The State of Illinois drastically brought down its budget for maintenance after ERP implementation

Previously the maintenance of Illinois State was one-third of the state budget. After the introduction of the ERP system, the budget for maintenance was cut down by 90 percent. The main objective of the ERP system was to centralize human resources and financial reporting into a single integrated platform. The need for an ERP system was identified in 2011 because the state identified vulnerabilities in having almost 260 reporting systems. The implementation of the ERP system can a daunting task for the state and this was a huge risk for the federal funding opportunities. Several rounds of funding are required from the legislature but the State of Illinois is very close to having one of the best financial reporting systems. Rhode Island is also on the verge of proposing this system to its lawmakers.

The State of Illinois used its own resources for deploying the ERP systems and the data was hosted by Virtustream. Around $175 million was spent on the implementation of the ERP system and $350 million was allocated for the project. The deployment is expected to be completed by 2021 and the State is trying its best to remain on track. The ERP program director stated that to make the product more sustainable the team is working to do minimal customization.