The Bottom Line - Winter 2019 - 6

Beyond a modernized look and feel, the
new systems are necessary to provide the
information, services, transparency, and efficiencies
for the OCFO and the District to be "best in class" in
the 21st Century.

moved to the cloud for better integration
that will benefit those employees processing
contracts and payments and vendors doing
business with the District.
The enhanced tools available in the
new system will be substantial. We can do
budget scenario planning, better interfaces
to our investment and banking providers,
enhanced reporting capabilities for yearto-date expenses and budgets, full grant
accounting, and tracking in the more intuitive way we are all used to in modern software. The system will provide comprehensive audit trails as source documents can
be uploaded and stored online to allow for
more thorough reviews and enhanced fraud
protection. Manual processes can eventually
be automated reducing paper processing
and offline spreadsheets can be eliminated
allowing us more time to do other important
work with our existing resources.
All this of course, means changes which
can be scary and uncomfortable. We have

dedicated substantial resources to the
change management effort for this project. This is to ensure we all get the training, assistance, and resources we need to
learn the new system. We have all learned
to change and use modern systems in our
day-to-day lives, and the OCFO is dedicated
to ensuring that everyone gets the help they
need to transition to the new technology at
work. After all, does anyone still use their
rotary phone? If you do, the Smithsonian
Institution would like you to donate it. (In a
few years, we will tell stories about how we
retired the old SOAR system that got us out
of the control board period. Who knows,
maybe the Smithsonian will want to display
it as well. The important thing to remember
is that change is never easy, but when we
are done, we will have the best technology,
tools, and training to provide high quality
financial service to the benefit of the residents, businesses and government of the
District of Columbia.

THE BOTTOM LINE | WHO WE ARE & WHAT WE DO

The Bottom Line - Winter 2019

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