Transforming State Government with Oracle Public Sector Cloud

How a Public Sector Government Entity to transform its manual systems and processes into a world class cutting-edge Public-Sector Cloud Solution

A large state government in mid-west US faced significant challenges in managing its complex financial operations, grant administration, and citizen service delivery. Legacy systems hindered efficiency, transparency, and data-driven decision-making, while stringent security and compliance requirements added further complexity.

Client Vision Statement:

“Our goal was to modernize outdated systems that had become roadblocks to effective financial management, grant distribution, and citizen services. We needed a scalable, cloud-first infrastructure that would enable transparency, compliance, and smarter decision-making—preparing the City for the next decade of growth and service excellence.”

Client: One of the largest City in the State
Industry: Public Sector
Size: 8000+ employees

Location: Missouri

Challenges:

For more than two decades the City ran its finances, HR, and grant programs on a 1990-era mainframe stitched together with custom code. The cracks were widening:

Pain Point	Everyday Reality
Aging, unsupported ERP & HCM	> 60 % of payroll and AP batches had to be re-run because overnight jobs timed-out or crashed.
Spreadsheet sprawl	215 different Excel workbooks tracked budgets, grants, and supply orders—creating three conflicting “final” numbers every month-end.
No self-service or workflow	Simple actions (address change, budget transfer) needed 4 paper forms & 5 signatures, adding up to 18,000 sheets of paper per year.
Audit & compliance risk	Preparing the CAFR took 14 weeks and drew 17 audit findings; fines and rework cost taxpayers $1.2 M in the last cycle.

City leaders knew that without a modern, integrated platform they couldn’t meet transparency mandates—or recruit the next generation of public-sector talent.

Action:

Over a two-year transformation, the project team replaced the legacy sprawl with Oracle Public Sector Cloud:

Cloud Foundation
- Deployed Oracle ERP, EPM & Grants Management Cloud to 46 departments; migrated 57 M transactions from the mainframe.
Process Modernization
- Re-engineered 104 business processes (finance, HR, supply chain, grants). Converted 75 % of paper workflows into digital approvals with mobile access.
Data & Compliance
- Built 60+ secure integrations/EDI links to police, fire, courts, and health systems.
- Embedded GAAP & CAFR rules into every journal, plus automated “pre-close” checks that flag issues nightly.
People & Change
- Trained 200+ employees in role-based labs; created 90-second micro-videos for just-in-time refreshers.
- Established a cloud Center of Excellence with city staff

Results:

Financial Process Efficiency: Streamlined financial management and budgeting processes, resulting in a 20% reduction in processing time and a 15% decrease in administrative costs.
Grant Administration Optimization: Automated grant administration, leading to a 30% acceleration in grant disbursement and a 25% reduction in manual processing errors.
Enhanced Compliance & Reporting: Implemented robust security and compliance standards, achieving 100% GAAP and CAFR compliance with automated reporting, reducing audit preparation time by 40%.
Data Driven Decisions: Implemented real-time dashboards that improved decision making speed by 35%
Over 50 Data Conversion Objects transformed
Automated 75% of the current manual activities/ business operations
60+ Interfaces/ EDI’s are designed to transfer data to and from across systems connecting the City
Over 100 Business Processes transformed/ modernized across Business Functions
Over 50 customized reports developed to support day to day business

KPI	Before	After	Impact
Financial transaction processing time	12 min / txn	9 min / txn	-20 %—saves ~4,000 staff-hours/yr
Grant disbursement cycle	50 days	35 days	-30 % faster funds to community programs
Manual workflows	100 % paper	25 % paper	75 % automated; 160k sheets of paper saved annually
Audit prep effort	14 weeks	8 weeks	-40 %; zero repeat findings
Data-driven decisions	Ad-hoc, month-old data	Real-time dashboards	Decisions made 35 % faster, cited by cabinet as “biggest culture shift”
Administrative cost	Baseline	-15 %	$3.8 M annual savings redirected to public safety & parks
ROI on cloud roadmap	n/a	25 % projected in 3 yrs	Self-funds future upgrades & innovation

Client Testimonial

“Our goal was simple but ambitious: give every department—from finance to citizen services—the modern tools and data they need to serve St. Louis efficiently and transparently. Moving to a unified cloud platform lets us automate manual tasks, enforce GAAP compliance, and make faster, smarter decisions for our residents and grant partners.”

— City Office of Comptroller

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