Weekly Update and Key Messages for the Week of 01/21/13

Sign Up Now for the ESUP Portal Kickoff! 
The Portal Kickoff event will take place on Monday, Feb. 4, from 2 to 4 p.m., with locations on every campus. The kickoff begins a University-wide conversation about creating an easy-to-use interactive web tool for facilitating access to information and services that are of primary relevance and interest to you and the University community. The event will include a short overview of the portal project and then move into World Café small group conversations about opportunities this project offers to the University community and strategies for being part of creating a new portal that delights the people who use it. Register for the event by Wednesday, Jan. 30. Learn more at z.umn.edu/portal. 

Cross-Functional Work Streams Essential to ESUP Success 
With so much focus on the “big three” work streams and PeopleSoft systems impacted by ESUP (Student, HRMS, and Finance), it’s easy to overlook the important cross-functional work streams that are essential to adoption of the upgraded systems and to the long-term success of the program. The Enterprise Data Management and Reporting (EDMR) work stream, the Portal work stream, and Technology teams focused on application development, identity management and security, infrastructure, integration, and testing are currently developing and socializing work stream-specific strategies and plans.

Each of these cross-functional teams has its own approach to coordinating with the other work streams. The EDMR team, for example, has been actively participating in Student and HRMS sessions to ensure that data management and reporting needs and concerns are surfaced to be addressed in the Analyze & Design phase. The Portal team includes representatives from each of the other work streams and will engage with those projects in coming months as the emphasis shifts from the business processes (the “what” of ESUP) in Phase 1: Plan & Discover to delivery (the “how” of ESUP) in Analyze & Design. And since ESUP is a business-led program, the Technology teams are developing strategies and plans to work in coordination and parallel to the other work streams, offering technical expertise and input when and where needed during the early phases of the program (before development begins).

All of these work streams are using CCI’s iterative Propel Methodology, adjusted to fit the scope and timeframe of their respective projects. Check back for more information on the ESUP Consolidated Program Plan and phase-by-phase timelines in the coming weeks! 

ESUP Quality Review Identifies Program Strengths, Needed Actions
In December, the Enterprise Systems Upgrade Program (ESUP) team hosted CedarCrestone (CCI) quality manager Vickie Cleary for the first of several program quality reviews planned between now and December 2014. Her report identified a number of important program strengths and gave ESUP a “green” (positive) rating for Overall Project Status, Schedule, and Quality/Performance. The report also identified several challenges that, left unaddressed, could negatively impact the program going forward. For more information, access the complete story and related materials here.

Gagner Assumes New Role ESUP
Assistant Program Director for Technology Mark Powell announced this week that Tim Gagner will assume Mark’s former role as project director for infrastructure. The two will be working closely to facilitate this transition. Please congratulate Tim on his new position!