Enterprise Resource Planning software and the DC Govt.

(This image is for general ERP software processes, but there are many government-specific packages out there. The Federal government uses PeopleSoft and Oracle I believe, etc.)

I know that DC Government has this kind of software, but clearly the decision rules entered into the system are inadequate.

1. Today's Examiner reports in "Despite ban, Fenty bonuses keep rolling," that the Fenty Administration is awarding bonuses to staffers, even though this has been banned for the 2010 fiscal year.

In a side e-conversation awhile back over the debacle of Chancellor Rhee hiring too many people (likely a pretext for firing people), someone pointed out to me that the PeopleSoft personnel management software employed in DC government doesn't allow someone to be hired if there isn't money appropriated for the position.... so how was Chancellor Rhee able to hire "too many" people and then be able to fire people later?

Similarly, how is it possible for bonuses to be paid out via the DC Govt. personnel software system if they aren't legally approved with money to pay the bonuses properly appropriated?

2. Similarly, I wrote a response to a point in themail about master facilities plans, that again, if you have an "enterprise resource planning" software system in place, that decision rules on contracting should not let contracts be executed when they haven't been approved by the DC City Council, and that individual departments shouldn't be able to transfer millions of dollars to a nonprofit off-the-books affiliate of the DC Housing Agency to get around contracting requirements.

Clearly things are very very wrong in how such software systems are implemented in DC Government.

People can get all excited about "Apps for Democracy," but that is a diversion if the most basic tenets of proper management are not included within the execution software that the DC Government uses to manage processes and workflow.

With properly executed decision rules in DC Government ERP software, clearly millions of dollars of corruption could be eliminated in one fell swoop.