Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

A: The Accountable Business Transformation Program (ABT Program) streamlined, standardized and integrated business processes and enabled the County to access timely, accurate and useful information. This new business model transformed human resources, payroll, benefit, financial and budget business processes and uses contemporary tools and systems.

The ABT Program brings more effective services to the county’s customers and makes county government more efficient by reducing duplication of work and increasing access to information.

A: King County operated two accounting and financial reporting systems and two human resource/payroll systems. These four separate systems were neither coordinated nor integrated.

As a result, the day-to-day county business operations suffered from poor integration, redundant data entry, time-wasting reconciliation and high cost for system maintenance and staff support.

By reducing the number of systems from four to two and by providing better access to timely, accurate and useful information through an integrated solution, King County is now more efficient and can offer better services.

A: The implementation dates for one countywide human resources system, financial system, payroll processing and one budget system are:

• The countywide human resources processes and employee self-service were moved to a single PeopleSoft system on March 16, 2010.
• For financials, all agencies were moved to the countywide new Oracle Enterprise Business Suite on January 3, 2012.
• Countywide tiem and labor business processes and the employee payroll migration from semimonthly to a biweekly pay cycle took place on January 3, 2012.
• For budget, all agencies will be moved to the new capital and operating budget systems in February 2012.

A: This project impacted countywide budget, finance, human resources, payroll and benefits business processes. Employees and external customers — county residents and the state and federal agencies that conduct business with the county — were affected when we improved the delivery of county services through changed processes and integrated systems.This project will impact countywide budget, finance, human resources, payroll and benefits business processes. Employees and external customers — county residents and the state and federal agencies that conduct business with the county — may be impacted as we improve the delivery of county services through changed processes and integrated systems.

A: Some of the tasks employees performed in the areas of budget, finance, human resources, payroll and benefits were altered in the process of streamlining and standardizing the county’s business processes and introduction of new tools and systems.

King County will coordinated changes in conformance with our policies and collective bargaining agreements and worked collaboratively with labor unions that represent our employees.

 A: Yes, training was offered on the new systems to each agency-provided list of staff members. Training opportunities will continue to be offered after the implementation.Yes, training is offered on the new systems to each agency-provided list of staff members. Training opportunities will continue to be provided after the “go live” date as well.

A:  King County’s elected leadership took the lessons learned from an earlier project known as the Financial System Replacement Project (FSRP) and structured the ABT Program to successfully meet the county’s need for best business practices.

The differences between these two programs are substantial with the ABT Program having three key focus areas that were not adequately addressed by the previous effort:

• ABT Program focuses on business process transformation, not just a technology system change
• ABT Program focuses on understanding and managing high risk factors through a phased approach
• ABT Program focuses on program metrics: costs, benefits, return on investment (ROI) and key performance indicators

 A: Based on lessons learned from an earlier project, the ABT Program was a phased implementation to manage high risk factors.

The phased approach included significant planning in advance of the business process change and system migration. This approach included change management activities to ensure alignment throughout all branches of government.

The approach called for:

• Spending significantly more time up front to obtain high-level countywide policy endorsements for key decisions and to manage change. The ABT Program will continue to assess how well the government has internalized the adopted vision and goals and the readiness and ability to accept change.
• Undertaking a comprehensive planning process that included developing a High Level Business Plan, High Level Business Design and a Detailed Implementation Plan with the ABT Program governance committees’ review and approval of each plan before the ABT Program moved to the next phase.
• Using a phased countywide implementation approach to lower risks and minimize disruption.

 A: A total appropriation of $86.64 million, that included a 20% contingency to manage risk, was used in the implementation of new countywide business processes and new systems.

The County Council has appropriated $8.9 million to the ABT Program for preplanning work which produced the High Level Business Plan, the High Level Business Design, the Detailed Implementation Plan and a Cost Benefit Analysis