IRIS Current Status
January 2005
IT/CLT Project Update
The testing for Corporate License Tax is nearing the end. All individual test scenarios have been tested, for a total of 2,605 scenarios and 2,800 hours. End-to-end testing has begun and will continue for the next few weeks. End-to-end testing simulates life cycles for accounts and processing over time.
Job specific training began January 7th for all corporate tax users, as well as new users participating in this rollout. Training will continue through the month of January in preparation for conversion weekend. Conversion of Corporate License Tax onto IRIS will take place January 27th through January 30th. Again, we would like to extend many thanks to all who have contributed to this effort. We believe the payoff for time spent will be exponentially returned in the effectiveness of the new system. Former Governor Judy Martz also indicated her thanks in a reception held on December 28th to recognize everyone who has participated in successfully implementing the IRIS system.
In the Income Tax arena, the process of creating workday diaries has been in progress for a few weeks and will continue into March. The purpose of the workday diaries is to capture what type of work is done on a daily bases. This information is then used later to create test scenarios and to make sure that necessary functionality is accommodated. Work has also begun regarding the clean-up effort that will be necessary before converting IT4. This includes researching unclaimed payments and taxpayer social security numbers.
October 2004
Work on Corporate License Tax (CLT) is proceeding at full speed. System testing for CLT started last week. The first area being tested is registration. Returns generation testing started this week as well. Next week's testing will focus on payment verification. System testing will continue to the end of year in preparation for the rollout at the end of January 2005. Users can expect to be heavily involved in the testing, as their participation is vital to ensure that all requirements and functionality are successfully implemented.
Progress has been made in the handling of pass through entities, and the forms creation for Corporation tax, S-Corp and partnerships have been finalized. Meetings have been held to refine the requirements necessary to accommodate corporate tax field and office audits. Use of the GenTax discovery tool will be beneficial in identifying corporate non-filers and for selective audit purposes.
Even though the Income Tax (IT) rollout is still close to a year away, work is progressing. The base configuration has been completed and work on creating letters is underway.
A new updated version of GenTax will be rolled out in mid November. This new version is referred to as "GenTax.Net". This new version changes the way the screens look, but the overall functionality remains the same. A handful of users from different work units have been identified to be trained prior to the main rollout. It is envisioned that these initial users will be able help the work units when everyone is transitioned to the new version. The training consists of individuals watching a series of 10-20 minute self-guided training courses. This can be done on their desktop computers or at the Park Ave Building. All self-guided training courses will be accessible from the DOR intranet site. Also, a 1.5 hour training session is scheduled for each user to attend. All remaining production GenTax users have been scheduled for training during the week of November 15th to November 18th. GenTax.Net will be fully implemented by November 19th.
September 2004
IT/CLT Project Update
The first thing you will probably notice is the name change. In an effort to distinguish the current activity from the five prior rollouts, the department leadership has decided to refer to this project as the IT/CLT Project.
Work on Corporate License Tax (CLT) is proceeding at full speed. Last week members of the Corporation License Tax Unit attended their first round of training on the GenTax system. Testing for CLT begins this week and will extend into January.
Even though the Income Tax (IT) rollout is still a year away, work has already begun. The first step is to create a tax profile document. In the case of IT, it will be submitted this week. This document will be used to establish the initial GenTax configuration.
August 2004
The Combined Oil & Gas (COG) rollout is implemented. Conversion activities took place the weekend of August 27. Users from the Natural Resource Unit, PRO, and ARC were on hand to verify data and perform post conversion tasks. Overall, the COG rollout has gone very smooth, thanks in large part to the efforts of many people.
July 2004
The Withholding Tax (WTH) rollout is now officially past the first phase of production support. The rollout went smoothly and users have done a fantastic job of getting comfortable with performing post-conversion activities in IRIS!
During the July 4 weekend, conversion efforts were completed. This was no small feat as demonstrated by the numbers below. The conversion went extremely well and users were using the new system a day ahead of schedule! Here is a sampling of the data volume converted from POINTS to IRIS:
54,000 Customers
470,000
Periods or Returns
144,000 2004 WTH Payments totaling $211
million
108,000 Business and Mailing Addresses
The IRIS team provided desk side support to WTH users
from July 6 - 19. Continued desk side support is available through August
6 via the GenTax Help Line.
Combined Oil and Gas (COG) is the next and final
rollout for Phase 1 of the IRIS project. Users continue testing Returns
Verification and Financials, along with verifying converted data. Second
quarter 2004 returns were sent out in the new IRIS format so they are ready to
be received by the system when due. Overall, the team and users are making
good progress in preparing for the August 30 rollout date.
June 2004
The IRIS team is performing end-to-end testing for Withholding Tax (WTH) throughout the end of this month. This process simulates a normal "day-in-the-life" of returns and payments from beginning to end. As mock conversions continue, users are verifying data following these activities. Nearing the July 5 go-live date for WTH, the IRIS team is gearing up for production support activities. Roving desk side support is provided to users for at least two weeks following rollout. Following this phase of production support, users get assistance through expert users in their area, IRIS desktop instructions, online help, or the IRIS help line. Support team members are dispatched to a user's location as needed.
Progress continues on the Combined Oil & Gas (COG) rollout. IRIS team members and users are checking data in POINTS in preparation for conversion. Users have tested payments and will test returns next. The IRIS team is building an Excel upload for those taxpayers that file through this method. This upload is a simple and effective way of bringing taxpayers one step closer to electronic filing which will reduce the time and energy required to process returns as well as reduce errors.
May 2004
The IRIS team and Withholding Tax (WTH) users are preparing for the upcoming WTH rollout. System test is almost complete with the majority of approximately 1400 test scenarios completed. All together, 54 people have spent over 2400 hours testing for this rollout, with excellent results. Users are receiving job-specific training throughout the end of June. Team members are running mock conversions between now and June 6. Production conversion is scheduled for July 1-4, with production go-live on July 5.
The final rollout, Combined Oil & Gas (COG), is progressing quickly. Team members and users are performing system test between now and August 15. Mock conversions for COG are scheduled for June 21 through August 1. Job specific training for users will be held August 16-30, with production conversion August 27-29. Production go-live is scheduled for August 30.
April 2004
As of March 29, we have 3 of the 5 IRIS rollouts in production - Rental Vehicle Tax (RVT), Lodging Facilities Use Tax (LFT) and Cigarette Tax (CIG). The project team is currently providing desk side support to these users. Anyone needing assistance can request on-site support anytime throughout April. There is also an IRIS Help Line available for assistance. User feedback so far has been very positive, noting that support staff has been very helpful and the system is easy to use.
One of IRIS' many advantages includes increased options for payment searches. In the past, these searches were performed primarily by cashier numbers, which were stamped on the front of the check, or by date and dollar amount. This type of search is becoming obsolete, as most taxpayers no longer receive their actual checks from their bank. In IRIS, it is easy to search for payments by check number, bank account number, bank routing number, or check amount. This allows the department to quickly and accurately respond when a taxpayer calls with questions about their payments.
Withholding Tax (WTH) users are performing system tests and will continue through early June. In preparation for the July 5 go-live date, plans are being finalized for converting data from the legacy system, while users are steadily preparing data for conversion.
The final rollout in this phase of the IRIS Project, Combined Oil & Gas (COG), is in development. Users are preparing system test scenarios and will begin testing in early May. COG is scheduled for rollout by the end of August.
March 2004
The IRIS team and users have been busy testing over the last couple weeks. Audit, Non-filer, Bankruptcy and Collections testing is wrapping up, and Security testing was also conducted with IT staff.
The IRIS team tested Revenue Accounting for Lodging Facilities Sales & Use Tax (LFT), and Cigarette Tax (CIG) to prepare for the upcoming March 31 rollout. Test files sent from IRIS to SABHRS posted required only a few minor adjustments, and IRIS had no trouble accommodating the complex 5-way fund split of LFT and the 3-way fund split of CIG. Testing will continue on revenue accounting for converted periods, with the greatly anticipated scenario of two fiscal years open simultaneously.
End-to-end testing for LFT and CIG has begun. This process simulates the processing life cycle from beginning to end. Five cycles of these scenarios will run throughout March.
Withholding (WTH) users have completed work day diaries and are now creating test scenarios based on the daily activities recorded. Development of scenarios will continue until April 2, when testing will begin. Job specific training begins for LFT and CIG users on March 11.
Several desktop instructions are now complete and viewable on the Intranet under Desktop Resources/Education & Training. Available topics include Audit, Non-filer, Payment Work Items, Penalty Waiver/Write-Off, Refunds, Return Work Items, Customer Registration (RVT & LFT), Payment Processing Reports and Payment Search. Numerous other instructions are in the works and will be available soon. As the instructions are available, they are also included in system Help files for convenient user reference.
On March 25, the IRIS team began the conversion process for LFT and CIG by extracting data from legacy systems. Over the weekend, project team members and users confirmed converted data in preparation for Monday's (March 29) go live date. Rollouts 2 and 3 are now in production with team members providing deskside support to users.
Development for rollout 4, Withholding Tax (WTH), is also underway. Users have completed test case scenarios they are using in system test sessions. These sessions began March 29 and will continue through June 10. WTH is scheduled for rollout in early July.
February 2004
With the Lodging Facilities Tax (LFT) and Cigarette Tax (CT) rollouts just around the corner, testing for both is in progress. Testers have been working with Registration, Payment and Return Batch and Penalty & Interest test scripts. Testing for Collections, Returns Verification and Transaction Postings is scheduled to start the week of February 9. Conversion for both LFT and CIG will start on March 25 and the systems will be live on March 31. This is one month ahead of the original date for CIG!
A meeting was held last week with the Withholding (WTH) users who will begin training and testing next month. They are currently maintaining workday diaries, in which they record their daily activities. These diaries will be used in creating the test scenarios.
The IRIS Team is developing desktop instructions containing step-by-step directions with screen shots for various tasks in IRIS. As these instructions are finalized, they are kept on the Intranet for user reference.
As of February 20, the department has deposited $1,439,068.69 in Rental Vehicle Tax (RVT) payments without a hitch -- 100% of payments posting correctly to SABHRS. In addition, revenue accounting for Lodging Facility Use Tax (LFT) is being developed that will allow for up front splitting of the payments into the two portions - lodging facility tax and sales/use tax. This will be a significant benefit to DOR, eliminating the current manual transfer of money from the lodging tax to the sales and use tax on SABHRS. The DOR accounting staff will begin testing revenue accounting for LFT at the end of this month. There is potential for having two fiscal years open simultaneously in IRIS, allowing for improved year-end adjustment procedures.
End-to-end testing for LFT is scheduled for early March. In this scenario, users will simulate a normal "day-in-the-life" of returns and payments from beginning to end.
System security staff has received training in anticipation of the LFT and CIG rollouts on March 29. Security testing will be held during the first part of March. Training was also held for Bankruptcy users and additional business staff who were not part of previous training sessions.
Preparations are being made for LFT and CIG job-specific training that will be held March 11-19. Training for rollout 4 (WTH) testers will be held March 22-29. GenTax Quick Reference Cards have been created and delivered to current IRIS users. These cards will be a convenient how-to reference for day-to-day activities.
WTH and LFT conversion teams are working with the data quality team to identify data irregularities that may impact conversion. The IRIS team has tentatively set the WTH conversion date at July 1. This would create a cleaner cutover since it coincides with both the beginning of a new fiscal year and the separation of withholding and unemployment insurance.
January 2004
Training for Lodging Facilities Use Tax and Cigarette Tax users was held. This training gave users basic knowledge in a variety GenTax functions being used in testing. Testing for these two rollouts has continued throughout the month. GenTax functionality being tested includes Registration, Returns Generation, Payments, Returns, Non-filer, Transactions, Audit, Refund, Revenue Accounting and Collections.
Configuration of Cigarette Tax audit papers and Lodging Facilities Use Tax reporting has been accomplished. IRIS desktop procedures are being developed and will be available to users via the department's Intranet site.
December 2003
The IRIS team has been putting the finishing touches on the conversion plan for rollouts 2 and 3, which are Lodging Facilities Use Tax and Cigarette Tax. Training materials are also being prepared for testers and users of these two rollouts. Work continues on refining Statement of Account and Non-filer letters for Rental Vehicle Tax. Meetings are being held with users and supervisors to determine appropriate security levels for the various rollouts.
Demonstrations of the Rental Vehicle Tax rollout have been provided to targeted groups of users and Helena-based employees as a whole. Lodging Facilities Use Tax and Cigarette Tax users have maintained workday diaries, in which they recorded typical daily activities. This information was used in creating test scenarios.
November 2003
Requirements gathering and system configuration for rollouts 2-4 (Lodging Facilities Use Tax, Cigarette Tax, Withholding Tax) continues at full speed in functional areas including Returns, Payments, Refunds, Audit, Non-Filer, Accounting, and Revenue Accounting. The conversion approach for these rollouts are also moving forward with mock conversion runs on sample data performed for Lodging Facilities. Discussions are focused on bringing legacy data into IRIS in the safest and most useful way, resulting in smooth operation for the new system.
IRIS team members have been busily providing chair-side support to Rental Vehicle Tax (RVT) users for three days following the go live date of November 3. They continue to provide support as needed. So far, a total of 128 RVT returns and 114 payments have been processed totaling over $1M in revenue. We have received about half of the $2.1M revenue estimate for FY2004 in the first quarter alone!
The team is winding down on gathering design and business rule information for lodging facilities use tax and cigarette tax. Withholding tax will be the focus of this effort in the next few weeks.
October 2003
As of October 1, the registration and returns generation functions for RVT were in operation with the remaining functions, including returns and payments processing, completed on October 31. Training materials and the GenTax Quick Reference Card for this first rollout are complete. Testing and training has been accomplished. All taxpayers are registered in the system with system-generated registration certificates and returns for the first filing period mailed. Six user workstations are production ready, with payments and returns being processed. Our first IRIS milestone has been completed right on time!
The first of regular quality assurance checks were held October 2-3. This process involved interviews with key project personnel from the business, technical and conversion areas.
September 2003
The Integrated Revenue Information System (IRIS) project kick-off was held on September 3. The Department of Revenue's Director, Linda Francis, the state's Chief Information Officer, Brian Wolf, and DOR division administrators Don Hoffman and Neil Peterson gave opening comments to the project team. These comments were related to the future direction and project goals for the IRIS project.
