Weekly Update and Key Messages for the Week of 12/17/12

Progress Across All ESUP Work Streams 
The Student and HRMS work streams announced last week that they have scheduled the remainder of their Plan and Discover sessions and are beginning to look toward the Analyze and Design phase of the program. While the focus of Plan and Discover has been the careful review and verification of Student and HRMS fit-gaps (confirming what the systems and business processes need to be able to do, but not how they do it), the focus of Analyze and Design will be Interactive Design and Prototype (IDP) sessions -- hands-on sessions in which participants will help to design how the systems and processes should work together. These highly interactive and participative sessions are designed to gather the best collective ideas of system users and stakeholders. They should be intense, but very rewarding. This Thursday morning, Dec. 20, CCI will lead UMN program and project directors and lead business analysts from across all of the work streams through a half-day of IDP training in preparation for the second phase of the program. This “train the trainer” session will enable each work stream to prepare its respective team and stakeholders to conduct productive IDPs.

The Finance, Reporting, Portal and Technology work streams continue to meet with stakeholders, define their respective strategies, and form teams and working groups to address the challenges of their projects. It is important to note that these ESUP projects are proceeding as planned and on schedule. Because the starting point, scope and scale of these projects differ significantly from Student and HRMS, they are ramping up at their own pace and will have more to report as they progress. Users and stakeholders in these areas should expect more communication and engagement in the coming weeks, and the rollout of new systems and processes will still happen in a coordinated and timely manner as ESUP moves toward completion in 2014.

First ESUP Quality Review Wraps Up This Week
CCI quality manager Vickie Cleary is completing a series of interviews with selected ESUP team members this week and will issue a draft report for review by the end of the month. Once finalized, this independent report will be shared more broadly with program leadership to address recommended changes and ensure continuous improvement. If you have not been contacted or surveyed as part of this first quality review, do not be concerned -- not everyone will be targeted for every review.

Early Results of Stakeholder Assessment Look Positive
The response to the initial ESUP Stakeholder Assessment Survey was strong, with 30 percent of those invited to take the survey responding. While the survey showed significant areas of opportunity to increase understanding about the scope and rationale for the upgrade program, overall support for and confidence in the program are high across all stakeholder groups surveyed. Respondents were vocal with regard to their expectations and concerns regarding ESUP -- the Change Partners team, a cross-functional group of ESUP representatives, communicators and change professionals, is now reviewing the quantitative results and pages of comments from each work stream, looking for emerging themes. A comprehensive report on the survey results will be released in January.

ESUP Downshifts for the Holidays
There are no ESUP sessions and few standing meetings scheduled after this week due to the winter holidays and break. If you have meetings scheduled next week or the first week of January, please take a moment to confirm them with your colleagues. Sessions will resume on Monday, Jan. 7.

 Happy holidays!