Human error, not software, spawned Arkansas W-2 errors

The Arkansas Finance and Administration Department yesterday found itself defending its beleaguered Arkansas Administrative Statewide Information System after the state discovered errors in employees’ W-2 forms for 2001.In a notice released late yesterday, department officials said neither AASIS nor its software from SAP America Inc. of Newtown Square, Pa., created the erroneous data. “This is not an AASIS issue.”The $40 million AASIS has had a difficult time since its launch on July 1 [see story at ]. On its second payday, the system underpaid 293 employees and failed to produce paychecks for 130 others.The state’s Office of Personnel Management “should have caught errors in its quality control or prevented them with close attention to detail prior to printing. This human error requires reprint of a limited number of W-2s,” the notice said.