Examining the Total Cost of Ownership for Social Service ... · Accenture has noticed a shift to...

Examining the Total Cost of Ownership for Social Service Case Management Solutions

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Executive summary

In the past, the question of build versus buy was a theoretical versus a practical debatefor the social services market because commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software productswere not available. As vendors are increasingly introducing commercial products to thesocial services market, agencies are now able to seriously consider the benefits of a COTSsolutions approach for social services case management.

Public service agencies striving to achieve high performance have long debated whether to implement custom/transfer or COTS solutions to carry out mission-critical activities.Accenture has noticed a shift to COTS solutions for enterprise financials, human resources(HR), office automation and e-mail systems because the industry has recognized the relative maturity and subsequent savings from packaged offerings. In terms of socialservices case management systems, there has not been a consistent industry answer onwhether to implement COTS or custom/transfer solutions.

Oracle Corporation and Accenture believe it is critical to analyze the total cost of ownership (TCO) of a social services solution, weighing both direct and indirect costs, to understand the best long-term solution. The following pages outline key TCO criteria to consider when evaluating COTS against custom/transfer offerings.

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Direct Cost + Indirect Costs = Total Cost of Ownership

2 Examining the Total Cost of Ownership for Social Service Case Management Solutions


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Evaluating total cost of ownership for a comprehen-sive view of solution costs Accenture and Oracle believe that thetotal cost of ownership needs to beconsidered from the very beginning ofthe planning for a new information system. When evaluating vendor proposals, agencies should carefullyanalyze TCO, in addition to the typicalbudget analysis required to justify a new information system. Social service case management systems arelong-term systems, yet solicitations frequently focus only on evaluatingupfront design, deployment and testingcosts while not fully considering thelong-term training, maintenance andsupport costs.

Requirements found in most case man-agement system solicitations focus onbasic case management system func-tions. System integrators responding togovernment information system solici-tations typically address these basicbusiness and technical requirements atthe lowest possible cost. The completefeature set available in COTS solutionsis often not considered or scored inproposal evaluations. However, whathappens if the organization wishes tosignificantly extend the capabilities ofthe core system at a later date? Withmost custom solutions, this is a veryexpensive proposition. For example,adding a mobile computing capabilityto a custom solution typically requiresextensive coding. In contrast, to addthis capability to a Siebel-based COTSsolution would require a one-line editto a configuration file.

The evaluation of total lifecycle costs of various solutions is unclear undertraditional procurement approaches.Typically, vendors are asked to provide a rate table for maintenance and oper-ations staff. Yet, how are the supportteam staffing levels and skill mix differences between COTS andcustom/transfer solutions factored intothe analysis? These differences canhave a significant effect on the totallifecycle cost of each solution.

Accenture and Oracle recommend thatagencies consider revising solicitationsto evaluate system features, beyondbasic functions, and consider total life-cycle costs. Additionally, procurementteams should be educated on the dif-ferences between COTS andcustom/transfer solutions so that thesefactors can be taken into considerationin proposal evaluation and scoring.

Analyzing total cost of ownership

A total cost of ownership (TCO) analysismodel enables an organization to consider resource commitments andidentify support cost options while providing a context for examining theeffect of license fees. A TCO model alsoexposes the long-term ramifications ofdecisions made today and provides thecontext for tactical decision making aswell as strategic planning. TCO incorpo-rates both direct and indirect savings.While direct savings are more easilyquantifiable, it is often the indirect savings that can deliver the greatestlong-term value to the organization.


Indirect costs



5

01 System sustainability and flexibility

02 Application architecture

03 Integration


01 System sustainability and flexibilityJust as an organization must be flexibleand agile, so must its IT underpinnings.No matter which approach the agencytakes (custom/transfer or COTS), it iscritical that the system is properlydesigned to adapt as technology changes,and as the agency’s needs change.

Before deciding on an approach, it isimportant to understand the range of solutions available in the market.Evaluating the next generation of socialservices case management solutionsrequires agencies to move away fromfocusing on current system require-ments and to educate the organizationon the components of modern casemanagement solutions.

It is often a bad decision to choose acustom approach for the sole purposeof taking advantage of a specific newtechnology. The technology motivationis often rooted in an emotional founda-tion coming from the technologyadvocates. Their true motivation, usu-ally not recognized by them, is oftenthe desire to move into a technologymore personally interesting.1 Decidingon a path solely based on technologymay result in an organization makingdecisions that affect its ability to adaptto change over the life of the system.

Rather than basing a purchase decisionon the technology underpinning of thevarious options, consider the followingquestions: • Functionality. How will the solution

capture client information, managecase visibility and initiate workflows?A mature solution will addressupwards of 80 percent of agencyrequirements.

• Business process. Rather than asking if the solution supports cur-rent processes, ask how the solutionaddresses processes? This nuancemay uncover new approaches and governance models to supportkey processes.

• Innovation. Is the company or solu-tion positioned to keep pace withtrends such as multichannel support,mobility and Web 2.0? What is thecompany’s history of innovation? Apartner must be prepared to take theagency forward as trends emerge.

• Shared services. What is the inven-tory of systems available across theagency and the broader organization?Reusing system components coulddiversify maintenance costs, throughthe use of shared services in suchareas as intake, rules, financials and reporting.

• Skill sets. What skill sets are avail-able to maintain the custom/transferversus COTS offering? To keep thesystem up and running, agencies must beable to access these skill sets for 10, 15 and up to 25 years.

Information technology is changing ata rapid rate; it is critical that solutionflexibility and sustainability are evalu-ated as part of the TCO. Failure toimplement a solution that includes aroadmap to evolve as IT trends emergemay result in long-term costs that are difficult to quantify, but painful to the organization.


Indirect costs

Application architecture

Sustainability

Integration

1 Build Versus Buy—A Long Term Decision, Olin Thompson, May 30,2002, pg. 1


Accenture and Oracle insight

Custom/transfer transfer systemshave evolved over long periods oftime; as a result, underlying codebases and architectures can becomeoverly complex and hinder long-term maintainability

7



Best industry processes

Oracle application integration architecture

Pre-built sustainable integrations

Foundation packs

Outreach Screening Enroll Manage case And more...

Grantsmanagementand reporting

Disbursement Referral torequisition

Industry leading

Oracle fusion middleware

Agreement tocontract

Cost of case

SOA programming model

SOA reference architecture

Enterprise business services

SOA governance


An application’s architecture is probablythe single most important factor in reducing an application’s TCO.Furthermore, the relative success of a system starts at the foundationalarchitecture. An optimal architecture is structured to enable flexibility andscalability as business practices changeand business rules are rewritten.

Custom solutions require vendors tocreate the architecture from scratch, or adopt an architecture only proven in a small number of implementations.In a COTS approach, vendors leveragean architecture proven by thousands ofcustomers worldwide. While the relativeTCO of application architecture cannotitself be measured, well-designed appli-cation architecture promotes hardwareoptimization and cost reduction whilethe flexibility and scalability of thatarchitecture reduces overall mainte-nance and upgrade costs.

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02 Application architecture

Social services case management sys-tems are at the heart of an agency’smission; as a result, there are multipleintegration points to external systems.In poorly designed integration architec-tures, developers must be knowledgeableabout each application and also trainedon the interoperability tools required tocomplete the integration. This limits anorganization ability to upgrade or mod-ernize key systems due to the inherentintegration risk.

Oracle and Accenture believe integrationshould no longer be the agency’s concern,but rather the concern of the softwarevendor. The two companies have joinedforces to deliver pre-packaged integra-tions, built on open standards, topromote long-term sustainability.

In those areas where pre-built integra-tions are not yet available, COTSsolutions are designed with wizardsthat business users can follow to exposeWeb services. This approach reducessystem maintenance costs and pro-motes ease of data sharing betweenlegacy systems. Using Web services asthe integration approach reduces thenumber of point-to-point integrationsacross systems, making it easier tomanage upgrades. While custom solu-tions can be architected to supportintegrations in a flexible environment,packaged software is a more proven andreliable approach in cases where inte-gration with other systems and modulesis a major requirement.2

03 Integration

2 “Make or Buy Decision Factors: World BankExperience and Guidance Note for TreasuryManagement System,” Government Practices-ISG, The World Bank, pg2.


Direct costs



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Direct TCO costs are easier to quantify and compare in custom/transfer and COTS solu-tions. There are five areas to analyze in direct TCO:

01 Initial development and deployment

02 Training

03 License costs

04 Maintenance

05 Operational support

Five pillars of Social Services TCO

Next generation child welfare solution

Initial developmentand deployment

License costs Training MaintenanceOperational

support


01 Initial development and deploymentAccenture understands the effortrequired to deploy statewide child wel-fare case management systems. Basedon experience deploying statewide childwelfare case management systems inNew York, Texas, Georgia, Nebraska andWyoming, Accenture conducted an in-depth analysis of the cost to deploya COTS case management solution to support child welfare case

management. Results of this analysisindicate that the cost to design,develop and deploy such a solutionroughly correspond to the costs associated with deployment of a custom/transfer solution with similar functionality, however the operational and maintenance costs of a custom/transfer solution far exceedthat of a COTS offering.

02 License costsThere is a license fee associated withboth a COTS and custom/transfer solu-tion. This license fee is payment to aprivate vendor for the millions of hoursspent in research and development todeliver a best-in-class solution. Initiallicense fees will decrease the amountof design time required on the part of asystems integrator to deploy the solu-tion. As a result, Oracle and Accenturebelieve most government agencies areable to achieve the benefits of a COTS solution for an initial cost comparableto custom deployment.

If COTS proposals do not decrease thesystems integration implementation

costs, the agency should question theapplication architecture used as thefoundation of the solution. Robustapplication architecture will signifi-cantly reduce development andmaintenance effort. Additionally, signif-icant customization to the base COTSpackage could be another driver in systems integration costs. Accenture’sevaluation of Oracle’s Siebel CaseManagement out-of-the-box function-ality indicates that the base COTSsolution meets a significant number of the case management requirementsfor a child welfare case managementsystem, without need for significantcustomization.


50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Professionalservices

0%

40%

Custom

30%

20%

10%

Comparison of cost drivers between COTS and custom/transfer case management systems

Percentage of overall project cost

Hardware

Softwarelicenses

COTS

76%

5%

19%

4%5%

91%


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03 Training

Among the most commonly overlookedand underestimated application costsare those for end user training. Custom-built social services case managementapplications tend to have higher train-ing costs than packaged applications,partly because they are often designedwith the greatest focus on functionalityversus usability. Developers are typicallycharged with developing a system thatincludes certain required functionalityby an agreed-upon deadline. Systemusability is often viewed as of secondaryimportance.

Packaged applications provide two benefits over custom solutions in thearea of training.

1. Packaged applications are designedto maximize usability because theymust have appeal and market accept-ance. Extensive user experience studiesare leveraged during the design andenhancement process. One of the out-comes of the user experience studies at

Oracle was the development of theCase Management Task Based UserInterface. This unique user experiencepresents to the end users only thosefields they need to complete a giventask, for example, screening an intake,documenting a client contact or makinga placement in a foster home. With this approach, users are guided through a business process in a step-by-step fashion and are presented with the option to pause a task at anygiven time.

The navigation and user benefits of apackaged solution enable organizationsto more easily train users in less time,which directly benefits the organization’straining budget.

Annual recurring benefits associatedwith new worker training would be 25 percent of the above figures assuming25 percent annual workforce attrition.



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Number of classroom Staff time required Social service case training days to support to attend initial management systems statewide deployment deployment training Comments

Custom/transfer 25,000 $6.8 million Assumes five days of classroomtraining on average, per user, basedon experience deploying custom/transfer child welfare case manage-ment systems. Five days ofclassroom training for 5,000 userswith a loaded payroll rate of$60,000 per year = $6.8 million.

COTS 12,500 $3.4 million Able to reduce classroom trainingtime by half as a result of usabilityimprovement associated with COTSsoftware and availability of user performance support tools built into the system which provide pointof need assistance for new users.Two and a half days of classroomtraining for 5,000 users with aloaded payroll rate of $60,000 per year = $3.4 million.



Number of consultants Number of Accenture trained to develop and consultants trained tomaintain a typical develop and maintaincustom/transfersolution Siebel-based solutions Comments

50-100 More than 6,000 Siebel Accenture has a pool of thousands of Siebel-skilled CRM-skilled professionals professionals. Accenture has implemented more than 2,100

Siebel CRM-based solutions. In addition, more than 390,000consultants in the general job marketplace have been trainedto develop and maintain Siebel CRM-based solutions.

Typical custom child welfare case management systems have a small number of implementations, resulting in a limited pool of resources knowledgeable in the underlyingarchitectures supporting the custom solution.


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2. Packaged solutions make availablethird-party training resources for devel-oper training. COTS case managementvendors with broad market presenceprovide standardized training to con-sulting firms, systems integrators,business users and IT staff. Throughpackaged training offerings, developerscan leverage such tools as user produc-tivity kits, Web-based training, train thetrainer programs and in-class trainingat a very competitive rate, compared tocustom-designed classes.

Over the course of 15 years, it isexpected a 5,000-person organizationcould save more than $16 million intraining through the adoption of aCOTS approach.

As COTS application vendors gain widemarket acceptance (such as Oracle, thebasis of Accenture’s Case ManagementSolution for child welfare using Siebel

Public Sector), the associated training isfine-tuned based on the feedback from a wide variety of stakeholders. Organiza -tions thereby gain two benefits: • Mature training courses meet the

requirements of various stakeholders.• Access to a broad pool of trained

personnel on the application.

Organizations should consider theavailability of training and the numberof people who have attended trainingclasses, as this will determine the mar-ket availability and associated costwhen external resources are required tosupport the system.

$10,000,000.00

$15,000,000.00

$20,000,000.00

$25,000,000.00

$30,000,000.00

$35,000,000.00

$0.00

$5,000,000.00

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

Custom/transfer COTS

Training costs over 15 year time period



04 MaintenanceMaintenance is an area where COTSsolutions take a very different approachfrom custom offerings. The majority ofownership costs for any solution imple-mentation are not incurred in the initialdeployment phase, but rather over time.Through a COTS approach, agencies areasked to pay for these costs through amaintenance fee. Custom solutions donot charge a maintenance fee but, like-wise, do not provide an upgrade path.Agencies are forced to essentiallyrewrite the system when significantmodernizations are required.

Organizations are charged a percentagemaintenance fee for a COTS solution.This maintenance fee provides theagency with well-tested, scalable architectures, optimized data models,upgrade tools and toolkits that signifi-cantly reduce the need for customcoding and reduce the effort required to implement enhancements over time.

Accenture chose to team with Oracle on the next-generation child welfaresolution, in part because of developerproductivity enabled through SiebelTools. Siebel Tools is the primary toolused to configure the Case ManagementSolution to meet specific agency busi-ness requirements. This softwarefeatures a graphical drag-and-drop userinterface and is declarative in nature.Declarative configuration enables busi-ness objects to be created or modified

simply by setting their properties, ratherthan modifying the underlying code.Authorized business users are able toplay a significant role in the configura-tion and ongoing maintenance of thesystem, thereby reducing reliance oninformation technology staff for long-term system support.

UpgradesUpgrades to custom solutions are typically very expensive. If the scope of the desired upgrade is significant, the custom solution may not be a viable platform, resulting in the need to re-procure the solution. Flexible andcost-effective upgrades are a significantbenefit of COTS solutions. The Siebeldeclarative configuration model enablesautomated upgrading of client cus-tomizations. Siebel Tools includes theSiebel application upgrade feature, this is a fully automated tool thatreduces the effort required to upgradeconfiguration changes to a few personmonths—a level of effort that is typi-cally orders of magnitude less thancustom solutions.

Agencies are frequently intimidated byupgrade costs. Many have the mistakenimpression that upgrading a case man-agement solution will cost tens ofmillions of dollars. While this may betrue for a custom solution, a properlyimplemented COTS solution shouldnever cost as much. It is not uncommon

for customers who have deployedSiebel-based solutions to upgrade bydedicating just two to three full-timeemployees from the operations team to the upgrade effort for a total of twoto three months.3 A similar customapproach would essentially equate to a significant system overhaul.

Annual maintenance fees also helpensure the long-term viability of a COTScase management system. Throughmaintenance fees, vendors are able toinvest in research and development thathelps yield long-term solution success.Government agencies should be skepti-cal about the long-term viability of anyCOTS solution that does not charge amaintenance fee.

A solution that is easy to modify andupgrade empowers the organization to take advantage of enhanced func-tionality as new releases, or newtechnologies, emerge over the lifecycleof the system.

2 “Make or Buy Decision Factors: World BankExperience and Guidance Note for TreasuryManagement System,” Government Practices-ISG, The World Bank, pg2.


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Accenture and Oracle insight

Government organizations, challenged with tight budgets, are seekingopportunities to reduce reliance on contracted staff for support ofsystems, where possible. Business users desire greater control overmaintenance of their core case management systems.



Number of technical staff required to supportsystem operations Comments

Case Management 4 Based on a review of operational support staffing Solution required to support Accenture implementations of Siebel CRM applications

Custom/transfer solution 8 Based on a review of operational support staffing required to support Accenture custom child welfare applications


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05 Operational supportWhile the ability to upgrade and modify the solution in the future isimportant, how the upgrades are imple-mented should also be a consideration.The traditional custom approach hasbeen to hire a systems integrator tobuild a transfer solution, based on pro-prietary code, which only that vendorknows how to maintain. As a result,organizations are locked into a long-term relationship with a single vendor.Accenture and Oracle believe it is time for that relationship to changeand for customers to control their support options.

Based on experience implementing the Siebel Case Management Solution,as compared to a custom approach,Accenture believes there are compellingreasons for a social service organizationto seriously consider adopting a COTS-based approach. Productivity tools used by operational support staff, suchas Siebel Tools, greatly simplify andstreamline system support. Based on a review of current custom/transferand COTS-based case management systems in production, Accenture andOracle see a 50 percent reduction ineffort to support COTS solutions in pro-duction compared to comparablecustom/transfer solutions as noted inthe figure below.


Findings



Oracle and Accenture believe the savings achieved through the deployment of a COTSsocial services case management solution are quantifiable in terms of cost, resources andsustainability. From a cost and resource perspective, Oracle and Accenture have identifiedthe following total cost of ownership drivers in a typical 5,000 user installation.

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4 Accenture/Oracle estimates based on current market understanding and previousimplementation experience.

Accenture Case One-time costs Management Solution4 Custom/transfer system Comments

Initial software 25% less than Custom 25% more than COTS Comparison of actual Accenturedevelopment and project results from Oracle versusdeployment efforts custom solutions shows a 25%

productivity gain with COTS forapplication development activities.

Initial license costs 5 times Custom 1/5 of COTS Based on a review of actual project license costs of COTS versus custom/transfer systems.

Hardware $1.5 million $1.5 million Hardware costs for COTS and custom/transfer solutions are generally comparable based on a review of recent projects.

Staff time to attend $3.4 million $6.4 million As noted previously, able to deployment training reduce classroom training time

by half as a result of COTS ease of use and performance supporttools in COTS solution. Figure does not take into account addi-tional savings through reducedinstructor, material duplication,facility and travel costs.

Total deployment cost Comparable with Comparable with Bottom-up estimates for design, initial cost of Custom initial cost of COTS build and deployment of COTS

versus custom/transfer solutionsshows initial costs are comparable.

Findings

Deployment cost analysis


Recurring annualmaintenance and Accenture Caseoperations costs Management Solution4 Custom/transfer system Comments

Operations 0% in house 0% in house Recommend maintaining a labor skill mix 100% vendor supported 100% vendor supported contractor team to support

operations under both a COTS and custom/transfer solution.

Operations costs $850,000 (4 vendor FTEs) $1.9 million (8 vendor FTEs) Based on a review of actual operations teams supportingOracle-based solutions compared to custom/transfer solutions.Assumes rate of $125 per hour.

Maintenance 75% in house 0% in house Due to ease of use, COTS labor skill mix 25% vendor supported 100% vendor supported enhancements able to be

supported with 75% in housestaffing versus custom/transfersolutions. Custom solutions typically require vendor resourcesto support solution due to intricacies in the system design and architecture.

Maintenance cost $450,000 (4 FTEs: $1.7 million Fewer staff required to enhance 1 vendor and 3 in house) (7 vendor FTEs) COTS solution due to productivity

gains through the use of configuration tools. Additionally,COTS skill mix enables use of lower cost resources ($35/hr for in house and $125/hr for vendor).

Annual new worker $850,000 $1.7 million Assumes 25% attrition on a training costs workforce base of 5,000 staff and

an average loaded payroll cost of$60,000 per worker.

Annual software $1.3 million $300,000 Based on a review of actual COTSmaintenance fees and custom/transfer systems

supporting appx. 5,000 users.

Total annual cost $3.5 million $5.6 million Net result is a $2 million annualsavings of COTS over custom/transfer solutions

Recurring cost analysis


The number of resources dedicated toongoing maintenance and enhance-ment of the system is a decision thatthe organization must make. The moreresources dedicated to the maintenanceeffort, the greater the number ofenhancements that can be made to thesystem. Over time, the staff dedicatedto maintenance may shift up or down,depending on the desired number ofenhancements to the system during a particular fiscal year. The abovestaffing levels are realistic, based onAccenture’s experience supporting childwelfare case management solutions inmultiple states.

Accenture and Oracle believe that a Siebel-based case management solution offers compelling value to social service organizations and provides these benefits:• Proven data model; scalable

solution—Able to grow and adapt to changing business processes and practices, including support ofenterprise case management.

• Upgradeable and maintainable—Designed to support ease of mainte-nance and simplifies deployment of future product upgrades.

• Based on best practices/businessprocesses—Out-of-the-box configu-ration incorporates Accenture’s experience deploying child welfarecase management solutions for multiple social service agencies.

• Dedicated software developmentorganization—Oracle makes signifi-cant investments in enhancing thecapabilities of the product suite. – Strict quality assurance—Robust

Oracle quality assurance processesresult in a stable and reliable suiteof COTS products.

– Product development amortizedover large customer base—Provides significant value over timeas social service organizations areable to leverage product capabili-ties enabled through support of a large, diverse customer base.

• Standardized training and docu-mentation—Reduced system supportcosts enabled through availability of vendor and third-party trainingcourses and products.– Clear path to self-sufficiency—

Full-featured developer toolsetsreduce reliance on vendor supportstaff and enable business users toplay an increased role in the ongo-ing maintenance and enhancementof the system.

– Certified professional/ecosystem—More than 390,000 people havebeen trained to maintain SiebelCRM applications, providing socialservice organizations with a signifi-cant pool of resources from whichto draw over the life of the system;a comprehensive Siebel-based certification program objectivelyconfirms the skill level of key SiebelCRM resources.

• Lower risk—Siebel CRM applicationshave been deployed in more than6,000 organizations and supportmore than six million users.

• Innovation, Web 2.0, mobility,etc.—Oracle continues to advance itsCOTS products to take advantage ofinnovative technologies.

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Conclusion

Public service agencies striving toachieve high performance must examineboth the indirect and direct advantagesof a COTS approach to social servicescase management. From an indirect perspective, Accenture and Oracle have identified these key elements:• System Sustainability—A COTS

approach empowers an agency to adapt as organizations and policies change.

• Application Architecture—In a COTSapproach, jurisdictions are leveragingan architecture proven by thousandsof customers worldwide.

• Integration—Packaged software is a proven and reliable approach in those cases where integration with other systems and modules is a major requirement.

In addition, Oracle and Accenture compared a typical custom/transfer andCOTS implementation in a 5,000-userinstall to identify the following savings:• License—Custom solutions do not

charge a license fee, but the toolsused to develop and deploy a customsolution do charge license fees. Therelative savings by adopting a matureCOTS application architecture typical-ly result in equivalent implementationsavings offsetting the license fee.

• Training—The focus on usability cangreatly reduce end user training costs,resulting in an initial projected sav-ings of $3.4M and a recurring pro-jected savings of $850,000 annually.

• Maintenance—A custom solutionrequires more full-time employees tomaintain than a COTS solution, but aCOTS solution charges a maintenancefee. Based on these comparisons,Accenture and Oracle believe it costsan average of $2 million to maintaina custom solution versus $1.7 millionto maintain a COTS.

• Upgrades—Paying for maintenanceprovides an organization the ability to upgrade the system overtime, versus a custom approach thatrequires organizations to modernize asolution after approximately 15 years.Over the course of 15 years, agenciesshould anticipate paying approxi-mately $2.2 million to continuallyupgrade a COTS solution versus there-implementation costs associatedwith the custom approach.

• Operational Support—Operationalsupport staff is cut in half through a COTS approach, resulting in potential savings of more than $1.5 million annually.

Over the course of 15 years agenciesshould anticipate saving over $47.8 million dollars in direct savingsby adopting a COTS social services solu-tion. From a sustainability perspective,Oracle and Accenture believe only aCOTS case management solution, devel-oped on an application architecturebuilt to support configuration andupgrades, will provide agencies the abil-ity to effectively adapt to business,organizational and technology changesthrough the lifecycle of the system—allat a reasonable total cost of ownership.

By approaching the planning of a socialservices case management solutionthrough a TCO model, Accenture andOracle believe social service agencieswill begin to embrace the opportunitiesposed through a COTS solution. Whilethe adoption of COTS will include initiallicense fees and ongoing maintenancefees, Oracle and Accenture believe thesefees will be quickly offset throughdecreased training costs, decreasedmaintenance costs and the benefits of asustainable solution for the long-term.

$40.00

$60.00

$80.00

$100.00

$120.00

$140.00

COTS

Custom/transfer

$0.00

$20.00

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

Total license, upgrade maintenance costs over life of 15 year system


Rick [email protected]

Rick Thompson is a senior manager withAccenture Public Service industry groupand has more than 21 years of experi-ence in system implementation, changemanagement and business transforma-tion at the state and federal levels. Hehas filled key roles in statewide humanservice case management projects inthe child protection, child support andpublic assistance areas. He is currentlyserving as Accenture’s Child WelfareSegment lead and is helping to shapeAccenture’s next generation child pro-tection suite of offerings.

About the author


About OracleOracle’s business is information—howto manage it, use it, share it, protectit. For nearly three decades, Oracle(NASDAQ: ORCL), the world’s largestenterprise software company, has provided software and services thatenable organizations to get the mostaccurate and up-to-date informationfrom their business systems. Today,Oracle has over 320,000 customers—including 100 of the Fortune Global100—in more than 145 countries.

About AccentureAccenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensivecapabilities across all industries andbusiness functions, and extensiveresearch on the world’s most successfulcompanies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. With approximately177,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, the company generated net revenues of US$23.39 billion for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2008. Its homepage is www.accenture.com.

Copyright © 2009 AccentureAll rights reserved.

Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Deliveredare trademarks of Accenture.

Oracle is a registered trademark ofOracle Corporation and/or its affiliates.Other names may be trademarks oftheir respective owners


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