president’s message All Systems Go! By Bill Sutter, SFO 2022 Board of Directors


John Hutchison, CPA, SFO Vice President


A


Ed Chabal, SFO Immediate Past President


David J. Lewis Executive Director David Ginsberg Director through 2022


ll education systems strive to operate efficiently and effectively. As a larger district of 28,000 students, the Boul-


der Valley School District relies on technology to minimize overhead and maximize efficiency and compliance.


Implementing a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is a massive undertak- ing for any school district. A project of this magnitude affects a wide range of systems that fall within the purview of school business offi- cials, including business and finance, human resources, and purchasing.


Ryan Stechschulte Director through 2022 Wanda Erb, SFO Director through 2023


Aubrey Kirkpatrick Director through 2023


Mike Barragan Director through 2024


I’m not a proponent of change simply for the sake of change, nor of chasing the latest technology trend because it’s something new, but the benefits of a modern integrated ERP system are clear: improved information qual- ity, reduced costs, improved responsiveness to employees and stakeholders, elimination of redundant data systems, streamlined business processes, and improved access to data in the system, to name a few. These were all goals for the project when we started the process to implement a new ERP system in BVSD. We began in 2018 by determining system requirements and processing an RFP for solu- tions. After a one-year pause in 2019–2020, we started in October 2020, mid-pandemic, with the actual project kickoff and continued the hardcore implementation work through- out 2021. After a short three-month delay, we went live on March 28 after spring break—no parallel processing, no dual-system entry, just a flip of the switch. Of course, the benefits of implementing a modern ERP system do not magically appear at that figurative flip of the switch. The transi- tion takes thoughtful planning, time, com- munication, and an exceptional amount of deliberate change management activities. Stakeholders, from power users to end


Lynn Knight, CSRM Director through 2024


users, have been accustomed to the existing core business software systems, third-party solutions, and other tangential systems. Even


asbointl.org


if those systems were outdated, manual, or rife with work-arounds, and even if the users rec- ognize that improvements are on the horizon, stakeholders may still resist the change. In our district, we won over the resistors by ensuring regular and open communication. The implementation process has been largely successful thanks to the dedication and commitment of BVSD personnel. I cannot say “thank you” enough to our district implementation core team of Chris Boeye (GL), Amanda Boeye (Procurement), Judy Diederich (Payroll), James Moore (HR), Lauren Lough (HR), and David Wilson (IT); our change management team of Katie Mills (PD) and Justin Petrone (Finance); along with our intrepid project manager Maria Wilson. They all absolutely crushed this project with late nights, weekends, endless video meetings, problem solving, and a level of excitement for improving how the Boulder Valley School Dis- trict does the business of education. The extended core team of subject matter experts is too large to mention everyone by name, but they were right there in the trenches, and I extend my gratitude to them as well. There were a few bumps along the way, including staff turnover, a heavy workload of “regular day jobs,” and some missed train- ing opportunities, but it was overall a smooth system launch. These potential issues were expected, and the team members overcame them successfully.


Post-launch we are taking off running as we continue the cycle of fixes, tweaks, and improvements to maximize system utiliza- tion. Thank you again to all the BVSD staff involved in this massive undertaking to bring our business systems to a modern standard.


Bill Sutter


Chief Financial Officer Boulder Valley School District


SCHOOL BUSINESS AFFAIRS | MAY 2022 5


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