NASHVILLE – The state’s problem-plagued Edison computer system appears to have struck again, a top official said today.
State Comptroller Justin Wilson told Senate Finance Committee members today that the executive branch’s $135 million computer system appears to be the “major” culprit behind his office’s inability to close the books on the state’s 2008-2009 budget year by a Jan. 31 deadline.
“It is certain we will not do so (meet deadline) this year,” Mr. Wilson said. The fault “appears to be primarily Edison,” he said.
“I don’t want to overstate anything, but we are behind in closing the books,” Mr. Wilson said, speaking later to reporters. “We have not received information we would receive at this time from (the Finance Department). It appears that Edison is a primary, is a major cause for that.”
National standards require the books be closed by the end of January. Mr. Wilson said the national bond rating agencies, which look to the state’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for guidance, were notified months ago that the audit report would be late.
State Finance Commissioner Dave Goetz said “we don’t want this to happen again and again, but there’s no great harm from having a delay.”
Converting the state’s old computer system to Edison has been more difficult than expected, Mr. Goetz said, “so that’s really the core cause of the delay.”
Edison was intended to replace the state’s aging mainframe computers with a new system that would more efficiently process payroll, vendor payments and other information. But employees and some vendors charged that Edison’s implementation was a disaster, causing problems for some employees’ paychecks and delaying vendor payments.
Those assertions, initially downplayed by the Bredesen administration, were later backed up by a Comptroller’s office survey. The administration criticized the survey, but an administration-retained consultant also found problems that led to changes in training.