U.S. Department of Labor

Successful Shared Service Center Migration Helps DOL Stay Mission-Focused

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) oversees America’s workforce—from preparing workers for new jobs to assuring work-related benefits. After two failed attempts to complete a federally-mandated migration of its Human Resources (HR) systems to an approved Shared Service Center (SSC), DOL engaged Excella Consulting. Working side-by-side, the Excella team and DOL successfully migrated from the legacy system to the Shared Service Center, achieving significant cost savings ($3.8M over 10 years), and putting the program on a path for future success.

Internal Systems Are Also Mission-Critical

The DOL has an extremely worthwhile mission: To foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers, and retirees of the United States; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable employment; and assure work-related benefits and rights. It’s an imperative—for a better workforce, a better economy, a better country. Yet despite all its success, DOL had a Human Resources system that was in such bad shape that it couldn’t be patched or updated.

It wasn’t that DOL hadn’t realized it. In 2004, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) launched the Human Resources Line of Business (HRLOB), which required agencies to move from their current HR systems to a Shared Service Center. DOL had begun the migration process, but was forced to suspend its efforts many times due to a number of technical and organizational challenges. Deadlines were looming: if DOL didn’t migrate successfully, the 16,500 DOL employees would not get paid on time, and other key HR actions—such as hiring and pension management—would be delayed.

How Excella Helped: Day-to-Day Project Management Support for the Migration

Excella established the Program Management Office (PMO) to help guide the organization through the complex HRLOB migration process and technical implementation. At that time, much of the government, including DOL, was focused on doing more with less. Excella ran the kind of Agile and lean, yet experienced, team that DOL required.

From the initial assessment to post-implementation, Excella provided program and project management, business analysis; financial analysis, implementation planning; strategic communications, and change management expertise. Additionally, the post-implementation planning allowed DOL to experience continuity of operations, and also provided the tools for evaluation and future development.

The Numbers Say it All: Cost Savings, Efficiencies, and Business Improvement

DOL estimates $3,880,668 in cost savings over ten years by using Treasury’s SSC solution, as compared to DOL’s prior HR solution. Further, DOL has realized 30% decrease of HR actions that need to be corrected at the payroll provider, the National Finance Center. This decrease has reduced the burden on the HR staff, and has led to an increased matching rate for accounting transactions, which made redundant an entire position at DOL.

DOL now is part of a seamless infrastructure for HR functions—one that improves performance and delivery, while also reducing the costs ultimately borne by the taxpayers. It is so seamless that the DOL’s HR functions can move into the background as is appropriate, and the critical mission of helping the workers in this country can be front and center.

“The HRLOB migration program is the ‘best run project that I have seen since I have been at DOL.’”
– DOL Deputy CIO

Download this case study