Weekly Update for the week of May 20, 2013

Please read through to the bottom for important information on the upcoming changes to ESUP’s Weekly Update!

Program Quality Review results
The results from ESUP’s second Program Quality Review (PQR) were presented to the Executive Oversight Committee last week. The PQR is an independent quality assurance process intended to ensure proper processes and structures are in place for the Program. Overall, ESUP is green--meaning in good shape-- in the three areas that are reviewed: Overall Project Status, Schedule, and Quality/Performance. In addition, the reviewers identified areas of programmatic strengths and potential areas for improvement. A plan for utilizing strengths and addressing improvement areas is underway.

The Executive Oversight Committee and Program Directors Andy Hill and Rebecca Collings (CCI) were pleased to read positive reviews about the team. The reviewers pointed out, “ESUP continues to be staffed with individuals who possess the subject matter expertise required to effectively and efficiently address the business and technical needs for the program. They are committed and very passionate about the program.” Great job, all!

HRMS begins stakeholder engagement planning
Santiago Fernandez-Gimenez, ESUP assistant program director for change management, communications and training, and Jim Thorp, HRMS communications lead, met with the HRMS Functional Steering Committee last week to gather input on the HRMS strategic communications plan and to brainstorm methods of stakeholder engagement. The purpose of this preliminary conversation was to help ensure broad participation, two-way communication, and shared ownership of key decisions and the resulting system.

This input from the HRMS Functional Steering Committee is particularly important as HRMS is tackling a number of issues early in its IDP process that will have widespread impact and are foundational to the quality and availability of data in the system and the overall success of the project. HRMS is considering a number of recommendations to solicit feedback and input from key stakeholders and users. The HRMS work stream website, along with a variety of in-person and electronic engagement strategies, will be used to ensure users and stakeholders understand recommended changes to the system and can weigh in on key decisions and resulting impacts.

Working toward Go Live 
A common ESUP question lately has been, “When is go live?” The Program has been hard at work with Student, Finance, Human Resources, and Information Technology leadership to better understand the multiple impacts to launching a new system. Parties understand there is no convenient time to “flip the switch”, but they have come to the conversations with original ideas and fresh perspectives for how their offices can continue operations or demonstrate flexibility with dates previously considered locked. ESUP will continue to host discussions before identifying a date, but overall, the Program has been inspired by the University community’s willingness and commitment to reach a go live date with minimal impact to users.

Portal survey closes today
ESUP’s Portal team is gathering opportunities and needs for the new portal, and wants to hear from the University community about some of the ideas already collected. The team will use the survey responses to prioritize opportunities and begin design work. Please fill out the 10-15 minute survey.

Week one complete for Finance
The Finance work stream began Phase 1: Plan and Discover work last week, tackling the General Ledger. The Chart of Accounts (COA) workgroup, General Ledger (GL) business process owners, and representatives from the Student and HR work streams all attended the sessions, along with Finance’s new CCI consultant, Mike Robinson. The Controller’s Office EFS Module Support GLAMBUTR (General Ledger, Asset Management, Budgets, Treasury) team led the sessions. An estimated 20 people attended each session, and current, as-is process flows and narratives were reviewed. More information is available on the Finance work stream website, including information on what recommendations and issues were presented to the GL group, and next steps.

Quick hits and reminders from across the work streams

• Portal is on Pinterest! Portal has put together a Pinterest board for viewing all the Design Thinking Workshop prototypes. Repin and leave us comments to tell us your favorite features.
• The Student work stream has cancelled its May 24, 2013 Town Hall meeting due to the proximity to the Memorial Day weekend. The next Town Hall is scheduled for June 14, 2013.
• The Reporting and Data Management team has begun the process of reviewing functional specifications for UM reports needed from the Student work stream. The Reporting team is reviewing the requirements and working with business owners to determine the best way to deliver data. Work is also continuing with the Integration team to discuss data changes that impact the Data Warehouse.

Weekly Update distribution change
Effective the week of May 20, 2013, ESUP’s Weekly Update will move to a bi-weekly distribution schedule. The newly-named ESUP Update will be sent via email every other Monday and will include links to items posted to the ESUP blog between Updates. (Hint: read below for instructions on subscribing via email to the ESUP blog!) As a result, there will be no Update next week, Monday, May 27, 2013.

The communications team is working to bring information to the ESUP and University community in smaller, more timely pieces. If you have any questions or suggestions on how ESUP can better communicate with you, please email Tricia Conway at conwa012@umn.edu.

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!