Board approves Protiviti contract to augment payroll work after repeated Focus errors

The Volusia County School Board voted to approve a consulting and staff-augmentation contract with Protiviti aimed at stabilizing payroll operations and validating enterprise resource planning processes following months of payroll errors tied to the district’s recent Focus software implementation.

Chair Ruben Colon brought the item forward after board members pulled 7.24 for separate consideration. Ms. Prosper said she could not support the contract "as a protest vote," arguing that Focus had repeatedly failed to produce reliable payroll and tax reporting for employees and that the vendor should bear greater responsibility. "I am a no on this item as a protest vote," she said.

District staff and the superintendent’s team described Protiviti’s scope as threefold: provide interim, expert payroll staff to augment a team affected by retirements and turnover; validate complex HR and finance processes (including bank reconciliations and cost reports); and review how Focus generates W-2s so the district can avoid repeating last spring’s corrections that affected about 7% of employees. "Protiviti is going to be offering some augmented staff until we can stabilize the team," a district official said, adding the consultants will help create standard operating procedures and validate data.

Several board members acknowledged long-standing payroll challenges that predate Focus but said moving to full Focus-based data will mitigate migration-related errors. Dr. Kuhn noted that the next W-2 cycle will rely solely on Focus data rather than migrated Crosspoint data, which should reduce migration issues if Protiviti validates the processes.

Budget questions featured heavily in the discussion. Board members said the district had previously budgeted implementation funds for Focus, and staff said the Protiviti contract was structured to fit within remaining implementation dollars. The district also said Focus would contribute $60,000 toward the work; district staff said they remained within the originally budgeted implementation amount.

Ms. Haines moved to approve the contract; the motion passed by voice vote, with one member recorded as opposed. The board scheduled no further public hearings on the item. The contract is intended as short-term augmentation and process validation to reduce recurring payroll errors while the district stabilizes staff and documents standard operating procedures.