OCM Lead

Allied Consultants, Inc is a proudly Austin based firm with over 34 years of experience delivering top-tier technical and business professionals within Texas State Agencies. We are currently seeking an experienced OCM Lead to play a key role within a high-impact technical services team.

At Allied Consultants, we value our consultants and are committed to providing an exceptional experience including:

• Highly competitive pay rates
• Local support staff for responsive, personal service
• Comprehensive benefits package, including:
  • Medical insurance (with employer cost sharing)
  • Life insurance
  • A 401(K) plan with company match
  • Flexible spending through a cafeteria plan

Candidates selected for interviews will be subject to a criminal background check and may be required to pass a drug screening, in compliance with federal and state regulations. All offers of employment are contingent upon successful completion of these checks.

Allied Consultants is a proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

The client's requests responses from qualified Respondents to provide Organizational Change Management (OCM) and agency transition support services for the Centralized Accounting Payroll/Personnel System (CAPPS) State of Texas Accounting and Reporting Resource (STARR) financial system implementation.

Client is seeking an experienced change management professional to lead organizational change management, coordinate agency communications, support User Acceptance Testing (UAT), Train-the-Trainer (TTT), and End User Training (EUT) activities, with the goal of ensuring a successful transition for the over 200 state agencies and institutions of higher education that interface with client's statewide financial systems. Successful adoption of CAPPS STARR will require more than awareness; end-user agency staff must feel capable and ready to operate in the new environment. The selected Vendor’s Candidate will support that outcome by focusing on clarity, competence-building, and participation at the agency level.

For information regarding client's CAPPS STARR Program, visit: CAPPS — State of Texas Accounting and Reporting Resource (STARR)

SCOPE OF SERVICES.

Services Overview. The selected Vendor’s Candidate will work alongside clients OCM team to support agency coordination, communications, and readiness to support the CAPPS STARR implementation. Central coordination authority and agency relationships remain with client; the selected Vendor’s Candidate’s function is to extend client's reach by serving as a structured OCM liaison to state agencies throughout testing, training, and transition activities.

Position Requirements. The client's Work includes, but is not limited to, the following:

Performing highly advanced (senior-level) consultative services and technical assistance work related to supporting the CAPPS STARR Program. The client retains ownership of all system decisions, training content, policies, and final communications. All work products are subject to client's review and approval.

Services to be delivered under this engagement are organized into the following functional areas:

• Stakeholder and Agency Liaison Support

The selected Candidate will work alongside and under the direction of client's OCM team to support agency coordination, communications, and readiness. Central coordination authority and primary agency relationships remain with client. The selected Candidate's role is to extend client's A's reach by serving as a structured liaison to state agencies, ensuring they receive the information and support they need to feel capable and prepared, not necessarily to enlist them as advocates or to build change-champion networks within them. Scope includes, but is not limited to:

• Maintaining familiarity with client-approved CGI OCM, training, and testing deliverables to effectively support agency communications and readiness activities. The Respondent is not responsible for reviewing or approving such deliverables but must understand their content and implications for agency stakeholders.
• Participating as a standing attendee in client-led OCM and training team meetings. Attending select client-led testing coordination meetings as directed, beginning with integration testing activities as preparation for UAT coordination.
• Establishing and maintaining a structured engagement model for interfacing with designated agency points of contact, in coordination with client's OCM team.
• Supporting client by coordinating communications to agencies related to testing, training, and transition activities.
• Tracking agency readiness inputs include participation levels and escalation topics and synthesizing them for client review.
• Facilitating feedback loops between agencies and client to surface readiness gaps, questions, and change impacts that client needs to address.
• Reinforcing client-approved guidance, timelines, and expectations to agency stakeholders.
• Change Management and Readiness Planning

The OCM Lead will own the change management methodology and readiness planning framework for this engagement and will direct OCM Coordinators in its execution. Scope includes, but is not limited to:

• Supporting the client in defining agency-level readiness expectations across testing, training, and transition milestones.
• Developing change and readiness artifacts (e.g., readiness checklists, agency communications, Q&A content) aligned to client’s direction.
• Monitoring and reporting on agency readiness risks and themes across the agency population.
• Conducting structured Business Readiness Assessments at defined project milestones, including a baseline assessment early in the engagement and a pre-go-live assessment prior to each production cutover. Assessments will evaluate agency preparedness across four dimensions: agency participation levels, communications effectiveness, training readiness, and operational readiness. Results will be reported to client with recommended follow-up actions.
• User Acceptance Testing (UAT) Support

The OCM Lead will oversee client’s UAT readiness strategy and ensure OCM Coordinators have the direction and tools needed to support agency participation. The UAT population is anticipated to consist of approximately 500–600 participants across statewide agencies and institutions of higher education. Scope includes, but is not limited to:

• Coordinating agency communications related to UAT schedules, roles, and expectations, as directed by client.
• Supporting agencies in understanding UAT objectives, participation responsibilities, and escalation pathways.
• Attending client-led UAT coordination meetings as a standing participant. The selected Candidate's involvement in testing meetings is focused on coordinating external agency participation; system testing meetings led by CGI are outside this engagement's scope.
• Tracking agency participation and UAT completion as a readiness indicator.
• Supporting coordination of UAT-related artifacts and guidance, as directed.
• Train-the-Trainer (TTT) Support

The OCM Lead will establish and oversee the Train-the-Trainer coordination approach, providing direction to OCM Coordinators responsible for logistics and agency outreach. Scope includes, but is not limited to:

• Supporting client in coordinating communications related to TTT schedules, materials, and trainer expectations.
• Reinforcing roles and responsibilities of agency trainers and client-provided training resources.
• Assisting with the dissemination and clarification of training materials developed by others.
• Collecting and summarizing agency feedback related to training preparedness and common issues.
• End User Training (EUT) Support

The OCM Lead will establish the EUT coordination approach and ensure OCM Coordinators are equipped to manage logistics and agency outreach for the full end-user population. Scope includes, but is not limited to:

• Supporting client in coordinating EUT logistics, including scheduling, participant communications, and access to training environments as directed.
• Assisting agencies in understanding EUT expectations, role-based training pathways, and how to access client-developed training materials.
• Tracking EUT participation and completion rates as a pre-go-live readiness indicator.
• Collecting and summarizing agency feedback following training delivery to surface gaps or recurring issues for client review.
• Communications Support

The OCM Lead will own the communications strategy for this engagement, ensuring that all agency-facing communications are consistent, client-approved, and aligned to the overall OCM approach. Scope includes, but is not limited to:

• Supporting the development and distribution of client-approved communications to agencies.
• Coordinating recurring updates related to testing, training, and transition milestones.
• Supporting Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), talking points, and change-related messaging to address common agency questions.
• Maintaining a log of agency communications and escalations for traceability.
• Reporting and Governance Support

The selected Candidate will provide defined reporting to support visibility into agency readiness and transition risks. Periodic summary reports will be structured around four readiness dimensions: agency participation levels, communications effectiveness, training readiness, and agency/operational readiness. This framework aligns with the Business Readiness Assessment methodology described Change Management and Readiness Planning and enables consistent tracking of readiness trends across the engagement lifecycle. Scope includes, but is not limited to:

• Providing periodic summary reports — at minimum monthly during active UAT and training phases — covering status and themes across the four readiness dimensions. At minimum, each report shall include: (a) a status summary for each readiness dimension; (b) an agency participation summary showing engagement levels by phase or activity; (c) a log of escalated risks or issues with disposition status; and (d) recommended follow-up actions for client consideration.
• Directing and overseeing the work of OCM Coordinators, including setting work priorities, reviewing deliverables and reports, and ensuring quality and alignment with client direction across all OCM activities.            
• Identifying and elevating systemic risks and issues within each dimension for client awareness and decision-making.
• Producing pre-milestone readiness summaries in advance of key project events (e.g., UAT kickoff, TTT and EUT completion, go-live cutover). Each pre-milestone summary shall include: (a) a readiness assessment across the four dimensions; (b) a summary of open issues and pending agency actions; (c) participation gaps and recommended mitigation; and (d) a recommended readiness determination for client's consideration.
• Supporting client in defining an agency-facing governance model appropriate to the nature of this engagement. Unlike a traditional multi-agency ERP governance structure, CAPPS STARR is a SaaS-based system of record owned and configured by client. Agencies interface to the system but do not drive configuration or customization decisions. The Respondent will assist client in articulating how agencies submit issues and questions, how client communicates system changes and configuration decisions to agencies, and what escalation pathways exist. The resulting governance framework document shall include at minimum: a roles and responsibilities matrix, an agency issue submission process, a client decision communication process, and defined escalation pathways. The document is subject to client review and approval.
• Providing a weekly status report to the client Contract Manager summarizing work completed, work in progress, and planned activities for the following week.
• Reporting will focus on insights, trends, and actionable themes across the agency population rather than a detailed agency-by-agency performance assessment.
• Performing other related Work as assigned.

OTHER SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS

• Have experience in gathering business requirements for large projects
• Work independently in a diverse team environment with on-site and remote team members.
• Have strong written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills.
• Have knowledge of project management methodologies.
• Have experience with large-scale ERP or enterprise system implementations in a coordination or change management capacity.
• Have problem-solving skills and the ability to multitask with readiness to put in extra efforts when necessary.
• Have experience with change management coordination across a large, geographically distributed stakeholder population.
• Have experience supporting UAT, Train-the-Trainer, or End User Training coordination activities for a major system implementation.