AEF Systems Consulting, Inc. has participated in projects for numerous organizations throughout Southern California and other states. The following list represents a partial listing of these organizations, followed by a representation of AEF's client engagements.

Representative Client Engagements

California State University, Long Beach, Business Process Review - Reviewed business processes and activities conducted by the Business Office. Made recommendations to the organization in the areas of business practices, organization and staffing, information technology, managerial roles and responsibilities and customer service.

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For the City of Costa Mesa - Phase One, participated in the development of a multi-year Management Information Systems Strategic Plan. Assessed the City's MIS functions, including hardware, software, personnel, organizational structure, vendor agreements, and procedures; identified needs, opportunities, costs and benefits for information system enhancements; identified organizational and human resource impacts, and developed recommendations for organizational structure, procedures staffing and training associated with the new technology. Developed a Request for Proposal (RFP) for solicitation and evaluated vendor proposals for the total turnkey MIS package. Played a key role with the City Management Advisory Committee and City Council to communicate the objectives and findings of the plan. City of Costa Mesa - Phase Two, provided oversight assistance during the implementation of the $3.6 million project to implement all new hardware, including servers and workstations, City-wide network and over 20 software applications. City of Costa Mesa - Phase Three, prepared Request for Information (RFI) for a new Public Safety system for the Police, Fire and Communications Departments.

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City of Escondido, conducted a series of focus sessions with City personnel to validate a list of requirements that had been prepared by City staff. Updated these requirements and developed an RFP. Reviewed proposals and participated in vendor demonstrations of products. Documented the results of the analysis, prepared evaluation materials and guidelines. Participated in contract negotiations.

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For the City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles World Airports - Conducted a Needs Assessment of the Airport’s financial information management systems to assess whether it could be enhanced to provide overall accounting efficiencies. Led the preparation of Request for Proposals (RFP) for a new financial system and will participate in the evaluation of vendors.

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For the City of Oxnard, California, reviewed the current processing requirements for payroll and human resources for this 1,000 employee organization. Prepared detailed requirements, an RFP and evaluated software packages through vendor demonstrations, reference checks and site visits. Ultimately selected AMS and prepared recommendations to the City Council for purchase. Participated in the implementation of the product.

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For City of Pasadena, System Selection and Implementation - Validated the selection of PeopleSoft for their financial applications. Participated as the overall project manager during the implementation of the product. Also led the review of key business practices in the accounting area.

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For the City of Rancho Cucamonga, led the development of the requirements and the Request for Proposals for both a new Financial and Human Resource System and a new Permit System. Supported the City during the selection process by developing the evaluation criteria, participating in site visits and vendor demos. Also played a lead role during the vendor contract negotiations. Currently providing Quality Assurance over the implementation of the selected systems.

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For the City of Rancho Mirage, AEF is currently assisting the City with developing an information systems strategic plan. This project includes reviewing Rancho’s internal environment, identifying the City’s strengths and weaknesses and opportunities for improvement. AEF is assisting the City with developing a technology vision and the initiatives to support that vision, including prioritizing each project and developing a timeline for the overall strategic plan.

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For the City of Seattle, Washington, Payroll/Human Resources Selection and Implementation - Developed requirements for the 10,000 employee payroll, human resources, position control, benefits, affirmative action, retirement and applicant tracking needs. Prepared a RFP. Prepared an evaluation report based on the results of the City's internal selection process. Selected ADP's client/server product. Financial System Implementation - Acted as quality assurance advisor over the implementation of the PeopleSoft financial applications. Participated in the readiness assessment of all departments to determine whether the organizations as a whole was ready for the implementation.

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City of Tustin, Financial Systems Selection - Assisted this city in the development of requirements and selection of new financial and human resources software. Also developed RFP for installation of a new network. Information Systems Services Review - Reviewed how Information Systems was supported and made recommendation for future service level and support.

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For the County of Orange, Payroll and Human Resources - Conduced a detailed review of the payroll and human resources areas for this 10,000 employee government agency. Developed detailed requirements and prepared an RFP to solicit vendor proposals. Led the selection and evaluation process ultimately selecting AMS's GHRS. Determined the implementation costs and impacts to the County. Prepared a detailed implementation plan. Systems Unit Review - Currently conducting a review of the Systems Unit that maintains and operates the Countywide Accounting Personnel System (CAPS), property tax system and other accounting systems. In addition to conducting a traditional evaluation of the Systems Unit to assess the mission, activities, projects, resources and skill sets of the staff, AEF has provided the County with a day-to-day Project manager. This Project Manager works with existing staff to observe and provide guidance as well as gain insight into the staff and their strengths and weaknesses.

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For Del Taco, Inc., conducted a review of the organization's food cost model and supporting systems. Prepared system requirements and business recommendations.

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For The Disney Stores, Inc., performed a detailed review of the Personnel Record Department to determine more effective ways to operate the daily business transactions. Conducted a series of Joint Application Design (JAD) sessions to review the current work flows. Recommendations were made in the areas of systems, personnel, policies, procedures and organization structure. An implementation plan was prepared support the recommendations.

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Experian Real Estate Solutions Division (formerly TRW Information Services), System Assessment - Reviewed an internal proposal to implement a new financial system. Estimated costs and benefits to be expected. Validated choice of software package. Identified key factors that would affect the realization of expected benefits.

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For Garrett-AiResearch Corporation, conducted a requirements analysis and definition project for a new 20,000 employee payroll system to implement with an in-house developed human resources system. Led the evaluation and selection of the MSA system. Participated in the implementation of the software which involved numerous interfaces and customization aspects to achieve client goals.

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For Jenny Craig - Center Operations, conducted a review of the Center Operations and recommended changes in daily operations, operating procedures, policies and key financial indicators. Jenny Craig - Financial Areas, conducted a detailed process walk-through of their financial operations, and assessed information systems support of these key business functions. Identified various process improvement recommendations, and made suggestions regarding overall software strategy. Led the evaluation of potential software applications, resulting in the selection of software. Jenny Craig - Human Resources, assisted in the definition of requirements for the payroll and human resources area. Led the selection of new software for human resources. Participated as overall project manager in the implementation of the Ramco software product.

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Los Angeles County Fire Department, Training Program Review - Performed a comprehensive assessment of the Fire Department Recruit Training Academy, including teaching methods, curriculum, and discipline/evaluation. Compared the County's program with those of other fire departments, including the City of Los Angeles which at that time was involved in a highly publicized controversy regarding its recruit training practices. Recommended specific improvements. Presented findings and recommendations to senior department officials, employee groups, and departmental advisory board. Assisted in implementing the recommendations and assessed post-implementation progress. Financial System Review - Performed a detailed review of the Fire Department financial systems, focusing on budget development and reporting, and related management reporting policies and procedures. Included analysis of all business processes associated with management reporting, detailed analysis of management reporting requirements, identification of gaps in functionality in the accounting systems, recommendations for improvement of business processes and accounting software, and recommendations for changes in organizations, staffing, and skill levels to support management reporting.

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Marshall Industries, performed an analysis of adding their European operation to their domestic mainframe system. Involved determining requirements, identifying costs and highlighting benefits.

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For Mazda Motor of America, participated in the review of their $50 million implementation project to implement all new application software throughout the organization. Involved the review of program activities, outstanding issues and project plans as well as each individual project activities and resources being utilized. Prepared a document of recommendations to the organization to assist in getting the project back on a successful track.

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For The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California Phase Zero, Strategic Plan Assessment - Developed an environmental business model, application model, and designed an environmental information system for health and safety compliance tracking including, definition of application requirements, development of logical data model and function and processing requirements. Prepared an RFI and RFP and assisted in evaluation of appropriate packages to meet business needs. Also developed an implementation plan for the next phase of activities. Phase 1 - Acted as liaison and provided project control/oversight and quality control for implementation of system applications selected on previous project, including development of design requirements of customized applications, mapping of design to detailed requirements, review of deliverables, and ensuring integration of applications occurred during customization of applications. Finance Department - Assessed the readiness of the Finance Division to fulfill its mission in anticipation of the new computer system and reengineered business processes. This included a detailed activity analysis, skills survey, best-practices survey, internal customer survey, and Division performance analysis.  Conducted a series of meetings with the Finance Director, Budget Director, Controller, Treasurer, and other staff to develop a strategy for dealing with issues identified. Financial Reporting Project - Developed and implemented a District-wide management reporting system for a new client-server environment. Developed SQL queries to map the new Oracle financial and materials database, identifying differences between the Oracle technical reference documentation and the as-installed database. Wrote SQL routines to create additional Oracle tables and views as a miniature data warehouse for ad-hoc reporting purposes. Developed client-server SQL calls to interactively link Excel spreadsheets with the Oracle database. Developed user guides and conducted training sessions to help staff in all divisions make the transition from "haystacks" of paper-based reports to "needle-seeking" on-line analysis using the new client-server environment. Assisted users in interpreting data and creating Oracle-linked spreadsheets in response to emerging business issues.

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For Nichols Institute, Human Resources Selection/Implementation - A laboratory testing facility with 2,000 employees, developed requirements for payroll and human resources. Prepared an RFP and led the selection and evaluation process which led to the selection of PeopleSoft software. Developed a detailed implementation plan. Involved in monitoring of project progress against the plan through weekly status and deliverable review meetings. Laboratory Information System - Developed the requirements for a new reference laboratory system to be used by all departments in the organization. Involved in conducting over 26 JAD sessions with key staff to develop the requirements.

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Nissan Motor Corporation, Business Process Review - Identified potential improvements in financial processes. Developed a vision statement containing goals for the finance department, with contrasts between the vision and the current situation highlighted.

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For the North County Transit District, Strategic Plan - Developed a multi-year strategic plan for this transit provider in Northern San Diego County. Financial System - Developed requirements and RFP for new software, ultimately selecting JD Edwards. Currently acting as overall project manager in the implementation of the product. Year 2000 - Assisted in assessing the organization's readiness to Year 2000 issues. Facilitated all planning sessions.

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For the Orange County Fire Authority, Business Process Review - conducted a business practices review of key processing within the entire organization, looking for enhancements to the current practices. Worked with staff to address "customer service" aspects, not typically discussed previously. Identified evaluation criteria. Assessed the Fire Authority on those criteria. Compared the Authority's current practices with industry best practices. Developed recommendations for transitioning to best practices, including cost and benefit projections. Developed a new organization structure, changes in roles and responsibilities, and streamlining of procedures. System selection and Implementation - Assisted in the development of an approach for the selection of new software and hardware for Financial and Human Resources applications. Guided the Selection Team through the entire vendor evaluation process. Provided day-to-day support during the implementation of new software.

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For The Price Company, a warehouse retail outlet, led the development of requirements for new human resources and flex benefit software. Reviewed various options for these applications including purchase of software or outsourcing of the complete functions. Selected a voice response system to utilize for the open enrollment process for a new flexible benefits plan offered to the employees. Participated in the implementation of this product.

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Puget Sound Power and Light, assisted the client team in determining user requirements for a comprehensive application package which would provide end users with access to five separate and different database management systems. Developed requirements documents, evaluated software packages for final selection, evaluated systems development tools to be installed. Human Resources - Conducted an analysis of the organization's payroll and human resources system. Assisted in the development of the requirements and participated in the selection process for new software, ultimately selecting Integral Systems, Inc. Developed detailed implementation estimates and work plan.

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For Reynolds Engineering and Electrical Company, a subcontractor to the U.S. Department of Energy, evaluated their current payroll and timekeeping process and recommended changes to their work flow.

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For Rockwell International, a large aerospace and defense contractor, conducted a survey of approximately 50 companies throughout the United States focusing on key trends in payroll and human resources. Prepared detailed requirements for their 100,000 employees and 50,000 retirees. Led the evaluation of software packages, ultimately selecting Tesseract. Participated in the planning process for implementation and monitored overall project progress to plan through weekly status meetings. Performed a post-implementation review of the project to ensure the effective use of the Tesseract software.

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For the San Diego County Water Authority, reviewed Financial, Human Resources and Preventative Maintenance requirements developed internally and made recommendations to enhance and streamline the materials. Prepared an RFP to vendors. Conducted a review of the vendor materials and participated in the vendor demonstrations and site visits. Assisted in the contract negotiations with the selected vendors. Provided oversight services to the project implementation phase.

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For Sonic Foods, Business Process Review - Developed a series of "brown papers" to review key business processes in the sales and marketing and accounting areas. Led to recommendations in processes, policies, procedures, organizations, staffing, and information technology.

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St. Joseph Health System, Clinical Systems - Facilitated a cross-business unit group in a financial and clinical project definition activity for this diverse health system. Developed an overall project plan, goal, objectives and strategy. Also participated as overall quality assurance advisor over their $30 million project to implement new clinical and financial systems throughout the health system. Involved in day-to-day project activities to ensure the quality of all deliverables and the status of individual project activities. Financial Systems - Conducted an assessment of their current financial system to determine whether this product could meet their needs into the future. Year 2000 - Provided day-to-day support in the readiness of the organization for Year 2000. Acted as a team leader over the information technology components of the project. Facilitated various sessions on how to identify risks and successfully address these issues.

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State of California, Employment Development Department, prepared a general design document of an Unemployment Insurance Management Information System for the State of California, including information needs assessment, description of current system, definition of data needs for the new system and definition of functional requirements.

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For the State of Oregon Department of Transportation, reviewed the current human resources department focusing on the current work flows, staffing and systems. Made significant recommendations to support the more effective utilization of all resources.

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For Taco Bell Corporation, conducted a series of JAD sessions to determine requirements for a new payroll and human resources system. Based on input in these sessions, developed detailed requirements for this 50,000 employee payroll. Guided the company through the evaluation process. Prepared the detailed implementation plan. Monitored the initial phase of the implementation of the PeopleSoft product. Also, reviewed the current financial department structure, procedures and policies and made recommendations that radically redesigned the way support to their "stores" was handled.

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For THQ, Inc., Financial System - Conducted a Needs Assessment of the financial accounting systems. Led to the development of requirements and the selection of SAP as the solution provider. Payroll/HR - Reviewed the current processing operations and led the selection of an outsource provider. Business Process Review - Reviewed key processes in the sales and marketing areas as well as finance and made recommendations to improve the processes.

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For Ventura County Fire Protection District, assisted in the development of the organization’s overall strategic plan. Facilitated many work sessions with the Executive Management Team to determine the direction of the organization over the next several years.

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For Yamaha Motor of America, led a Joint Application Design session to determine the appropriate business process for potential product line expansion. Prepared a report to management on the project recommendations.

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