Fillable Printable Project Charter - State of North Dakota
Fillable Printable Project Charter - State of North Dakota
Project Charter - State of North Dakota
PROJECT CHARTER
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Project Name:
Integrated Benefits Administration System
Agency: North Dakota Public Employees Retirement System
Business Unit/Program Area:
NDPERS
Project Sponsor: Sparb Collins
Project Manager: Sharon Schiermeister
Project Background:
The application system that NDPERS currently utilizes has been in use for over thirty (30) years.
Consequently as the system has had to adapt to changes it has become increasingly complex and
very difficult to modify. NDPERS intends to implement a new integrated benefits administration
solution that will fi ll the business needs of the departments and staff of NDPERS, as well as the
needs of its cu stomers. This implemen tation is based upon a feasibility study NDPERS conducted in
the first half of 2006 and the RFP that resulted from the study, done in conjunction with L.R.
Wechsler, Limited (LRWL) in the fall of 2006. Response to the RFP was evaluated by the consultant
(LRWL) and NDPERS staff. Sagitec Solutions was selected as the vendor for the project. The project
is set to start 10/1/2007.
Project Scope
NDPERS new benefits administration system will be rich in Web-enabled self -service function ality,
providing ease of use not only to NDPERS users, but also to members, retirees, beneficiaries, other
plan participants, 3
rd
party vendors, and employ ers. The solution will provide web enabled self
service capabilities to members and retirees. In addition, all fu nctionality will be av ailable to each of
the plans administered by NDPERS as appropriate for the plan (e.g., handling of member and
employer payments and receipts and refunds of over payments, correspondence generations,
imaging, maintenance of address information, etc.)
The functional requirements are broken down into the following categories:
1. Audit and Security
2. Disability and Appeals
3. Dual Membership
4. Return to Work
5. Member/Beneficiary
6. Enrollment
7. Estimates
8. Death
9. Benefit Calculations
10. Employer Reporting/Accounting
11. General Reporting and Query
12. Power of Attorney / Guardian
13. Court Order / QDRO
14. Purchase of Service
15. Pension Payments
16. Tax Reporting
17. Imaging and Workflow
18. Call Center
19. Refunds
20. Activity Tracking and Counseling
21. Membership / Participant St atements
PROJECT CHARTER
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22. Funds Management
23. Global and Miscellaneous
24. Group Insurance
25. Flexible Compensation (F lex-comp)
26. Retiree Health Insurance Credit (RHIC)
27. Defined Contribution (DC)
28. TIAA-CREF
29. Deferred Compensation
Project Objectives
Objective 1: Complete the project on or under budget with the full scope completed.
Measurement: The appropriated budget for the project is $9,594,000.
Objective 2: Complete the project on schedule with the full scope completed. The project will be
implemented u sing phased roll-outs.
Project Timeline for Phases
Measurement: The project is scheduled to be completed by September 30, 2010.
Objective 3: Transition to the new system without interrupting operations so that the transition is
transparent to the membership.
Measurement:
• Maintain at least the same level of customer service satisfaction ratings as measured on the
report cards
• Continue processing monthly retirement payments, benefit enrollments, new retirements,
refund requests, insurance premiums, retirement contributions and deferred comp
contributions within timeframes currently in place
PROJECT CHARTER
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Objective 4: The new system will need to be adaptable to future benefit changes and
requirements.
Measurement: Within 6 months after t he system is fully implemented, NDPERS staff will have the
training and experience to make routine changes to the system, such as parameters, business rules
and other table driven elements.
Objective 5: Get membership to use web based self-service functionality to change personal
information (such as address, designation of beneficiary) freeing up staff to handle more complex
requests.
Measurement: 10% of such transact ions will be handled via Self-Service within 6 month s; 50% will
be handled via Self-Service within 2 years.
Objective 6: Get employers to use web based self-service functionality for enrollments,
termination s, changes in status and payroll reporting, freein g up staff to handle exceptions, rather
than normal processing.
Measurement : Employers representing 80% of the members will be han d led via self-service within 6
months of go-live.
Objective 7: Capture the institutional kn owledge of NDPERS in the business rules of the syst em or
other documentation related to the project.
Measurement: At go-live, the bu siness rules for the follo wing processes will be captured in the new
business system, including documentation on exception processin g : eligibility , enrollment s,
terminations, refunds/rollovers, retirements, deaths, service purchases, employer reporting, benefit
estimates, court orders, disabilities.
Objective 8: Reduce the number of business function sp readsheets currently us ed by staff by
integratin g information into the new system.
Measurement: Eliminate 50% of the spreadsheets within 3 months of go-live; 80% within 6
months.
Objective 9: Improve integration with vendors (insurance carriers, deferred comp providers,
PeopleSoft payroll) to reduce duplicate data entry and the transfer of paper.
Measurement:
• PeopleSoft payroll: Information such as address changes and benefit enrollments will only
need to be entered once, instead of multiple times (NDPERS, employees, employers)
• Insurance, retirement and deferred comp vendors: Information such as address changes and
benefit en rollments/changes will only need to be entered once, instead of multiple times
(NDPERS, vendor)
Objective 10: All benefit plans are integrated on the new system.
Measurement : At go- live, all benefit plans, with the exception of FlexComp claims processing, will
be integrated on the new system.
Required Resources:
Hours
Sagitec:
Rick Deshler 102
Rajendra Kathait 234
Albano Lima 89
Stephanie Deshler 183
Satya Ganti 384
Ranjith Kotcherlakota 148
PROJECT CHARTER
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Bob Bilbrey 48
Offsite staff 140
LRWL:
Anne Bahr 157
NDPERS:
Sharon Schiermeister 157
Ron Gilliam 217
Sharmain Dschaak 214
Bryan Reinhardt 25
NDPERS SME (Accounting, Administrative Services, 256
Benefits, Internal Audit, IT, Research & Planning)
ITD:
ITD SME 442
Constraints:
NDPERS staffing levels are fixed for the duration of the project and staff will perform current duties
as well as system replacement project work.
NDPERS institut ional knowledge is conc entrated in a ha ndful of staff that is critical to the outcome of
the project.
Project is scheduled to end 09/30/2010. This project end date provides sufficient time for NDPERS
to move off ITD’s mainframe. As part of the ITD mainframe migration project, NDPERS must be off
the mainframe by early 2011.
The appropriated budget for the project is $9,594,000.
Assumptions:
The project start date will be October 1, 2007.
The NDPERS Board and State government will support the project and allocate the necessary
resources for its success.
NDPERS staff will be able to devot e all t he time & resources as needed for the project.
NDPERS will have no turnover in staff with key institut ional knowledge and in general, there will be
little turnover for the agency during the project.
ITD will be able to prov ide guidance and services as needed.
Appropriation authority approved in the 07-09 biennium will be carried over to 09-11 biennium to
complete the project
Key LRWL and Sagitec staff will be available t hroughout the project and will remain employed on the
project until its successful completion.
NDPERS w ill be able to continue to provide t he current level of services t o its membership during the
project.
The benefit programs currently administered by NDPERS will not be changed significantly during the
project as a result of federal or state legislation.
Existin g support systems w ill remain in place during the duration of the project.
No extraordinary situat ion will arise t hat will affect the continuity of NDPERS programs, service
levels, staffing, financial resources, vendors, consultants or governance/administr ative structur e.
PROJECT CHARTER
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In the event a change happens in the project, the order of priority for making decisions will be
Budget, Schedule, Quality, Scope.
No material system requirements were missed in the Request for Proposal.
Project Authority:
The NDPERS Board has the ultimate authority for NDPERS and the project. Any major changes to
scope, budget or schedule must be approved by the Board. The project will be governed by a
Steering Committ ee. The role of the Steering Committee w ill be to make major project decisions
that are not able to be resolved by the Project Sponsor or Project Manager. The Steering Committee
can make compromises and changes as long as they fall within the constraints of the project budget.
Sparb Collin s will be the Project Sponsor. His role will in clude reporting t o the NDPERS Board on the
status of the project and making project decisions that are not able to be resolved by the Project
Manager. The Project Manager will be Sharon Schiermeister. She will have the authority to make
the day to day decisions on the project that fall within the approved budget, scope and schedule.
She will also have the authority to approve changes in work efforts of the vendor or consultant that
are not considered material in nature and are within the approved budget. She will be responsible
for approving and authorizing all payments to the vendor and consultant. There will be 3 assistant
project managers. Bryan Reinhardt will be in charge of project administration. His role will con s ist
of coordinating all the project reporting, budgeting and schedule monitoring with Sagitec, LRWL and
ITD. Sharmain Dschaak will be in charge of benefits. Her role will cons ist of coordinating all t he
benefit program administration components of the project with Sagitec and PERS SMEs. Ron Gilliam
will be in charge of IT. His role will consist of coordinating all the technical components of the
project with Sagitec, ITD and internal IT staff. Following is the organizational chart for the project
team.
PROJECT CHARTER
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Optional Sections:
Budget:
A high-level project budget is defined below and is based upon the appropriation authority approved
for the 2007-09 biennium. The Project Manager has authority to approve changes in work efforts of
the vendor or consultant that fall within the approved budget. Any change order that will require a
transfer from contingency will need to be approved by the project sponsor. A more detailed budget
will be defined during planning that will also include the costs for PERS staff time.
Vendor $7,678,360
Consultant $1,000,000
Hardware/software/ITD hosting $ 185,000
Contingency $ 730,640
Total $9,594,000
Potential Project Risks:
Poor User Involvement/Resistance to Change
Staff Conflicts and Understaffing/Turnover
Vague Requirements and Unclear Direction
Budgeting Problems/Hidden Costs
Poor System Architecture and Integration
Project Slip and Failu re to Promptly Address Problems
Availabi lity of ITD staff
Vendor staff turnover
Staff burnout
Project Charter Approval
Project Sponsor Name: Sparb Collins Action: Approve: Reject:
Project Sponsor Signature: ____________________________ Date: __________
