ERP Audit - The rest of the story

Just when you thought it was safe to come back to my blog. You thought I had forgotten about the ERP audit didn't you? No such luck. After spending Sunday morning reading the ads for LCD televisions I still cannot afford I dug into the remaining 50 or so pages of the audit. Not too much in the way of surprises for me. I have a lot of experience in integrating new software systems into a company. If it's not done right and the money isn't spent in the right places it can be a disaster. I'm not ready to call FEMA down to 12th & Oak just yet, but it's not a rosy picture either. The good news is I've been through this scenario before and I can offer a lot of expertise. The bad news is we have a lot of little empires within City Hall and it's hard to get some of these directors to play nice. I have experience with that too, and if you give me the title of "Councilman" I'll have the grease to make some of these people sit up and take notice. There's a few people down there that need to be reminded in the end they all work for the taxpayers. This "I'm in charge" mentality doesn't fly with me. Never has. Hmmm. That could be the reason I spent so much time in detention back in high school.... The Funkhouser audit summed up the current atmosphere at City Hall regarding the PeopleSoft implementation with two memos. I've excerpted a couple of paragraphs from each with my translation immediately following. The excerpts from the memos are in green. From: Fiscal Officers Group Subject: PeopleSoft concerns We are writing to express our concerns with the PeopleSoft Financials system. We are not asking that PeopleSoft be scrapped or that we return to old systems. We understand that the City has invested a great deal of time, effort and money in this project, and many of us have devoted countless hours, evenings and weekends to making PeopleSoft work. However, PeopleSoft does not perform like we were promised that it would, and it has negatively impacted our ability to do our work in an efficient, timely manner. Translation: Please help! We know this system can work if properly implemented but right now we're hopelessly buried and see no way out. We have tried to use the standard method of reporting issues, but the number and severity has become so great that we now feel we are in serious danger of complete failure. From: Acting director of Finance; Director of Human Resources; Chief Information Officer Subject: PeopleSoft concerns We regret that you have chosen as a group to negate the established issue resolution process. We regret that you have not given your colleagues who have worked very hard on the deployment of PeopleSoft Financials the courtesy of attempting first to respond to your issues, as they have done in the past. We would appreciated it, if in the future, you would return to using the established issue resolution process. Translation: How dare you speak to us the mighty department directors in such a manner! Your insolence will be punished! You will respect our authority! Avert your eyes when you speak to us. Ridiculous. "We regret this" "We regret that" If I catch department heads treating their coworkers with that kind of thinly veiled rudeness on my watch, there's going to be some regrets all right. The tone of both memos is summed up in the above paragraphs. The Fiscal Officers were very respectful. They were desperate for help. Their memo was succinct, coherent and totally appropriate. The respondents, in this case the directors of Finance, HR and IT were defensive, childish and almost threatening. Would you want to work for these directors? If you worked for them would you respect them? Respect demanded is rarely achieved. Respect earned is rarely lost. Sounds like some corner office types need a refresher course in leadership.