The Accountable Business Transformation project (ABT) was a planned five-year, $86 million effort to transform the county's financial, human resource, payroll, and budget operations by implementing countywide best practices and systems in these areas. This project was important, because the county has used disparate business processes and two separate payroll and finance systems since the merger of King County and METRO in 1994, and a previous attempt to provide common systems failed in the late 1990s after an investment of $42 million. Oversight was intended to increase the likelihood of project success by monitoring project and risk management activities and making recommendations.

In our final oversight report, published in September 2012, we found that the County largely achieved the ABT Program vision of countywide, integrated systems for human resources, payroll, finance, and budget, which was a major accomplishment. However, the County has considerable work remaining to make the systems efficient and effective in order to enhance essential services as envisioned. The ABT team delivered nearly all of the planned scope within budget, although there were delays of up to one year and some system defects remain. This report documents lessons learned and makes recommendations about the work left to do to fully achieve the anticipated benefits and business transformation.

Status

Of the 7 recommendations:

Audit team

If you have any questions or would like more information, please call the King County Auditor's Office at 206-477-1033 or contact us by email KCAO@kingcounty.gov.