Finance Advance Team Spotlight: Madonna Monette

This spotlight is on Finance Advance Team member Madonna Monette, Chief Financial Manager for U of M Extension. Advance Team members are unit-specific people who have volunteered to receive advance materials and information to help their colleagues during The Upgrade transition.

Is The Extension ready for The Upgrade?

With regard to Finance, I would say we are “near-ready.” MN Extension has more than 500 employees, many of whom wear a lot of different hats, so getting our organization prepared for The Upgrade is a daunting task. There’s a lot of information to absorb, and people just want what is specific for them. This is why The Upgrade website has been so helpful – it’s organized so you can find useful information relevant to you. I believe many folks are informed on what The Upgrade is and entails but they still need time to take their training.

How are you helping the Extension prepare?

I feel privileged to be part of the Advance Team, a role I take very seriously. There’s a real benefit to being on the front line of discovery and preparation. I can give voice to ideas and concerns on behalf of my community.

We have focused on keeping things as easy as possible. We aim for clear, streamlined organizational processes with local implementation and individual accountability.

It’s important for us to be knowledgeable about how The Upgrade will impact the people we serve. I’ve been a human sponge (in addition to my regular job), soaking up information, figuring out how it applies to our area, and then making sure we know how to help people when the time comes.

How has the process been going?

The partnerships with the Extension Human Resources and The Upgrade have been great. We couldn’t be successful without people like Carrie Meyer in EFS. We process about 800 travel reimbursements every month and manage PCard activities. We’ve worked specifically with Purchasing and HR to deliver a great webinar with targeted, applicable information, on PCard, My Wallet and MyU. Extension Finance, HR and Communications are teaming together to continue to provide targeted communication to our community.

Any advice?

We think we know how it will all work but going live can bring new challenges. People are going to have different needs. We need to be prepared to be flexible and patient as we will likely experience difficulties. For myself, I try to have a calm demeanor, convey a sense of urgency without panic, and share a lot in translating what is applicable to our Extension community.

Enhanced Support for The Upgrade

To support staff, faculty, and students through the PeopleSoft systems upgrade, we are developing easy-to-use Enhanced Support for existing structures and processes. So, the help contacts you use today are the same ones you will use after The Upgrade.

Here are some essential support groups:

• Advance Teams are “voice on the ground” teams comprised of workplace personnel supporting colleagues throughout The Upgrade.
• The Call Centers / Help Desks team prepares all centers with training and resources for a consistent user experience, ensuring issue tracking and resolution.
• The Training Teams provide educational resources and learning opportunities to support university-wide understanding of how to use the new systems.
• The Communication Teams share information with the University community through an array of channels before, during, and after The Upgrade.
• The Command Center will provide internal support to the call centers and help desks, analyze themes and trends, and will help prioritize issues across the Program.

Since upgrades this big usually have hiccups along the way, these teams are essential as we work through technical glitches, process confusion, and user dissatisfaction. Everyone will need to leverage their skills in flexibility, empathy, and patience!

Staff, faculty, and students evaluate ESUP’s web presence

Reaching new audiences

If you’re reading the ESUP blog, then you probably have some idea about the impact the upgrade will have on your work. But there are thousands in the University community who have a lot of catching up to do. As we approach April 2015* (when the upgraded systems plan to “Go Live”), ESUP’s Communication Team reached out to “unaware audiences” to figure out the best way to get them up-to-speed.

Usability Services

The Team leveraged the expertise of user experience analyst Nick Rosencrans to evaluate ESUP's online presence. As a member of IT Training and Usability Services, Nick discussed the basics of content strategy and facilitated an evaluation of the website and blog in the University's usability lab. By conducting usability tests with faculty, staff, and students who were mostly unaware of ESUP activities, we gained insight into how these members of the University community find information, how existing content resonates with them, and how they view the potential impact of the systems upgrade.

Santiago Fernández-Giménez(bottom) and Nick Rosencrans(top)
observe participants from behind double-sided glass

Findings

Overall, evaluators were able to find information explaining how and why the University is updating its systems. Most users seemed to agree the content explains why the upgrade is a positive and necessary step, but the Team also heard feedback on areas needing attention:

• Most users wanted to know what is changing, when, and how it will affect them. An abundance of information and insider jargon seemed to obscure the most important points that answered their queries.  

• Evaluators did not anticipate much, if any, interruption to their daily work, despite language indicating systems will be down for several days during Go Live.  

• Our audiences self identified with their role(s) as faculty, staff, or student (example: a staff member who is also taking classes) and sought information according to these roles, rather than how ESUP is organized as work streams or differentiated by the systems (Student, HRMS, Finance, etc.).  

• Participants wanted to know the people behind ESUP. They wanted to understand where to direct their inquiries and have confidence that their concerns would be routed to the correct person.

Tricia Conway(left) and Carrie Meyer(right)

record observations in the Usability Lab

Looking forward

Time with Usability Services provided valuable direction for how to provide detailed information to the community. In the coming months, the Communications Team will adjust strategies and messages to address areas of confusion. To learn more about the upgrade, please contact esup@umn.edu.

*This article was updated on 02/04/2015 to reflect the most recent timing information.

ESUP Reporting information sessions and program status update

On June 18, ESUP staff presented the latest information on the Program’s status as a whole and its efforts around University reporting and data management to approximately 100 colleagues.

Amy Winkel presenting at the reporting and data
management information session in Nicholson hall

Dennis Wenzel, executive program director, gave an overall Program update recognizing the progress and effort made so far, the hard work and high level of collaboration on the project from across the University and acknowledging the road ahead won’t be easy.

Amy Winkel, Amy Schult, and Barbara Scotford from the Reporting and Data Management team also talked about their team’s scope for ESUP with more specific information about what’s happening with UM Reports, the Data Warehouse, and the new Reporting Center, which is being developed as part of the Program.

Amy Schult presenting
on the new Reporting Center

“I was most interested in the status and new developments in UM Reports,” said Mark Bultmann, director of Advising Initiatives and coordinator of Special Scholarships. “It is my lifeline to data for the student groups I monitor. I also appreciated the Reporting Center job aid and the features highlighted on that document.”

Click here to watch a recording of the first session, to see the reporting presentation, and to see the Reporting Center job aid used at each session.

ESUP Student team meets in-person to collaborate, share progress

More than 120 people involved with the Student systems upgrade met in-person June 16-17 to work together face-to-face. The group met on the Twin Cities campus and included representatives from all campuses and all areas of the Student project: academic advisement, admissions, campus community, financial aid, SEVIS, student finance, and student records. 

The two-day meeting kicked off with a visit from President Kaler who discussed his vision of operational excellence as it relates to ESUP. Following his presentation, attendees learned more about work stream intersections from ESUP leaders before seeing some of the student experience in the upgraded system and having time to work as module teams.

From top and left to right: All Student group from all campuses,
President Kaler, and All Student breakout session

The second day of the meeting began with Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education Bob McMaster addressing the importance of supporting and improving the student experience. Before having more time to work together as module teams, the group participated in a workshop on how to address difficult changes with stakeholders. The team was encouraged to follow the L.E.A.D. approach:

• Listen using active listening skills
• Empathize
• Answer the person’s questions
• Direct to other sources of information

Associate Vice Provost and University Registrar Sue Van Voorhis said bringing the Student work stream together was a good way to reconnect and collaborate with colleagues. “It was great to have representatives from all campuses meet in-person after a long period of virtual meetings and conference calls.” 

On the Road Again...

Santiago Fernandez-Gimenez between
Nolte and Williamson Halls going to another
University unit to share ESUP information

In the past year ESUP staff, mostly Santiago Fernandez-Gimenez, Change Management director, has logged many miles visiting over 100 unit, governance, and professional network meetings including the:

• Senate Committee on Finance and Planning 
• College of Science and Engineering
• Carlson School of Management
• All five system campuses
• College of Biological Sciences

The visits offer the opportunity for face-to face communication between ESUP staff and stakeholder communities across the University’s five-campus system.

These crucial conversations have transformed over time, starting with executive and leadership meetings focusing on the why and how of ESUP. (Watch the first three “About ESUP” videos for this high-level context.) As the program moved past the analysis phase and into its current development phase, these conversations are starting to address specific changes coming with ESUP. 

Many blog posts in the Upgrade newsletter are based on questions faculty and staff asked during these face-to-face meetings. Listening and responding to stakeholder concerns is at the core of ESUP’s change management strategy. 

ESUP is interested in meeting with more faculty and staff prior to or during fall semester to hear concerns and share the latest information on faculty-facing changes. Please email the program at esup@umn.edu if your college or unit is interested in more information.

Navigating by Stars: HRMS kicks off advance team strategy

Visual notes from the HR Stars kickoff meeting, courtesy of Jen Mein.

The HRMS Upgrade Project took the next big step in its change management and communications plan last week by launching the HR Stars, an advance team strategy to provide local system support in all academic and administrative units system-wide.

 More than 90 Stars have been nominated to date, including at least one representative for every unit and campus, and the vast majority attended the kickoff meeting on May 21, either in person or online. They received additional information and context about the project and their new role, and offered their thoughts about what units will need for successful implementation of the new HRMS system and business processes. The thoughts ranged from the real and personal (what do we do when a co-worker is falling apart because they can’t figure out how to get their work done?) to the fanciful (a chip to implant all the right answers directly into people brains) -- but all with the goal of enabling Stars and their unit colleagues to hit the ground running with the new system.

“Every department has someone that people go to for answers,” said one Star following the meeting. “It makes good sense to invite those people into the upgrade effort earlier and get them trained so they can help others be effective more quickly after the upgrade. Meeting the people who fill this role at the kickoff was encouraging -- the group seemed excited and ready to learn. It bodes well for the overall success of the upgrade.”

Stars will receive advance training and early information from the HRMS project, but the expectation is for two-way communication -- the project team hopes to hear about challenges or concerns early so they can be addressed quickly and systematically, before they become major problems. In fact, even before the kickoff meeting, most of the Stars responded to a brief survey that provided a first look into the expertise of the group and the experience of the units to date. Out of 70 responses to our survey:

• 66 Stars have hands-on HRMS experience (including 22 with HRMS and Finance, and 7 with HRMS, Finance, and Student).
• 56% have already completed HRMS High-Level Functions and Processes Training. 
• The biggest perceived area of strength is Position Management: 
• On a scale of 1 to 5 (newbie to expert), our average is 3.24. 
• 29 Stars rated themselves a 4 or a 5. 
• The biggest challenge is Recruiting Solutions: 
• On a scale of 1 to 5 (newbie to expert), our average is 2.16.
• Only 4 Stars rated themselves a 4 or a 5.

These results, along with answers to open-ended survey questions, feedback from the kickoff meeting, and ongoing interactions via the HR Stars Google Group will be used to shape the agendas of future Stars meetings. The group will reconvene on June 25 and will meet regularly through early next spring. A listing of all Stars by unit will be made available soon.

Student work stream hosts Town Hall

The Student work stream held a town hall meeting on Thursday, May 15. More than 250 staff from all University of Minnesota system campuses gathered at locations across the state to hear about changes that will affect students, faculty and staff as a result of the upgrade to the student system. Highlights of the presentation include:

• An overview of how ESUP came about, its goals, and how those goals fit into President Kaler’s Operational Excellence initiatives
• A preview of the new myU Portal and an explanation of how it will work for students, staff and faculty (a sneak peek is available)
• Synopsis of how Financial Aid (disbursing aid) will be affected by the upgrade
• Synopsis of how Student Financials (collecting tuition/fees) will be affected by the upgrade
• Synopsis of how Admissions will be affected by the upgrade
• Synopsis of how SEVIS will be affected by the upgrade
• Information on the Academic Advisement (degree audit for graduate programs) implementation
• Details on specific changes to Student Records processes: Course Guide, waitlists, and grading

“I thought it was an informative overview of what ESUP entails,” said Jenny Malek, scholarship coordinator for the Office of Admissions. “Sometimes it’s easy to forget all of the ways the project will affect the University when you’re always focused on your part. I’m looking forward to learning more over the next year.” 

Because changes affect colleges differently, the Student team would like to meet with colleges individually to go into more detail on how the upgrade will affect Student Records processes and how to best prepare. A representative from the Student team will be reaching out to each college to make arrangements for these meetings. Email esup@umn.edu if you have questions before then. 

OHR speaks with one voice on HRMS upgrade

In late April and early May, all Office of Human Resources (OHR) staff were invited to attend one of four high-level training sessions regarding the more significant changes coming as a result of HRMS Upgrade Project and the impact of those changes on the ways in which OHR does its work. Those training sessions are now complete, with participation of nearly 100 percent.

At the end of each session, small groups were asked to share what they learned by developing an “elevator speech” they could share with colleagues or University leaders if asked about the upgrade. More than 20 speeches were drafted and compiled; the word cloud below helps to illustrate the major themes that emerged from the small groups.

OHR Staff elevator speech "word cloud."

HRMS Upgrade Project team members then reviewed the word-cloud and the speeches themselves to draft a single, consolidated elevator speech for use by OHR staff, HRMS stakeholders, and communicators. The result is concise -- less than 100 words that capture the essence of what the HRMS Upgrade is achieving:

The HRMS Upgrade supports our HR work in five important ways:

• By using “off-the-shelf” software features to reduce customization;
• By simplifying our appointment structure to remove non-employees from the job record, reduce multiple appointments, and improve data accuracy;
• By streamlining distribution entry and other payroll accounting processes in collaboration with our Finance partners;
• By introducing integrated time, absence, and recruiting features that eliminate paper processes and reduce data entry; and
• By clarifying roles and automating workflows.

HRMS users and the University will benefit from more efficient systems and processes, a better user experience, and improved data integrity and reporting.

Special thanks to OHR leaders and staff for making this training a priority and a success!

‘One OHR’: HRMS launches high-level training for entire OHR staff

The HRMS work stream continued its high-level training schedule last week with the first of several training sessions for Office of Human Resources (OHR) staff. The purpose of the training is to provide all OHR staff with a common understanding of the upgrade project and its benefits and impacts.

Providing some level of system training and awareness to all human resource staff -- even those who are not regular system users -- is a unique approach among the ESUP work streams. Participants were introduced to the project and overall training approach, as well as major system changes and integrations. HRMS training lead Amanda Wolford also shared a few specific examples of how the system changes should enhance the work of OHR staff and encouraged attendees to think of others.

Finally, each table was asked to use what they had learned to develop an HRMS elevator speech: “If you were on an elevator and someone asked you about the HRMS Upgrade Project, what would you say?” Participants easily shared key HRMS Upgrade Project outcomes covered in the training, including:

• Streamlined processes and reduced system customization;
• Simplified appointment structure with a place for everything and everything in its place;
• A new emphasis on Position data, which drives downstream functions;
• Enhanced system integration and reducing data entry;
• Online time and absence recording and approvals, eliminating paper processes; and
• Improved data quality and reporting.

Post-training feedback was largely positive, with participants feeling better informed and equipped to communicate the benefits of the upgrade and to anticipate and prepare for changes in their work. OHR staff members are encouraged to register for training via ULearn as soon as possible.* A second round of more detailed and targeted OHR staff  training will be offered in the coming months.

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*Note: This training is only available for OHR staff members at this time.

University Executives Establish Go Live Period for ESUP

Executives identify February 2015 as the optimal time to launch the University’s new enterprise systems

The Executive Oversight Committee (EOC) has been actively involved with the management and oversight of the Enterprise Systems Upgrade Program (ESUP) and is proud of the work done to date. At a recent planning retreat, the committee identified scope and quality as their key priorities and asked for scenarios that maximized time for quality code development and testing while fitting into the University’s business cycles.

ESUP staff assembled the scenarios, including various go live options with multiple staffing and timing alternatives. These analyses included application and reporting development, testing and defect management, risk management, anticipated sustainable staffing output, and contract and budget considerations.

Last week ESUP Executive Program Director Dennis Wenzel presented these options to the EOC. Based on the benefits, risks, and considerations available, the EOC identified February 2015 as the optimal time to begin go live activities.

Wenzel recently briefed President Kaler and the Operational Excellence committee, who agreed with the February 2015 period. “Launching in February allows ESUP to thoroughly test the system and spend the necessary time preparing University units to use the new systems,” Wenzel said.

The EOC believe the fully upgraded system will support the University’s operational excellence goals and long-term needs. Furthermore, the EOC believe the recommended date will allow ESUP to meet its rigorous scope and quality standards while remaining within the planned budget.

ESUP in the News

ESUP’s leadership have participated in a few conversations with the Minnesota Daily this winter. The discussions have been interesting and likely informative to the University community, but some comments in each article require further explanation.

In a January 23, 2014 article in the Minnesota Daily, Dean Elde spoke about accessibility concerns and how ESUP might be able to help. (Read the article here.)

The article suggests ESUP will include “internally coding University websites to make them readable for people with low vision…”.  ESUP is working hard to make self-service functionality like the new Student Center and Faculty Center areas accessible to all users, but the accessibility of other University websites is not in scope for the program.

On February 5, 2014, the MN Daily published an interview with Dean Elde and Executive Program Director Dennis Wenzel. (Read the article here.)

In that article, Dean Elde is cited as saying the program will have an impact on “managing the benefits rates for University employees and students.” In actuality, the work done on ESUP will result in fewer fringe rates; there will be no change to benefit rates as a result of ESUP.

Later in the same article, there is reference to two-factor authentication when working between systems and the amount of time students will remain logged in to the new University Portal, reporting that, “they [the portal] will just know what systems you have access to, and you won’t have to be reauthenticated for the different parts of the system that you want to go into.”

The first part of that statement is correct--the new University Portal will know to which systems each user has access. However, staff who currently use non-self service parts of the PeopleSoft (PS) system will still be required to use two-factor authentication. At that point, users should be able to move between PS and non-PS systems without reauthenticating.

ESUP has not yet identified the timeout duration for users. Currently, the non self-service PS applications have a 1 hour inactivity timeout, whereas many self-service applications have a 20 minute timeout. Business project directors are still reviewing timeout requirements for ESUP.

ESUP launches new website

ESUP is excited to unveil its newly ‘upgraded’ website at upgrade.umn.edu as the front door to the Program!

Aside from an updated look, users will enjoy:

• improved navigation making it easier to find information, 
• simplified language to engage the Program’s broad stakeholder community, and
• easier access to ESUP updates from the Upgrade newsletter and blog.

The new site should not change existing bookmarks, links, and placeholders from the old site. Take a look around and let us know what you think. If there’s information you’d like to see on upgrade.umn.edu, send a quick email to esup@umn.edu.

ESUP is Listening...Survey Results from the University

Through the Enterprise Systems Upgrade Program (ESUP), the University is improving its technology and streamlining procedures related to its three largest PeopleSoft applications: Finance, HRMS, and Student while building a new portal and enhancing reporting capabilities. The Program is a major endeavor with significant changes, and one bound to elicit different interests and opinions. To understand its stakeholders better, ESUP surveyed the University community for the second time in fall 2013, and plans two more surveys during the course of the program.

Results from the second survey:

• More than 2,000 people responded for a response rate over 30 percent
• Awareness and support for the program and readiness for change are strong - around 80 percent
• Knowledge of what the program entails and the business reasons for ESUP are not as high - around 60 percent
• Respondents who know ESUP team members personally have greater confidence in its success
• Many stakeholders think the program will succeed but it may take some time to work out the kinks or details
• History of past enterprise projects still on the minds of stakeholders with low confidence

ESUP’s response:
As part of an educational institution, ESUP is trying to demonstrate what it has learned by taking several steps based on knowledge gained from previous enterprise system implementations and survey results, including: 

• Establishing its current governance model and functional structure
• Incorporating reporting and data management as an integrated project within the overall program
• Committing to an enterprise communications, change management, and training strategy
• Launching The Upgrade newsletter to improve reach of communications and provide more depth of information

Thank you to those of you who completed the survey. Please watch for future opportunities to provide feedback as we move closer to implementation. If you have questions or would like more information about the survey, please email the program at esup@umn.edu.

Three weeks later with Dennis Wenzel

Dennis Wenzel

Tricia Conway (TC): It’s been three weeks since Dennis Wenzel joined the ESUP team as the new Program Director. If you missed our first Q&A with Dennis, you can read it here. Now that he has his bearings, we asked Dennis to give us his impressions. We asked what challenges he believes ESUP faces and what he’s looking forward to between now and October 2014. 

Dennis Wenzel (DW): This has been a whirlwind three weeks. People have been very welcoming and have done a great job training 'the new guy.' 

The Program is going strong and people are doing great work. I have been most impressed by the commitment and passion of the team; people are truly committed to making ESUP a success. I also get the sense this team wants ESUP to be different--to change the way the University communicates, collaborates, and works together. It is encouraging to see so much cooperation across the University. 

Moving forward, I would like to turn my attentions to preparing the team for implementation. The Program is at a point where we can start focusing on planning for deployment. I hope to bring my experience deploying many large systems to the team. There is a lot of work to do to prepare for a smooth go live--from testing, to infrastructure set up; partnering interfaces to old system conversions and retirement; and communications, training, and sustainability. There is a lot to do, but there is a great team to do the work!

(TC): Thanks, Dennis! If you haven’t met Dennis, please join us at the next Meet n’ Greet on Monday, Oct 7 from 10 - 11 AM in 140 Nolte. Dean Elde, chair of the Executive Oversight Committee, and Dennis will answer questions submitted via our anonymous Google form. Light refreshments will be served. Please join us! 

Survey is now closed - thanks for your feedback!

Survey Said!!! - We sent the second stakeholder assessment survey to nearly 5,000 people across the System campuses on September 12 and we want to thank those who have responded.

The purpose of the survey is to gather new information, compare the results to the first survey sent in December 2012, and gain a better understanding of stakeholder awareness, engagement, and areas of concern to move forward most effectively.

As a reminder, the survey is anonymous and we encourage ESUP consultants to complete it as well. So, if you received an email inviting you to take the survey, please fill it out as soon as possible.

The survey is now closed. Thanks again for your feedback!

Consolidated Program Plan Presentation

ESUP thanks partners at Consolidated Program Plan event

On June 3rd, Rebecca Collings, program director from Cedar Crestone International (CCI), Kathy Brown, vice president for Human Resources, and Andy Hill, ESUP program director gave brief presentations on ESUP's Consolidated Program Plan and thanked the Program's partners at an event on the Twin Cities campus.

Over 100 people from all areas of ESUP came to the event to make connections, get reacquainted, and hear Collings' presentation which included more information on:

• What is a program plan?
• How did ESUP develop their program strategies?
• Where can people find information on the program strategy?
• What are some program deliverables?

Collings, Brown, and Hill each expressed their gratitude to ESUP's partners for their hard work, creativity, and perseverance on the Program. They encouraged everyone to continue their efforts to develop and implement an effective system for the entire University community.

"I'm relatively new to the Program so hearing more about the history and framework at this event was beneficial," said Patricia Samberg, instructional designer and system campus training lead, who attended the event from Duluth. "It was also a great opportunity to meet my colleagues from the other campuses and feel like a part of an enthusiastic and dedicated team."

The presentation is available to view here. Team members can get more information on the plan by navigating to the internal program site.

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 the Week of 2/25/2013

Participate in Portal's Design Thinking Workshops
The Portal work stream has partnered with Design Thinking @ College of Design to host eight Design Thinking workshops across the University system, including Morris, Rochester, and Duluth campuses, plus a recently added Crookston event. During the 3 hour workshop, participants move through a full design cycle to create prototypes in teams--nothing fancy, but very useful and a lot of fun. Paper, markers and stickers are involved! Workshops will build on the information generated from the Portal Project Kickoff. No experience necessary, but space is limited and registration is required. More information can be found on the Portal website: z.umn.edu/portal.

Upcoming Design Thinking workshops (more workshop dates available online):
Tuesday, March 5, 2013 9 a.m. - Noon
Twin Cities, Cherrywood Room - St. Paul Student Center - 2nd Floor
Friday, March 8, 2013 9 a.m. - Noon
Twin Cities, Mississippi Room - Coffman Memorial Union - 3rd Floor (321)


HRMS Preparing to Kick Off IDP Activities
The HRMS work stream will begin their Phase 2: Analyze and Design activities in March, with IDP sessions scheduled to start the week of March 11. In order to prepare for this next phase, a number of activities are underway. The work stream is continuing to research issues and opportunities that were raised during the validation sessions and preliminary prototypes for appointment data simplification, while the CCI consultants are developing schedules and preparing a prototyping database.

In addition, an IDP Orientation meeting is planned for the Functional Steering Committee, OHR Upgrade Group, Subject Matter Experts, and team members on February 27. A more detailed training session for team members and Subject Matter Experts will be held on March 6.


Reporting and Data Management launches Business Intelligence Assessment 
The Reporting and Data Management work stream worked with EDMR to complete the first set of BI Roadmap Discovery Sessions. Participants from across the University were involved and provided a good start to gathering information. Moving forward, the team will summarize and upload themes from the sessions, along with the slide deck from the presentation, later in the week at: z.umn.edu/reporting.

The group will continue to gather information through mid-March, and will continue to solicit input to deliver a comprehensive institutional BI roadmap. 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.

Your continued participation is welcomed and needed. Consider being in touch with us in one of these ways:

• Say yes when we ask to talk to you! As a result of the initial Discovery Sessions, we will be reaching out to groups and individuals across the system campuses.
• Give your input! EDMR has setup an email address to collect information. Email edmr@umn.edu to give additional thoughts and comments.  

Quick Hits and Reminders From Across the Work Streams

• Planning continues for the Finance work stream. Early-start Finance work groups continue to perform cooperative analyses with teams addressing HR and Student processes that feed transactions to the financial system.
• The Change Management, Communications and Training work stream is growing! They are hiring two strategic communicators and one communications technology associate. The positions should be on the University’s employment site tomorrow. Please help spread the word to anyone you feel would be a successful team member. 
• The Student work stream held their first town hall meeting for the student records module with more than 50 people in attendance. These meetings will be held on the second and fourth Friday of each month and will be used to identify and validate stakeholder requirements, collect input on proposed solutions, and provide a forum for the team to share information on project progress. More information and the first agenda can be found here.

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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 02/11/13

Images from the Portal Kickoff

Portal Kickoff Generates Statewide Buzz
With the Portal Project Kickoff now complete and the project moving forward, we are proud to report that there were over 420 attendees at seven system-wide locations, with every campus represented. The purpose of the event was to begin a University community conversation that could better shape the project direction, collect rich data, and develop a direction for next steps.  Some of the conversations took place via Twitter, which you can check out at #umnportal. A full report will be released next week.

The kickoff was a collaboration with the UMN Art of Hosting Conversations That Matter Community of Practice. This is the type of community investment that will be critical to the success of the portal. Stay connected at z.umn.edu/portal.

Change in Leadership for ESUP Communications
ESUP Program Director Andy Hill announced this week that Tricia Conway will lead program-wide communications for ESUP beginning Tuesday, Feb. 19. Conway has worked at the University since 2001, as an accountant, analyst, research center administrator, and communications professional. Jim Thorp, who has served as communications director for the program since last May, has taken a different communications role in the University’s Office of Human Resources. Thorp will continue to be engaged on ESUP in his new capacity by providing communications strategy and support for the HRMS work stream. His official last day on the program is Monday, Feb. 18.

Thorp and Conway have collaborated on internal program communications since last fall and will continue to work closely together to ensure a smooth transition. In her new role, Conway will lead strategic communications for ESUP and work with the University’s News Service on all ESUP-related media requests, in addition to other duties.

Quick Hits and Reminders From Across the Work Streams

• The HRMS work stream completed their Phase 1: Plan and Discover sessions last week, including sessions on the PeopleSoft Time and Labor and Absence Management modules, which the University does not currently use.  As a result of those discussions, the HRMS team is working on a request to move the implementation of Time and Labor and Absence Management earlier in the scope and timeline of the program.
• The Finance work stream is planning the Finance project kickoff and Phase 1: Plan and Discover activities, which are slated to begin this spring. 
• The Change Management, Communications and Training work stream is working on a strategic communications analysis to identify and create more targeted messages to ESUP’s diverse audience segments.
• The Portal work stream is looking ahead to Phase 1: Plan and Discover processes including Stakeholder Engagement and Design Thinking Workshops.

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!