Controlling Board approves DAS plan to replace end-of-life reporting tools with cloud-based system

The Ohio Controlling Board on Jan. 13 approved a Department of Administrative Services (DAS) project to implement a cloud-based reporting application intended to replace end-of-life business-intelligence tools used to query the state's financial and HR data.

DAS Deputy Secretary Ally Buccello told the board the project will "provide increased functionality and enhanced system security" and will modernize reporting now performed with an aging Business Intelligence product. Buccello said a survey of OAK users found more than 90% of the reports were "extremely important" and more than 55% of users run reports at least daily.

The move matters to state finance and budget offices because those users rely on the reports for routine operations and oversight. Representative Sweeney pressed DAS for a clearer cost comparison with the outsourcing arrangements the agencies have used, asking whether bringing the work in-house will be cheaper than continuing to contract the tasks to third parties. Buccello said she would follow up with the board on historical and projected costs.

Senator Brenner asked whether agencies should consider building greater in-house compute capacity and applying artificial intelligence to write needed software. Buccello said the agency is "looking at everything that's available to us as technology continues to change and grow" and offered to provide additional information.

President Schueller called for objections; none were raised and the item was approved without recorded objection.

The DAS presentation described the planned application as the successor to the state's Business Intelligence tools for querying OAK financial data and HR data and said the vendor solution would preserve existing report functions while adding new capabilities and security features. DASH staff committed to follow up with legislators on cost comparisons between outsourcing and their proposed approach.