U Welcomes New Development and Testing Environments

ESUP is pleased to announce that as a final output of Test Move 2 (TM2), the program will begin a phased transition of the testing and development environments from CedarCrestone (CCI) to University hardware. The CCI lab has hosted these environments while the Infrastructure team worked to purchase and install the necessary hardware to house them on campus. This step is important because it allows the Test team additional time to work on the local environment and work out any bugs.

There were a number of reasons ESUP began development at CCI’s lab. Program leadership believed the University would benefit from the experience and expertise of CedarCrestone to host the development and testing instances. In addition, the University had enough space available to run current environments, but not much else. According to Tim Gagner, ESUP’s project director for Infrastructure, “These decisions allowed the University to determine the best long term solution that could support the PS applications and provide the time needed to purchase, install, and configure the new application platform.”

The new platform Gagner mentioned are Oracle’s Exalogic and Exadata servers, which will house ESUP’s production and testing environments. (Read ESUP’s blog post on the new servers from last summer, here.) These new servers were always slated to hold these environments, but now the process will happen earlier to allow development activities to happen on University-owned hardware and better prepare for ESUP production.

This earlier move also allows ESUP to work through operational support items and implement Stat, a migration tool that provides change and version control, and the ability to manage code migrations. With the large team of UMN and contractor staff developing ESUP, it is essential that structured migration tools are employed to mitigate project risk and ensure consistency in deployment activities. Developers can expect to be trained on using the migration software tool prior to the move.

There’s something reassuring about coming home. As Gagner summed it up, “This move gives our teams more time to prepare for ESUP’s launch by using the future production servers throughout testing. Teams will be more comfortable supporting the servers, databases, and application software locally...they’re excited to bring these environments to the U.”

Weekly Update and Key Messages for the Week of 01/28/13

Systemwide Collaboration a Challenge -- and a Top Priority -- for ESUP
One of the most challenging aspects of ESUP so far has been identifying effective ways for the ESUP team and system stakeholders to collaborate across functions, units and campuses. Phase 1: Plan & Discover requires the participation of hundreds of people from all five campuses of the University, many of whom have expertise in multiple work streams, as well as ongoing responsibilities to their home departments. In Phase 2: Analyze & Design, the need for consistent, well-equipped meeting space and reliable tele-conferencing and collaboration platforms becomes even more important, since Interactive Design and Prototyping (IDP) sessions will require continuous engagement from key stakeholders several hours a day for multiple weeks.

This is clearly not “business as usual” at the University -- which is why ESUP has made collaborative work spaces, facilities, and technology a top program priority. This effort has pushed existing platforms like Google and UMConnect further, in some cases, than they were meant to go -- as a result, we continue to test new equipment and software for affordable and effective solutions to keep our teams connected wherever their members are. The goal is to develop a technology “tool kit,” with multiple options for work streams and users based on their specific needs for each particular session. The program has also reserved space across the Twin Cities campuses for fit-gap validation sessions and IDP sessions (which begin in February for the Student work stream) and is building out new conference space to meet immediate and long-term needs. In fact, ESUP is helping to pilot the use of such flexible meeting and work space at the University of Minnesota, with the hope that the space, technology, and practices developed by the program will help the entire University community.

“ESUP is committed to changing culture and organizational practices, as well as upgrading technology,” said program director Andy Hill. “We are working to ensure new ways of broad engagement and participation, including new technologies, collaborative spaces, facilitated meeting techniques, and more.”

In a perfect world, an IDP session would convene in the same space from start to finish, with no need to reset the room for whomever is using it next, no equipment to transport, and dedicated technical support in case something goes wrong. The challenge of finding enough space on campus that can be used several hours a day, several days a week, for several months is tough enough -- ensuring that it is consistent space, equipped for intensive, collaborative, and creative work by colleagues in multiple locations across the state, is daunting indeed.

We need your input! If you have specific concerns or ideas for facilities, technologies, or techniques to improve collaboration and engagement as the ESUP work streams move into the IDP process, please contact Tricia Conway at conwa012@umn.edu.

It’s Still Early, But Changes Are Coming!
As more people across the University learn about ESUP, we hear the question more frequently: What will this mean for me and my work? Those who use the Student, HRMS, and Finance systems on a daily basis have specific questions about key features and processes that impact their jobs (positively or negatively).

Users haven’t heard a lot of specific changes announced yet, in part because of the nature of the methodology being used. The Student work stream, for example, is just finishing Phase 1: Plan & Discover (informally known as the “What, Not How” phase) -- which is concerned with comparing the off-the-shelf PeopleSoft product to our current processes in order to solidify the scope of the project. In Phase 2: Analyze & Design, the Student team will delve into how our system and business processes should work through the IDP process. It is during this process that more specific changes to the system and processes will be identified and described.

That said, the foundational work undertaken in Phase 1: Plan & Discover is yielding specific improvements already. The HRMS work stream, for example, announced last week that the team has identified 133 earnings codes that can be inactivated (approximately 40 of which the user community sees) due to infrequent use or opportunities for streamlining.  This reduction in earnings codes will simplify the entry of HR/Payroll for the user community and the Office of Human Resources.  These codes will be inactivated in March 2013; user communications will share the details of this change in the next several weeks. Meanwhile,  in the Student work stream, the five campuses have agreed to use a single, consistent set of classroom characteristics when the University moves to its new class scheduling system, Ad Astra. These classroom characteristics are used to determine whether a given space is equipped and appropriate for a particular class or activity. Agreeing to a consistent list across all campuses  eliminates a modification to the PeopleSoft system required to maintain campus-by-campus characteristics.

The ESUP team and leadership are committed to sharing information and specific changes as this process unfolds! If you have questions about the process or progress of ESUP, please email esup@umn.edu.

ESUP at the Legislature
As part of the University’s response to the Minnesota legislature regarding administrative efficiency at the University of Minnesota, President Eric Kaler asked the ESUP team to prepare a brief update on the program and its progress to date. The one-page update was reviewed by the ESUP Executive Oversight Committee and shared with the president last Wednesday. The update is also available online.

New Team Members In Williamson
Several members of the Technology team (Application Development and Testing) moved into Williamson 150 on Monday. If you see new colleagues, be sure to welcome them and introduce yourself!

Register by Wednesday for the Portal Kickoff!
Wikipedia defines a web portal as, "...a website that brings information together from diverse sources in a uniform way." But what does that really mean? The U of M has myU, One Stop, and any number of online tools. But something is missing. Figuring that out is not a simple task. The real question is: "What SHOULD the portal be at the U of M?" Help us answer that question by attending the portal kickoff event.   Register for the event by Wednesday, Jan. 30, and learn more at z.umn.edu/portal.  If you can’t make the event, follow it on Twitter (#umnportal).

Key Messages for the Week of 10/08/12

• Don’t forget to RSVP online for the ESUP Kickoff Event next Tuesday, Oct. 16, from 1 to 4 p.m., Great Hall, Coffman Memorial Union.
• President Kaler will be welcoming the ESUP team and talking about the importance of this effort to the University of Minnesota.
• This is also a great opportunity for ESUP team members to meet their project directors from the U and CedarCrestone (CCI), as well as a couple hundred of their new ESUP teammates!
• We would like you to participate either in person or via ITV from the coordinate campuses, if possible.
• Anyone who is interested can follow the kickoff online at www.livestream.com/umntv.

• The project directors will be meeting with their ESUP teams separately following the kickoff to delve more deeply into roles and responsibilities, expectations, next steps and to begin the work of the project.

• The ESUP Kickoff marks the official beginning of the first phase of the project, called Plan and Discover.
• This phase reaffirms and builds upon the preliminary fit-gap analyses and planning that has already occurred and will set the scope and schedule for ESUP going forward.
• The full schedule of the Plan and Discover phase is being worked on and should be complete by Oct. 26.
• We should know in the next few weeks how long we expect Plan and Discover to last before moving to Analyze and Design.
• At the end of Plan and Discover, we will be able to share a targeted “go-live” date.

• ESUP work is already underway!
• The Upgrade Lab statement of work has been completed.
• We are also beginning discussions about shared Person/Bio-demo data on Oct. 17, 18, 24 and 25 (if needed). 
• Invites for these sessions will be going out by the end of the week, and the sessions will be streamed via UMConnect.  

• The ESUP team welcomed a number of new people from CedarCrestone this week -- be sure to introduce yourselves to:
• Technology Project Director: Chris Cameron
• Campus Community/Recruiting/Admissions Lead: Greg Patterson
• Financial Aid Lead: Mary Gilbertson
• Student Financials Lead: Jeff Johnson
• HR Lead: James Ellis
• Benefits Lead: Cheri Kitchens
• HRMS Technology Lead: Vijay Javvadi
• Training Specialist: Tammy Staneart
• We plan to share a list of current University of Minnesota team members following the ESUP Kick-Off next week.

• Work continues on the ESUP space in Williamson Hall and the West Bank Office Building (WBOB), and the Space Transition team is beginning to test space and equipment.

Key Messages for the Week of 10/01/2012

• The Enterprise System Upgrade Program (ESUP) Kickoff is confirmed for Tuesday, Oct. 16, from 1 to 4 p.m. in Coffman Memorial Union’s Great Hall.
• ESUP team members and stakeholders from the coordinate campuses will be able to attend in designated ITV rooms on their campuses; those arrangements are being finalized.
• The Kickoff will consist of two sessions:
• Session 1 (1 p.m. to 2 p.m.) will be an ESUP overview for all team members, University leadership and key stakeholders.
• Session 2 (2:30 to 4 p.m.) will be a deeper dive into project methodology, norms and expectations, etc., specifically for ESUP team members.
• We will take a break from 2 to 2:30 p.m. to get to know each other, enjoy refreshments, and so those who are not ESUP team members can leave if they choose.
• Both sessions will also be streamed live and recorded for viewing after the event.
• A more formal invitation with a detailed agenda to team members will go out shortly.
• The ESUP team welcomed a number of new people from CedarCrestone this week -- be sure to introduce yourselves to:
• Integration Lead: Bill Collings
• Payroll Lead: Greg Marks
• Student Records Lead: Dan Doremus
• Student Tech Lead: Dan Croce
• Account Manager: Kirk Bertram
• Work continues on the ESUP space in Williamson Hall and the West Bank Office Building (WBOB), and the Space Transition team that will be “piloting” the space and testing its systems should move in next week.
• Wireless internet connectivity has been improved, printers are accessible, and chairs and desktop monitors will be arriving within the week.
• Card-reader access is also being finalized this week.
• Project laptops are being configured, and delivery to ESUP team members is being planned for kick-off week and afterward as team members join the project.
• Cellular service is not yet available on the lower level of Williamson or WBOB, however, headsets for use with “soft phone” technology (phone software for your project laptop that enables you to forward and answer your office phone remotely) have arrived.
• Your project director is your go-to person for questions, concerns, resources and training needs.

Key Messages for the Week of 09/24/2012

• ESUP team members are moving to the project during the next several weeks. 
• We continue to renovate and equip the ESUP office space in Williamson and WBOB. 
• Renovations will continue through the end of the month. 
• Between now and Nov. 1, ESUP team members can work in any space reserved for project use. Your project director will help identify team work space during this period.
• ESUP team members will receive their project laptops and other necessary equipment and software delivered directly to them as close to their starting date as possible.
• We will schedule training and provide support for the use of the Google application suite and “soft phone” technology, as needed. Other training will be scheduled by your project director as these needs are identified.
• The ongoing renovation of the workspace will NOT delay the overall project timeline.
• During this initial period, our high-level project plans and schedules are developing and evolving on a daily basis.
• It isn’t practical at this point to engage all ESUP team members in all aspects of project planning, however, your areas are appropriately represented in these planning meetings.
• We are committed to sharing project plans, schedules and information as they are finalized.
• Your project director is your go-to person for questions, concerns, resources and training needs.