Approve Authorization to Negotiate a Contract with Lawson Services to Upgrade Lawson Software to Version 9 and for the Purchase and Implementation of Software Enhancements Available in Version 9 (Information and Technology Divison)

On May 14, 2007, the District successfully completed the required upgrade of Lawson Software to version 8.0.3. The upgrade, which the School Board approved in November 2006, was completed on the original projected completion date and within the budget allotted for the project. The success was due largely to Lawson’s implementation methodology, the expertise of the Lawson services team, and the expertise of the District staff. All Lawson and District staff team members worked effectively together to meet this objective. Upgrade to version 8.0.3 was a required step in the process to implement version 9. The justification for the upgrade to version 9 includes the following: version 9 is more complicated and will take longer to complete; version 8.0.3 will decommission in July 2008 resulting in loss of Lawson support for that version; version 9 has improvements and enhancements that will benefit the District. An additional benefit for starting version 9 early in the next fiscal year is that it will enable us to keep the current Lawson team. Retaining this Lawson services team will provide continuity, consistency, and save time the staff would spend educating a new team on our business processes and system. With the same team, the District can maintain the same high level of effort as we roll from one upgrade project into the next. In the interim period between upgrade projects, the Lawson services team is working with District staff on the 8.0.3 enhancement modules. The modules include Billing, Accounts Payable Smart Reconciliation, Activities, Employee Self Service and Lawson Business Intelligence. In addition, we will complete the planning for the version 9 upgrade. Based on current planning and analysis, we are targeting the upgrade completion date for June 30, 2008.

This recommendation meets Division Key Objective Areas of Data Accuracy and Financial Performance in support of the District Plan of Work and is also in-line with OPPAGA Best Business Financial Practices.

In anticipation of this upgrade and associated IT requirements, other than Lawson, $3,590,000 is budgeted for project 5002 in the next fiscal year for completion of the upgrade, additional Lawson functionality enhancements, and other associated IT requirements.

The District Project Lead Team in conjunction with a Lawson Software Project Leader will supervise and manage the project. As part of that process, they will provide reports through the Division Chiefs to the Superintendent's cabinet as well as provide feedback through regular status meetings. Success is measured by the team’s ability to complete each milestone within the date parameters set by the negotiated contract under a phased timeline.