Sutter County officials praise rapid Workday rollout, add Sherpa for budget workflow

Ken Saraw, Sutter County’s general services director, told the Board of Supervisors on April 10 that the county completed a rapid Workday enterprise resource planning implementation, went live in April 2024 and finished the primary rollout in about 14 months.

"Workday, what is it? It's an ERP system. It runs the business of an organization. It manages our two most important things, our people and our money," Saraw said during the presentation and review of project outcomes.

County presenters credited the project team with keeping payroll running on schedule during and after the transition. Veronica Baumgartner, human resources director, said that "all employees are now entering their own time," and noted that mobile time entry for deputies and other field staff has reduced administrative burden. Auditor‑Controller Nate Black said closing work for the 2023–24 fiscal year was delayed but expected to be finished: "I would say with certainty, we'll be done by May 31."

Presenters acknowledged implementation challenges that are common for large ERP projects: change management, training demands and some delayed report customization. Staff said Workday’s native budget module, Adaptive Planning, did not meet Sutter County’s needs for producing California state‑required budget schedules. Laura Granados, deputy county administrator, said "the adaptive planning piece did not meet Sutter County's needs for budget development, reporting, or planning." The county interviewed four vendors and selected Sherpa to produce the budget book and required schedules; staff said Workday provided a credit to offset the additional purchase and refunded implementation costs for that piece.

Looking ahead, staff described phase‑2 work including a Workday Talent module for evaluations, more training resources (short "how‑to" videos), ongoing report customization and weekly communications to special districts and departments. Saraw said the county intends to use Workday features for routine automation and to support internal audit capabilities, and framed future uses of artificial intelligence as "human‑centered" tools that process internal financial data to automate routine tasks and aid analysis.

Sherpa will be used in the next budget season to accelerate budget book creation and auto‑generate department pages and fund summaries, staff said. County officials emphasized that tighter audit trails and the move toward digitized workflows are expected to reduce paper processes, clarify MOUs and improve long‑term reporting and transparency.

The board thanked the project team and recognized staff members and departments who contributed to the implementation; staff said they will return with further updates as customization and the second fiscal close proceed.