Vermont IT overhaul strains

Vermont was supposed to switch a major piece of its new government software live this fall, starting with the human resources system that handles payroll and benefits. Instead, the Scott administration has pushed that launch back and says the state now wants one “unified launch” sometime in 2028. (vtdigger.org) (vermontpublic.org) This is not a side project. Vermont’s Enterprise Resource Planning modernization is a statewide rebuild of the back-office systems for human resources, finance, and budgeting across all three branches of government, using Workday cloud software. (aoa.vermont.gov) (vermontpublic.org) The old systems it is meant to replace have names most residents never see: Vermont Human Resources, VISION, and Vantage, plus separate finance tools at the Department of Labor and Agency of Transportation. The state says those separate systems no longer support the speed, accessibility, or data-sharing it needs. (aoa.vermont.gov) (legislature.vermont.gov) The price tag was already above $70 million before this latest change. Vermont Public reported the project at $70 million, and VTDigger reported that the revised plan could now add both cost and time because pieces that were supposed to roll out in stages are being reworked together. (vermontpublic.org) (vtdigger.org) State officials say they changed course after realizing the parts of the system were more tightly linked than expected. Digital Services Secretary Denise Reilly-Hughes told Vermont Public that payroll, benefits, and the rest of the platform were more “heavily interdependent” than project leaders had anticipated. (vermontpublic.org) Lawmakers have been hearing warning signs for months. Senator Rob Plunkett, who chairs the Joint Information Technology Oversight Committee, said legislative watchdogs had been raising concerns since shortly after the project began in 2022 and said it was unclear whether the new delay was a hiccup or something that could derail the effort. (vermontpublic.org) Some of those concerns are old and specific. A February 5, 2024 memo for the Joint Fiscal Office said a key question was whether Vermont had completed a “gap analysis,” which is the basic check that tells you whether the new software can actually do everything the old systems were doing. (ljfo.vermont.gov) That same review laid out how many moving parts sit behind a project like this. It listed subscription costs, implementation contracts, data work, staff costs, business process redesign, and extra work needed for legacy finance systems at the Department of Labor and Agency of Transportation. (ljfo.vermont.gov) (legislature.vermont.gov) The reason a back-office delay spills outward is simple: payroll errors hit employees, budgeting errors hit agencies, and bad data-sharing slows decisions everywhere else. Vermont’s own modernization pages promise “faster, more accurate services for the public,” which means the opposite problem shows up when the core systems are late or incomplete. (aoa.vermont.gov) Vermont is already dealing with another modernization problem in benefits delivery. A November 2025 legislative presentation on the Vermont Integrated Eligibility System said residents still navigate multiple systems for health and economic benefits, while staff spend excessive time on manual tasks and siloed data. (legislature.vermont.gov) Put those two stories together and the strain becomes easier to see. If the state’s internal finance and personnel overhaul slips at the same time its benefits systems are still fragmented, more work stays with caseworkers, finance staff, and nonprofit partners who have to bridge the gaps by hand. (vtdigger.org) (legislature.vermont.gov)