Wisconsin Department of Administration:
Moving From Homegrown PMIS to e-Builder

Learn how Avicado helped Wisconsin Department of Administration successfully migrate from a 25 year old homegrown system to e-Builder – building new processes, automating workflows, and providing in depth-training.

Before Avicado

Wisconsin Department of Administration (WIDOA) had been using a homegrown PMIS system known as Wisbuild for 25 years that was built specifically for Wisconsin’s State Building Program. While this system worked for a period of time, the technology became outdated and was struggling to keep pace with the State Build Program’s needs.

  • Lack of flexibility – Due to its complexity, the system was sensitive to changes. Even small tweaks could break something and required a developer to implement. Because of this, updates and improvements weren’t able to be made very often.
  • Old and outdated technology – The system didn’t work on modern browsers.
  • Lacked basic features of modern PMIS – The system couldn’t create workflows or automations, lacked visibility and transparency, and struggled with accurate reporting.

Because of these challenges and feeling the need to modernize, WIDOA knew they needed to transition but wanted to be careful not to rush the process and make sure stakeholders felt confident in the solution. They eventually decided to take the plunge and migrate to e-Builder.

This was no easy task, and WIDOA quickly realized they needed help with the planning and execution if they were going to successfully go-live with this brand new system and processes. The search began for consultants who were experts in e-Builder and had experience doing an implementation of this scale.

The Avicado Effect

Yet armed with a strategic vision, WIDOA still had a lot of work to do. They did not have the resources in-house needed for a successful implementation. At this point, they decided to bring on a full-time program manager from Avicado to help oversee the project, keep everything on track, and communicate with stakeholders.

Having the extra hands-on help with implementation freed up WIDOA to stay on task with their day-to-days of implementing the largest three capital budgets in history, while allowing them to champion the vision of innovation that would go on to drive efficiency in their work and enhance greater collaboration.

Data Migration

With data from over 2500 projects and 4000 users on the legacy system it was critical that the data could be migrated without impact to ongoing work. Avicado facilitated the data field mapping and migration in order to successfully migrate data from Wisbuild and their ERP system into e-Builder.

Training and Education

Having all stakeholders completely change processes and learn an unfamiliar system is a big ask. WIDOA understood this and wanted to be sure that they were equipping all stakeholders with the resources needed to be successful.

Wanting to make the transition as seamless as possible, WIDOA worked with Avicado to create multiple training formats and opportunities:

  • Office hours – In the beginning, Avicado hosted Office Hours for everyone in the WIDOA division to get them ready for the changes and answer any questions. They also provided full-time Office Hours for 6 weeks after go-live to ensure everything went smoothly.
  • Training guides & interactive training videos – Avicado and WIDOA worked together to create engaging, educational, and visually pleasing training courses to get everyone knowledgeable on the new system and processes.
  • In-person training – Before going live, Avicado and WIDOA’s other partners hosted in-person sessions for all stakeholders.

Taking e-Builder Beyond the Box with Microsoft 365

For 25 years WIDOA had been using a system that was created specifically for them. One challenge they faced when transitioning to e-Builder was that not everything tailor-fit their processes and needs. While they have major benefits, off the shelf solutions can’t be everything to everyone. That’s where Avicado really helped WIDOA take their transition and implementation over the finish line by creating custom solutions using Microsoft 365 to bridge those gaps.

Architecture and Engineering Performance Scoring

WIDOA is required to evaluate their architecture and engineering (AE) firms throughout the life of a project based on the quality of work they provided. This process was previously being done in Wisbuild through a list of questions that are weighted to create a final score for each AE firm. This was difficult to do within e-Builder due to the large scope and number of stakeholders involved in the process (project managers, field staff, MEP, inspectors, technical reviewers, AE firms).

Avicado created a custom solution in Microsoft 365 that not only replicated what existed on the legacy system, but made major improvements!

  • Makes e-Builder data more usable – This solution takes e-Builder data and puts it into a format that will allow project managers to do what they needed with as little upset to the current process as possible.
  • Resource planning and management – Previously, gathering insights into overall workload amongst project managers in their field staff was cumbersome. In the new system, they’re able to assign technical reviewers within Microsoft 365 and report on it – giving them much more accessible and actionable data.
  • More accurate performance scoring – We also added additional project categories to score on and updated the overall scoring criteria to provide a more accurate picture of the performance of these firms.

Bid Notification Website

As WIDOA is a public agency, they also had to create better ways for their vendors to work with their systems. Avicado created a Microsoft 365 solution that enhanced WIDOA’s bid notification website, which will allow them to streamline access while avoiding the need to retrain contractors on a new process.

Capital Planning

Another area Avicado helped WIDOA formalize and improve processes is in Capital Planning. In order to get capital spend approved for the state, they’re required to produce a Capital Budget Governor’s Recommendations (250+ page published “book”, including individual project detail and justification, funding sources, summary charts, etc.) submitted to the Legislature as part of the biennial budget process.

With Avicado’s help and the use of Microsoft 365, WIDOA has seen major improvements in how they do capital planning:

  • Standardized budget requests
  • Simplified scenario planning
  • More accurate predictions
  • Consolidated information
  • Easier production of the Capital Budget Governor’s Recommendations book

What’s Next?

Taking the leap from their outdated homegrown system to a modern PMIS like e-Builder marks a significant milestone in WIDOA’s digital transformation journey and the pursuit of efficiency, more robust reporting, and increased collaboration.

But the journey doesn’t stop there! After going live, Avicado continues to work with WIDOA to support e-Builder operations, create tailored data solutions and reporting, and improve upon the custom Microsoft 365 solutions that have been built.

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