Weekly Update for April 29, 2013

HRMS upgrade to include key new functionality
The HRMS work stream is excited to announce two key decisions that will mean important new functionality for HRMS users at implementation. The Executive Oversight Committee has approved a timing change to include Time & Labor and Absence Management with the initial implementation. The committee also approved a scope change to include Recruiting Solutions -- previously referenced as Talent Acquisition Management (TAM) or Employee Applicant Tracking -- as part of the current upgrade. These modules will provide high-demand functionality without increasing the project timeline or budget. Kudos to everyone who helped to make the business case for these important system enhancements!

Backes to replace Warren on Integration Steering Committee
Lisa Warren, chair of the Integration Steering Committee since its inception in 2012, has recently stepped down from that role. Andrea Backes (College of Biological Sciences) has assumed the chair responsibilities, effective April 22, 2013. "I am grateful for the masterful role that Lisa has played in helping to get the Program launched. I am also pleased that Andrea Backes, who serves as Director of Finance and HR for me in CBS, will transition into the role as chair,” said Dean Robert Elde, chair of the Executive Oversight Committee. “Since Andrea and I work closely within CBS we will be able to optimally coordinate the work of the committees that we chair."

New faces around ESUP
ESUP welcomes new team members for the second week in a row! Help us welcome Bruce Erickson who joins ESUP as a strategic communications consultant for the program with a Reporting and Data Management focus. The Student work stream welcomes a new consultant, Peg Johnson (Student Records), and a new analyst, Barbara Jensen (Admissions). Finally, CCI consultant Dan Croce (technology) is transitioning off the project. Bob Nadon is transitioning on as Croce’s replacement. Welcome, all!

ESUP on the road
Program director Andy Hill and assistant director Santiago Fernandez-Gimenez visited the Morris campus last week to meet with staff and campus leadership involved with the Program. Members of ESUP plan to visit the Crookston campus this week to hold a similar event. If you would like ESUP to visit your department or college, please email esup@umn.edu or Tricia Conway (conwa012@umn.edu) for more information.

Quick hits and reminders from across the work streams

• The Student work stream is holding its bi-monthly all-Student team meeting this Thursday. Attendees can expect a presentation on the Portal project.
• The Reporting and Data Management work stream attended a Data Governance retreat last week hosted by Enterprise Data Management and Reporting.

Weekly Update for April 22, 2013

New faces around ESUP
A sunny spring welcome to ESUP’s newest teammates: JP Hagerty, Beth Cunningham, Dan Sluka, and Peter Barry! Hagerty comes from University Services and will step into the role of Executive Program Coordinator, while Cunningham joins ESUP as a Strategic Communications Consultant for the program with a Portal project focus. Prior to ESUP, Cunningham worked on campus for the National Center for Food Protection and Defense.

Dan Sluka joins the HRMS work stream as the CCI lead consultant and will be transitioning duties with outgoing consultant, Ben Santleman. Peter Barry joins the program as a short-term consultant assisting with OIM. Welcome to ESUP, all!

UPKs providing benefit to IDP session
The University purchased PeopleSoft’s User Productivity Kit (UPK) to assist in the development and delivery of end-user training. The University will use a blend of the UPK and its existing tools to achieve the most efficient and effective training possible, while introducing users to reengineered business processes.

The software is especially helpful because it allows the user to create training materials and online support in a variety ways. When done, the user can watch a demo, try out a process interactively, learn it, print a pdf cheat sheet, or take an interactive test, depending on what the training developer designs.

Members of the ESUP Training team have been making the “delivered” vanilla UPKs available to Student and HRMS IDP participants in advance, giving them an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the PeopleSoft delivered features and functionality. More information on UPKs can be found online at http://z.umn.edu/upk.

When is ‘Go live’?
Users across the University system are eager to know one critical piece of information: When will this new system go live? Though it is too soon to identify a date, the Deployment process is front of mind for many people. As a result, Project Directors will soon begin working with their subject matter experts (SMEs) and business process owners (BPOs) to identify work stream specific timing concerns.

Later this spring, ESUPs leadership team will participate in a two-day workshop aimed at identifying the least disruptive time to launch the new system. In addition to discussing the go live date, the leadership team will also prepare for post-deployment activities. While ESUP will work to launch everything successfully, a program of this size may result in minor issues and setbacks, which will be immediately addressed. ESUP will also evaluate post go live activities to ensure proper staffing is in place to address any issues.

Quick hits and reminders from across the work streams

• Identity Management has been working to complete a request for proposal (RFP) to bring an implementation partner to assist with the Oracle Identity Management (OIM) implementation. The RFP is projected to come before the Board of Regents in July for approval.
• The Reporting and Data Management work stream began collecting requirements for archiving/document storage needs from the Student, HRMS, and Finance work streams.
• The Integration team has been holding introductory meetings with impacted colleges and departments to discuss integration points. In addition, the team is eager to analyze responses to the survey they sent on April 3, 2013. IT Directors are encouraged to add their applications systems information to the survey via the ESUP website: http://upgrade.umn.edu/p/integration.html
• The Change Management, Communications, and Training work stream has been working on a number of deliverables, including: drafting communications plans with Technology project directors, preparing UPK development sequences, and creating a change management and training estimation model. 

Weekly Update for April 15, 2013

ESUP in the news
Upgrading the University’s enterprise data systems is no small endeavor. On the contrary, the Enterprise Systems Upgrade Program is a multi-faceted program that will ultimately impact every student, staff, or faculty member on campus. The program’s large scope and significant investment on behalf of the Board of Regents is proof of the University’s determination to successfully and thoughtfully upgrade their systems.

The University is in the midst of budget discussions at the state level and as a result of ESUP’s wide impact and cost, it was no surprise to see the program referenced in last week’s Star Tribune Opinion section.

Last week, former Governor Arne Carlson wrote an opinion piece titled, University of Minnesota’s bloat must end. In it, Gov. Carlson requested the legislative auditor examine and provide an outside review of two components of the University’s enterprise systems. Regent Chair Linda Cohen then penned a rebuttal titled, University of Minnesota’s critics are wrong. In her response, Regent Cohen addressed the issue of the U’s central information systems stating, “we are currently undergoing a total upgrade of our technology system for human resources, purchasing and other services that will be completed by the end of 2014.”

ESUP is excited to be highlighted in these visible conversations, as they emphasize the importance of our efforts and the amount of executive support for the program, but ESUP is also cautious. When completed, the program will deliver cost efficiencies, improved services, and data integrity, but it is important to set realistic expectations. ESUP will not be able to address each administrative issue facing the University, but we are eager to help be part of the solution.

Portal hosting listening sessions
Members of the Portal Team have been facilitating many great conversations during the past few weeks. Through listening sessions, they have met with staff from academic units (e.g. the Humphrey Institute, the Extension service, Disability Services), as well as various content providers and staff from a number of units within University Services (Printing Services, University Dining Services, University Stores, U Card, Housing & Residential Life, and Capital Planning and Project Management). Many participants were able to envision utilizing the new Enterprise Portal to better serve their clients and customers.

Quick hits and reminders from across the work streams

• HRMS wishes Ben Santelman (CCI) the best of luck as he takes on a new opportunity. His replacement, Dan Sluka, will come on board April 22 to start the transition process.
• Last week the Reporting and Data Management, HRMS, and Integration work teams met to gather the necessary requirements for the HR conversion.
• The Finance team is finalizing their kick off plans. Work stream members will receive information soon. The team is also busy planning for ‘Plan and Discover’, which is currently scheduled for May through August, 2013. 
• The Integration work stream is still collecting responses to their applications inventory survey, which will remain live until April 19th. For more information or to add your application to the inventory document, please visit: http://upgrade.umn.edu/p/integration.html and follow the directions.

Subscribe to the ESUP blog!
As ESUP progresses, you can expect more information to be shared more frequently on the ESUP blog. Get every post delivered to your inbox by entering your email address in the Subscribe by Email window at upgrade.umn.edu and following the instructions. Once your subscription is activated, you will receive an email alerting you to new ESUP posts late in the afternoon the day they are published. If there is no post, you receive no email -- simple as that!

Weekly Update for the week of April 8, 2013

First ESUP business processes approved
Last week, the Executive Oversight Committee provided final approval on team recommendations on nine business processes from the Student work stream. The first was the process that students use to view their account details online (Student Finance module). This process is changing from a home-grown application to PeopleSoft delivered functionality. The other eight processes were Student Records processes (PCAS, APLUS, APAS, Graduation Planner, Education Abroad System, Athlete Certification System, Min/Max Credit Adjustments, and the Degree clearance process). These custom processes will be brought forward with a technical upgrade based on the recommendation of Oracle, CCI, and the project team.

ESUP on campus
ESUP has been busy this spring meeting with governing groups and visiting the system campuses. Assistant program director Santiago Fernandez-Gimenez presented an ESUP overview at the Financial Systems User Network (FSUN) on Thursday, followed by Rob Super, Finance Functional Steering Committee Chair, working group representatives, and Finance project director Dan Hemauer, who provided more specifics on the Financial project goals. All presentations can be found online at the FSUN website.

Following their presentation a few weeks ago to the Faculty Consultative Committee, Program director Andy Hill and Portal’s Julie Selander took their joint presentation to the P&A Senate meeting last Friday. Portal project director Susan Geller will head to the Rochester campus on Tuesday to host a Design Thinking workshop, and ESUP members are heading west to visit the Morris and Crookston campuses in the coming weeks. If you would like ESUP to present to your campus, department, academic unit, or professional organization, please contact Tricia Conway at conwa012@umn.edu.

Technical resources for ESUP team members
Are you working on ESUP and having trouble with your internet connection? Need help troubleshooting Google apps? If you’re experiencing trouble with your computer, please open a service ticket by calling 1-HELP (1-4357; system campuses please dial 612-301-4357) or by sending an email to help@umn.edu. Reference “ESUP” in the body of your email or to the person on the phone so your request is routed to the appropriate people.

Quick hits and reminders from across the work streams

• The Integration work stream launched an applications inventory survey to IT Directors across campus. The survey will remain live until April 19, 2013. For more information or to add your application to the inventory document, please visit: http://upgrade.umn.edu/p/integration.html and follow the directions.
• The Student work stream will hold a Student Records Town Hall meeting Friday, April 12th. Topics include the registration appointment queue, including a demo of what the student will see in self-service. More information can be found on the Student Records Stakeholder Engagement webpage.
• The Portal work stream continues to push for University-wide engagement by hosting four more Design-thinking workshops, holding listening sessions, and scheduling targeted one-on-one stakeholder interviews. For more information or for a look at the updated Portal work stream timeline, visit z.umn.edu/portal. 
• The Test work stream continues to meet with project directors to discuss the testing strategy and is beginning to develop ESUP’s test communications plan.
• Both the Technology and Reporting and Data Management work streams continue to be actively involved with the IDP process and are meeting with teams as needed.
• Project director Kris Hause was pleased to report the HRMS work stream completed their first IDP sessions, covering Creating a Person/Persons of Interest.

Subscribe to the ESUP blog!
As ESUP progresses, you can expect more information to be shared more frequently on the ESUP blog. Get every post delivered to your inbox by entering your email address in the Subscribe by Email window at upgrade.umn.edu and following the instructions. Once your subscription is activated, you will receive an email alerting you to new ESUP posts late in the afternoon the day they are published. If there is no post, you receive no email -- simple as that!

Weekly Update for the week of April 1, 2013

Fostering Academic and Faculty Participation in ESUP
Over the past few weeks ESUP has built a number of successful partnerships with faculty and academic interests University-wide. Last month, the Portal work stream entered into a dynamic collaboration with the College of Design to host the Design Thinking workshops. The Portal project is also kicking off a faculty advisory committee this month. If you are a University faculty member and would like to get involved, check out the Portal website. More information on the Design Thinking workshops or how you can get involved can be found online: z.umn.edu/portal.

In the meantime, program director Andy Hill has met with faculty groups on campus, soliciting feedback and encouraging participation in the upgrade process. “The University is full of amazing people who can help make this upgrade a success,” Hill said. For information on how faculty or departments can get involved, please email us at esup@umn.edu.

ESUP Looks to Simplify Documentation Processes
The Enterprise Systems Upgrade Program is a large-scale collaborative process that requires flexibility, evaluation, and readjustment when necessary. To continue fostering a culture of continuous improvement and to embrace Operational Excellence, ESUP has identified areas where documentation requirements may be cumbersome and is working to eliminate possible redundancies between forms.

Reporting and Data Management Present BI Roadmap 
Last Thursday, the Reporting and Data Management (RDM) team presented the BI Roadmap to the Enterprise Data Management and Reporting (EDMR) Steering Committee. This roadmap will support the University’s goals to address data management and reporting needs across all campuses, including issues of data quality and integrity. The EDMR Steering Committee plans to provide their feedback and comments in the coming weeks. Both the RDM team and the EDMR group welcome comments and questions. Please email any thoughts or questions about the BI Roadmap to edmr@umn.edu.

Design Thinking Workshops (DTW) Portal prototypes Available Online
With several DTWs now completed, prototypes from the first three workshops are now available on the portal website. Watching the team videos is a great way to see how many of your colleagues are conceptualizing the future of portal. The most recent DTW was in Duluth, and had 34 participants (prototypes to be posted later this week). Early feedback shows that participants are enjoying the design thinking process and that it has helped them to understand the portal needs of other staff, faculty, and students. You can learn more about Design Thinking @ College of Design, our DTW partners, on their new website: dt.design.umn.edu.

Quick Hits and Reminders From Across the Work Streams

• The Finance work stream team will hold their kickoff event on May 8, 2013. Team members will receive more information soon or information will be posted online at: http://z.umn.edu/esupfinance. In addition, representatives from ESUP and the Finance work stream will be presenting an update on the overall program and the activities taking place for Finance to the community at the Financial Systems User Network (FSUN) General Membership meeting on April 4. For more information on FSUN, visit http://z.umn.edu/fsun.
• ESUP’s Integration team will be working with members of the University’s IT community to create an inventory of applications that use enterprise data. Using a survey to capture this information, the Integration team envisions this as a first step in building a shared understanding of the PeopleSoft integration needs of the entire University community.
• The Training work stream is hiring! If you are interested in a training coordinator position with ESUP, check out the latest job posting, here!

Subscribe to the ESUP Blog!
As ESUP progresses, you can expect more information to be shared more frequently on the ESUP blog. Get every post delivered to your inbox by entering your email address in the Subscribe by Email window at upgrade.umn.edu and following the instructions. Once your subscription is activated, you will receive an email alerting you to new ESUP posts late in the afternoon the day they are published. If there is no post, you receive no email -- simple as that!