User Adoption Strategies & Change Management

nGAP Inc.’s Open Acquisition System (OAS) is purpose-built for complex public-sector procurement, embedding the contract itself into a living, auditable system and unifying planning, execution, compliance, and finance. That architecture changes how work is done—so adoption and change management must be deliberate, measurable, and role-aware.

1) Anchor adoption of business outcomes, not features

Frame OAS as the mechanism to achieve enterprise goals that matter to leadership and end users: real-time transparency, audit readiness, and tighter CLIN/Sub-CLIN control. Translate each outcome to one or two operational metrics (e.g., % of modifications executed within SLA; audit findings per quarter; cycle time from PR to award). OAS’s design—contract-as-data with real-time transactions—supports these targets, so make them the north star of the rollout.

Suggested outcome metrics

• Contract change cycle time (baseline → OAS target)

• Audit exceptions per program (quarterly trend)

• Funding traceability (obligation-to-disbursement reconciliation rate)

• CLIN/Sub-CLIN alignment accuracy (error rate in work breakdowns)

  
  

2) Sequence the rollout around high-leverage workflows

1. Contract Modifications & Funding Actions: Use OAS’s “single source of truth” to drive faster, traceable mods and funds movements; report early wins to sponsors.

2. Program Financial Oversight: Consolidate procurement + financial data to reduce hand-offs and reconcile faster during month-end and audit prep.

3. Acquisition Planning & Collaboration: Stand up projects where teams co-author plans and requirements in OAS rather than email or PDFs.

4. Document Intelligence: Introduce Savantir inside OAS to extract structured signals from legacy docs to improve decisions.

   
   

3) Design the people experience by role

Map tasks, risks, and incentives for each persona, then tailor training and controls.

Contracting Officers & Specialists: Emphasize how “software is the contract”—every authorization, mod, and payment is captured and audit-ready. Provide hands-on labs using real scenarios; configure guardrails and approvals to mirror FAR/DFARS checkpoints.

Program Managers & CORs: Dashboards for cost/schedule/performance; show how CLIN structures and real-time status reduce surprises. Tie to milestone reviews.

Financial Managers/Comptrollers: Reconciliation workflows and evidence trails for audits; drill-downs from obligations to disbursements in one system.

Logistics & Supply Chain: Highlight traceability and accountability across the chain for sensitive material.

4) Establish a disciplined change backbone

Successful OAS adoption benefits from a light-but-firm change structure.

Executive Sponsorship & Governance: A cross-functional steering group (Contracting, PMO, Finance, IT, Audit) that sets scope, clears policy blockers, and owns the KPI dashboard.

Configuration Control Board (CCB): Treat OAS configuration like a product—small, frequent changes; documented decisions; versioned workflows.

Super-User Network: Identify champions in each unit to deliver floor-level coaching and surface feedback quickly.

Communications Plan: Replace “system-speak” with user stories tied to pain points (e.g., “No more hunting for the latest mod—OAS is the canonical record”).

These practices align with OAS’s real-time, unified record of contracting and finance, which reduces reliance on static PDFs and scattered spreadsheets.

5) Training that sticks

Move beyond one-and-done training:

Role-based paths with live sandboxes mirroring your CLIN structures and approval chains.

Performance support: searchable micro-guides embedded at the step of work; short clips on creating a mod, funding a CLIN, or reconciling a discrepancy.

Competency checks: scenario-based assessments; require passing scores before granting elevated permissions.

30-60-90 refreshers using real data: show measured reductions in cycle times and audit exceptions.

6) Data migration and truth management

Because OAS turns the contract into a dynamic, quarriable object, data hygiene is central.

Minimum Viable Migration: Move only active awards, active CLIN/Sub-CLINs, open mods, and current funding lines; park deep history in read-only archives.

Controlled Cutover: Freeze changes in legacy systems during migration windows; reconcile in OAS with side-by-side variance reports.

Reference Data Stewardship: Own codes, vendors, WBS/CLIN dictionaries; enforce validation at entry to prevent downstream rework.

These practices ensure the “single source of truth” remains trustworthy from day one.

7) Integrations and compliance by design

Plan early for the systems OAS must live with (finance, identity, analytics). Use OAS as the system of engagement while authoritative registries (e.g., ERP, vendor master) remain systems of record where appropriate. Align workflows to compliance checkpoints so evidence is captured as a byproduct of work—consistent with OAS’s audit-ready posture.

8) Measurement, incentives, and accountability

Publish a visible scorecard and tie it to leadership reviews:

Adoption: weekly active users by role; % of actions executed in OAS vs. legacy channels.

Operational: cycle time per modification/funding action; first-pass yield; rework rate.

Compliance: timely closeout of audit requests; completeness of supporting documents captured in OAS.

Because OAS consolidates procurement, financial, and documentation flows, these measures can be produced directly from the platform.

9) Phased scaling with “control towers”

After pilots, create a small central “control tower” that monitors KPIs, owns configuration standards, and accelerates reuse of templates for new programs. Introduce advanced capabilities like Savantir analytics only after core behaviors are stable, turning unstructured artifacts into decisional data for leadership.

10) Tailor for defense acquisition contexts

Where programs must follow mandates, configure OAS governance and artifacts to make compliance observable (e.g., decision logs, interface control documentation, modular procurement strategies) and report progress directly from the contract record. Aligning system workflows with policy reduces friction during milestone decisions and audits.

Bottom line

OAS is not “just another contract writing tool”; it redefines the work by making the contract a living, authoritative system. Drive adoption by sequencing real business wins, codifying change discipline, proving value with hard metrics, and expanding in measured waves—then layer analytics to compound returns. Programs that follow this pattern realize the platform’s intent: faster execution, fewer surprises, and audit-ready transparency from day one.