery/Tape Back-up project as part of the State of Texas Data Consolidation Project. PTG provides onsite personnel and project management for 30 sites throughout the State of Texas and performs backup and recovery media swaps and closed loop process for maintaining secure chain of custody. Each week, over 1,000 tape swaps are managed by the state-wide PTG team, which is also responsible for scheduled tape drive maintenance, offsite tape transport and storage and media inventory management.
Houston Metro SAP Implementation and UpgradePTG has become a trusted SAP partner to Houston Metro. We worked closely on their initial implementation and throughout subsequent upgrades in support of their SAP deployment. PTG provided upgrade support for Materials Management and FICO for the SAP ECC upgrade and were instrumental in the initial deployment of the HR modules. Integral to our engagement with Houston Metro, PTG’s consultants have provided on-going SAP support and knowledge transfer.
Bay Area Rapid Transit Authority PeopleSoft Time and Labor UpgradeBay Area Rapid Transit (BART), which provides commuter train service throughout the San Francisco and Oakland metropolitan areas, implemented Oracle’s PeopleSoft Enterprise Human Capital Management including Human Resources and Payroll to efficiently manage the transit district’s staffing operations. BART has improved accountability of employee absences and reported time – ultimately helping to improve workforce management and provide a positive, reliable travel experience for customers. In addition, BART has reduced payroll errors and adjustments by 90% and streamlined the number of payrolls each month from 54 to 26. Further, BART was able to train 3,200 employees to use the system, ultimately resulting in an overall increase in employee productivity. BART hopes to achieve a return on investment of $51 million.
PTG provided support for the PeopleSoft Time and Labor module during the implementation. Our team worked with other team members to define system requirements, prepare for and participate in Fit/Gap sessions, develop functional/technical specifications & configuration guides, oversee the design, development & documentation of modifications, conduct system testing and provide implementation support. PTG also provided support for Change Management within the PS HR Project.
University of Texas System Data Warehouse ImplementationPTG led the implementation of Oracle’s EPM Data Warehouse and OBIEE reporting tools for a decentralized state university shared services system. One size did not fit all--the project required coordinating requirements of multiple institutions, each with unique challenges and priorities. PTG designed the dashboards, which were subsequently utilized across the university system for improved business intelligence reporting.
UTMB Health - PeopleSoft and EPM Data Warehouse ImplementationUTMB Health, a university teaching hospital located in Galveston, Texas, struggled with providing timely, accurate operational reporting. As part of their overall IT strategy, they made the decision to implement the PeopleSoft application suite and EPM data warehouse. PTG led the implementation of the EPM product suite, which included defining the original reporting requirements through a series of Fit/Gap workshops, setting up the common infrastructure and configuration and testing of the data marts, development of all user reports and executive dashboards. This engagement was nominated by UTMB’s management team for presentation at the national PeopleSoft Higher Education User Group.
M.D. Anderson Electronic Medical Records System Deployment The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC) in Houston, Texas, celebrating six decades of Making Cancer History™, is one of the world’s most respected institutions devoted exclusively to cancer patient care, research, education and prevention. ClinicStation is the institution’s proprietary CCHIT certified Electronic Medical Record software. ClinicStation currently integrates more than 65 systems, a combination of commercial and internally developed applications. The institution placed great strategic focus on ClinicStation deeming it the primary application required to support routine clinical operations. Relevant features include a complete allergy record, a medication list and reconciliation function and complete access to pharmacy records.
Under our partnership with Avanade, PTG trained and supported the MD Anderson user community on Clinic Station deployment over a 60 day period.
City of Los Angeles PeopleSoft Upgrade PTG provided expertise in the PeopleSoft Upgrade for the City of Los Angeles. The team provided knowledge of PeopleTools (Application Designer, Upgrade Assistant, Data Mover, Change Assistant, Application Engine, PeopleCode, etc), upgrading interfaces and conversions. PTG also provided expertise within financial modules, particularly Supply Chain Management (PO, AP, Inventory), Financial (GL), eProcurement and Strategic Sourcing and database administration. Work was performed on a time and materials basis and finished on budget.
PTG supported a global consulting firm’s efforts to implement the full suite of PeopleSoft Financial and HRMS for the City of Corpus Christi. PTG was involved in the technical side of the implementation and additional database administrative support. PTG was subsequently engaged to implement the Benefits/Administration and Asset Management modules. After completion of the initial implementation efforts, PTG was retained to assist the City in HRMS upgrade and ongoing application management and support.
PTG was requested to provide expertise for an implementation of an eCard to reimburse students refund payments through bank debit cards (Chase bank) in lieu of the regular check payments by mail. Student Financial Refunds are sent to the Finance Accounts Payable module for payment processing and the EFT transactions are sent to the bank. PTG provided the technical expertise and resources for the customization that was performed in both the Student Financials Refund Process and the Receiving Financials Accounts Payable Process to allow debit card payments as well as the former option of paying by check. Processes/objects involved in the PeopleSoft environment were SF_AP_Refund app-engine, Student Vendor data and Voucher, Application Messaging between Student and Finance, Voucher build, Pay-Cycle manager and EFT sqrs in Finance AP. In addition, PTG provided PeopleSoft Technical Consultants for the implementation of the PeopleSoft ePerformance module.
PTG has provided continued support to Houston Community College System for over 7 years and has assisted in a variety of projects throughout the system. PTG provided Subject Matter Experts (SME) to the HCCS Project Management Team for their PeopleSoft upgrade and deployment of PeopleSoft HRMS applications which included Human Resources, Payroll, Benefits, PeopleSoft Financials and Student Administration.
AT&T Contract SupportAT&T selected PTG as a product sales and services partner on their
Texas DIR Schedules and their
TexAn-NG State of Texas contract. The Tex-AN contract, valued at $500 million, provides voice and data services to all state agencies, city and county governments and other eligible political subdivisions including higher education institutions. In conjunction with AT&T, PTG offers state agencies a breadth of voice, data and wireless product sales and implementation services.