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How far behind schedule is MDCPS’s BOSS project? Depends who you ask. According to KPMG, the company hired by the district to audit its floundering software overhaul, the project is running “approximately four weeks behind schedule.” Deloitte Consulting, the company charged with implementing BOSS, echos the one-month lag. But in a Nov. 7 memo to the School Board, Superintendent Alberto Carvalho says BOSS is as much as four months behind.

Then again, if you ask TD, none of the three billion-dollar institutions has it right.

A quick examination of the original timeline shows that the district had planned to be well into the Build stages of BOSS’s three releases by this month. But it is unclear now whether any of the Build stages has even begun. In fact, one of the releases, the Finance Module, remains in limbo since being postponed in late June.

The original timeline for BOSS spanning 24 months from Sept. 2007 to Aug. 2009

Carvalho’s memo contains other numeric curiosities, the most glaring being his assertion that BOSS suffered from “too aggressive a timeline of 18 months.” Here, it appears that Carvalho has missed the mark by a half a year. Again referring to the original timeline, BOSS was initially mapped out over a 24-month period, which started in Sept. 2007 and was projected to end in Aug. 2009.

Whether Carvalho skewed the numbers on purpose or simply botched them is anyone’s guess. He did not return TD’s call to his office, nor did BOSS Project Sponsor Deborah Karcher or Project Manager Steve Maldonado. As they say, the lid is on.

MDCPS’s reluctance to discuss BOSS leaves us the option of trying to glean what we can from Carvalho’s latest memo. For one thing, it hints for the first time at the district’s dissatisfaction with Deloitte.

“The Deloitte contract did not favor MDCPS but rather favored Deloitte,” Carvalho writes.

Carvalho also says the true price tag of BOSS — originally costed out at $85.4 million but now expected to run much higher — was "understated." (Incidentally, watch this video to see now former Deputy Superintendent of Business Operations Ofelia San Pedro — who resigned today amid the news that MDCPS might be facing a $122 million deficit — assuring Renier Diaz de la Portilla at a June 25 Special Meeting that the project would not run over budget. TD predicted San Pedro's resignation back in September.)

In his memo, the Superintendent goes on to make this cryptic statement, perhaps suggesting his willingness to fire or even sue Deloitte for its failure to keep BOSS within budget and on schedule:

“Rest assured that it is my intent to explore all legal and financial options to minimize the Board’s exposure and successfully implement this necessary long-term business solution.”

The Board will meet with the district Thursday at 9 am at a Special Audit Committee meeting to discuss BOSS.

—See Carvalho’s Nov. 7 memo, his response to KPMG’s final audit and Deloitte's memo claiming BOSS is only 4 weeks behind ATTACHED.