Steaming ahead with COTS

The Federal Railroad Administration's implementation of Oracle U.S. Federal

Financials is on track, leading the way for the rest of the Transportation

Department's operating units.

In its move toward conducting e-business transactions with users and customers,

DOT is implementing the Oracle Corp. product with no customization.

The financial applications are accessed using an Internet browser, and they

interact with the Oracle iStore product DOT already is using to make goods

and services available via the World Wide Web.

Implementation of the commercial off-the-shelf product at all DOT operating

administrations is expected to be complete in late 2001, said David Kleinberg,

DOT's deputy chief financial officer. Next up is DOT's Office of the Inspector

General, which will fully implement the software in June.

The true test for the software will be automatically producing financial

statements for the Federal Railroad Administration and the IG office at

the end of the fiscal year.

"Every indication is it's going to meet all our needs," said Jerry Schoenauer,

director of financial services at FRA. "The whole goal is if we capture

the data right, we can produce better financial statements for our auditors

without adjustments. Let the system do the work."