Introduced in 1992, the Commonwealth Information Warehouse (“CIW”) is a central data source gathered from the Commonwealth’s financial, HR and payroll systems: MMARS, HR/CMS, and LCM. Agency users can run custom queries and export data to Access or Excel. It is a critical source of financial and payroll data from which data are extracted to feed department-specific applications or to meet user needs.
The Human Resources/Compensation Management System (HR/CMS) is the Commonwealth’s payroll services application first introduced during the early 2000s as highly customized, licensed software hosted on premise at a Commonwealth facility. Since its implementation, the customization of HR/CMS has been reduced considerably from periodic upgrades made to the system. In 2019, the HR/CMS application was moved to the AWS cloud with no changes to the software’s core code.
Introduced in 2004, The Massachusetts Management Accounting & Reporting System (“MMARS”) is the financial system of record for the Commonwealth. MMARS is the Commonwealth branding for CGI Advantage Version 3.9.1, a web-based system for agency users to record all accounting transactions of the Commonwealth. MMARS interfaces with users across all 159 departments in all branches of government to perform a wide array of financial and labor cost management functions. MMARS was moved to the AWS cloud in 2020.
Introduced in 2015, MassCareers is the e-recruitment SaaS solution used by the Commonwealth’s Executive Departments, and by certain Independent and Constitutional Offices and Higher Education entities. There are inbound and outbound nightly interfaces with HR/CMS to both pull in foundational and employee data as well as to send candidate data for hiring transactions.
The Office of the Comptroller forms interagency Advisory Committee for new ERP solutioning and begins establishment of the BEST Program Management Office (PMO).
PMO conducts RFI for SW/SI vendors of SaaS ERP solutions to replace MMARS and HR/CMS and develops first iteration of an RFR for single ERP solution based on Advisory Committee recommendations.
Key Program stakeholders defined and expanded on BEST Program goals, objectives, purpose, and scope, which included the drafting, review, and finalization of use cases and other deliverables as part of the development and implementation of a broader strategic plan.
Executive Sponsors release Request for Information (RFI) for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) replacement of MMARS and HR/CMS. Outreach conducted through Operation Work Groups (OWGs) with 159 agencies to gather information on current MMARS and HR/CMS opportunities for improvement.
Executive Sponsors release Request for Response (RFR) for a single ERP Software for combined Financials & HCM/Payroll functionalities. Evaluation Committee and Executive Sponsors determine that “best value” for the Commonwealth may need to be achieved through two separate Procurements for the replacement of MMARS and the replacement of HR/CMS.
Executive Sponsors release RFR for Software and Systems Integration services (combined) for Phase 1 Financial Management & General Ledger.
Agreement negotiations commence in Spring 2023. Partnership with CGI for Phase 1 announced Winter 2023.
The Program Management Office expands to 25 staff members and onboards 80 Financial Implementation Experts (FIEs) from across Commonwealth agencies.
Beginning in January 2024, Financial Implementation Experts (FIEs) from agencies across the Commonwealth collaborated to identify opportunities to improve our current financial business processes and describe functionalities that they would like to see configured in the new Advantage 4 system. Hundreds of user stories were developed by FIEs to represent important financial capabilities for agencies across the Commonwealth. These stories included opportunities to enhance the functionality in the new financial management system.
Beginning of configuration and testing activities based on requirements confirmed by the BEST Program’s Functional Team and Financial Implementation Experts (FIEs) during Business Requirements Validation into action. This phase determines how opportunities for system improvement will be realized in the new Advantage 4.0 cloud-based application as it is implemented in the Commonwealth. Configuration Sprints will run through January 2025.
Sprints bring together the expertise and input of agency FIEs participating in Workshops and Sprint Reviews. Sprint participants attend Conference Room Pilots (CRPs) at the end of each Sprint cycle, providing opportunities to see real-time demonstrations of Advantage 4 components, functionality and capabilities which will be configured in the new system. This represents the completion of the first of what will be seven Configuration Sprints, each occurring over a five-week period through January 2025.
Executive Sponsors to release RFR for Software and Systems Integration services (combined) for Phase 2, Human Capital Management & Payroll.
