Inaccuracies, cost overruns and inefficiencies still swirl around the state’s newest accounting and procurement software launched nearly 18 months ago.
That’s according to a new report from the Idaho Office of Performance of Evaluation, the state legislature’s independent watchdog group.
“We found that overall, the transition to Luma had a negative impact on state agencies,” the report states, noting agencies continue to rely on outside software to complete their tasks.
OPE’s report shows problems with the program, Luma, reared their head from the beginning when the Idaho State Controller’s Office began shopping for it in 2018.
The agency gave staff just three weeks to analyze and score more than 2,500 pages of technical documents from bidders on top of their regular duties.
“Given that the evaluators were still managing their regular full-time responsibilities, it is unlikely that they were able to read the written proposals in their entirety,” the report states.
The agency also never interviewed key contractors it hired to implement the system who have since been replaced.
The report found that Deloitte, the global management consulting firm in charge of Luma’s implementation, mostly provided goals that were “highly generic.”
The goals were “based on templates, repeated information from the contract’s scope of work and contained very little information specific to Idaho or to the implementation of [Luma]."
Staff within the controller’s office felt “frustration” at those goals.
“However, the lack of specificity in the contract and early project management documents kept the state from having clear criteria to reject deliverables.”
When Luma launched in July 2023, state workers struggled with it for months. Leaders within the controller’s office chalked it up to a lack of training and resistance to change.
“Despite an internal emphasis on Luma changing how the state does business, the change management approach did not adequately prepare people and agencies to change how they worked.”
The majority of 2,200 state employees recently surveyed told investigators Luma still spits out inaccurate data and training materials aren’t updated when the state implements software changes.
“I cannot rely on the reporting tools in Luma, this has caused my agency to look 'incompetent' with Legislative committees,” said one anonymous fiscal officer quoted in the report.
Some legislators have suggested scrapping Luma, which has cost the state $117 million so far. Analysts say a different system would cost just as much, if not more, to replace it.
The state controller’s office said it largely agrees with the report’s findings and is working to fix Luma and rebuild trust with employees.
“It’s regrettable that messages from [office] leadership, intended to encourage and remind all involved of the importance of collaboration, was conveyed in a manner that was felt and perceived as placing blame on state employees,” wrote Chief Deputy Controller Scott Smith in a reply to the report.
“[The state controller’s office] has incorporated much of this report into its plans moving forward,” Smith wrote.
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