The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Shortens Processing Cycle by Automating IT Purchase Approvals

Background

Ultimus Client: The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Industry: Public Sector
Solution: Information Technology Purchase Approval

The State of Massachusetts Commonwealth consists of 11 major state agencies, each of which are further separated into 4-16 more highly focused state departments. The state government operates with a workforce numbering over 428,000 employees that support a population of more than 6 million people.  Massachusetts strives to deliver excellence in its efforts to keep its residents and workforce informed with the latest news, opportunities, legislation, and recreational information.

Goal:  Speed up and streamline approval process for new technology purchases

In a state government with close to half a million employees, having the latest technology and security software is of the utmost importance to ensure everyday tasks can be carried out effectively. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts receives 10 to 15 IT purchase requests per month for new equipment and software. The paper requests were processed manually and often lacked important information and details that were necessary for approval. As a result, the requests had to be returned to the issuer to fully complete before they could be approved.  Other challenges include:

• Paper forms, manually processed: Paper forms were used when a state employee needed to purchase new IT equipment or software.  As you can imagine, these documents were cumbersome to complete and made the process very unappealing from the start.  In addition, there were multiple paper forms to choose from and it was confusing to know which template to use.

• Missing information: The forms were often turned in with required fields left blank. The entire form then needed to be returned to the originator before it could even begin to travel through the approval channels.

• Lengthy processing time:  As many forms were missing information and needed to be returned to the originator at least once, there were often lengthy delays in processing requests. It also took up a great deal of time for  IT Services personnel to track down request originators for more information.

Ultimus' Approach

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts used the Ultimus Adaptive BPM Suite to automate and optimize the IT Approval Process.  As a first step, electronic forms replaced the paper documents.  They were easy to use and accessible by all state employees online easy. The standardized forms require key information fields to be filled out in full before the request can be submitted. Since the process has been automated the cycle time for the approval process has greatly decreased.  This has freed up a significant amount of time that historically has been spent tracking down request originators for further information.

About Ultimus

Ultimus has automated more business processes than any other Business Process Management (BPM) vendor worldwide. Ultimus Adaptive BPM Suite has enabled companies to accelerate their performance goals at every stage of corporate growth. Ultimus’ award-winning technology seamlessly adapts to people, systems and change. Utilized by more than 2,000 customers worldwide, Ultimus provides solutions to organizations such as Pfizer, ProHealth, Bausch & Lomb, Northrop Grumman, DHL, Microsoft, Daimler, Perdue Farms, Chevron, and Tulane University. Ultimus is headquartered in North America, and has additional offices in Latin America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Australia.

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