More testing planned for ‘complicated’ initiatives
GEORGETOWN — Williamson County commissioners this past week received updates on various records-management projects including Wilco on Workday, as well as dispatch and lawenforcement systems.
Chief Information Officer Richard Semple kicked off the Tuesday meeting discussing Wilco on Workday, or WoW, which manages human-resources functions, employee benefits, payroll and timesheets.
It is replacing the county’s current online system for finance, procurement asset and HR
departments. “There’s certainly a lot more that we’re doing besides these, but it’s definitely time to update the court on a few of these major issues,” Semple said March 31.
Semple showed a timeline for the Workday system, which is about one-third implemented with a projected end date of February 2027.
“We are in the configuration phase and this is a really key phase where we go through each module, each screen, and configure exactly how it needs to work for us. Then we test to make sure each of these functions perform the way we need them to,” Semple said.
This summer will see more assessments, Semple said.
“We’ll perform endto- end testing where we’ll start something like a procurement from the very beginning and work it all the way through to invoicing and see where all those issues and things that need to be cleaned up are,” Semple said, noting these steps are a critical part of the process.
He added, “We take the time to make sure it’s working exactly as we need it to function, not just how the system works.”
Precinct 3 Commissioner Valerie Covey commended Semple and his team on their work.
“This is a huge project and very complicated, and it has to be right. I appreciate all the time that you guys are spending on it, and all the other leaders that are helping their departments move through and maneuver this,” Covey said.
Meanwhile, the county is replacing its current dispatch system, its mobile data systems used by patrol units out in the field and lawenforcement records management systems.
“A whole bunch of other smaller systems are going to be either affected or replaced as part of (these changes too),” Semple said.
The project will “go live” next year and Semple’s team is about halfway through the process, he said, noting this week “is a very busy week.”
“We are doing some configuration in the beginnings of testing right now…We’ve got law-enforcement recordsystem duration going on right now. One of our training rooms and then our other conference rooms are filled with Workday folks doing testing,” Semple said.
Semple provided overviews for other county projects including public Wi-Fi availability at the Georgetown Square, the Williamson County Expo Center and Taylor ballfields, countywide fiber optics and radio tower additions and upgrades.
In other business, commissioners also approved audio-visual system upgrades to the multiple rooms at the Williamson County Sheriff’s Training Academy, 8160 Chandler Road in Hutto.
The commissioners next meet 9:30 a.m, April 14 at 710 S. Main St.
Sessions can also be viewed online at wilcotx. gov/331/Commissioners-Court.
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This is a huge project and very complicated, and it has to be right.”
— Precinct 3 Commissioner Valerie Covey
