Court approves SAP user licenses as county studies ERP replacement

The Commissioner's Court on Nov. 11 approved the purchase of SAP SuccessFactors software licenses while county IT staff briefed commissioners on an ongoing enterprise resource planning (ERP) study.

County IT staff (identified in the record as Mendez) told the court the ERP-options study began about three months ago and will produce an internal recommendation for the court in December, including a total cost of ownership over 10 years and disruption estimates. "The study to evaluate our ERP options was started about 3 months ago," Mendez said. He described the county's current SAP deployment (R/3), the vendor upgrade path to S/4 HANA and the possibility of cloud or hybrid cloud hosting.

Mendez said the county has used SAP since the early 2000s and reported an estimated total cost of ownership for the current configuration in excess of $60,000,000 over 10 years if no changes are made. He also warned that transitions to a modern ERP are complex and may take 18–24 months to complete once a decision is made.

Commissioners pressed for clarity on timing and costs; several said the licenses are needed in the near term regardless of the long-term ERP decision. One commissioner said the system still requires licenses for at least the next 18–24 months; another asked staff to return with the December report so the court can weigh a long-term path.

The motion to approve the SAP SuccessFactors license purchase carried unanimously. Staff said they expect to return with a formal recommendation and cost breakdown to the court at the December session.