Student Work Stream: Collaboration Key to Successful Decision Making

Members of the Student work stream Functional Steering Committees (FSC) faced a daunting task during the nine months they spent in Interactive Design and Prototyping: the first comprehensive examination and restructuring of PeopleSoft-related business processes since 1998. This included reviewing 93 business processes and nearly 900 modifications to the existing system. The goal of this effort was to increase efficiency and retire as many modifications as possible to allow for using delivered functionality. The challenge was accomplishing this while maintaining a high level of service. Questions such as, “Is there a better way?” and “What modifications can we do away with?” were routinely asked and the FSC members were charged with finding the answers and making decisions.

Because these decisions would affect the entire University system, it was critical that decisions resulted from open dialogue and discussion representing all five campuses. To accomplish this, a functional steering committee (with representation from each campus) was created for each Student work stream module and embedded in the team. In a methodology led by implementation partner, CedarCrestone, the FSC members worked alongside business analysts to review business processes and then make the decisions. “It takes all of the groups working together to best serve our students,” says Colleen Miller, finance director for the Morris campus and member of the Student Financials functional steering committee.

When a challenging situation arose, the functional steering committees often reached out to users. For example, both the Admissions and Student Records teams held Town Hall meetings to discuss the impacts of a particularly difficult decision with their stakeholders. 

Tina Falkner, director of Continuity and Compliance in Academic Support Resources and a member of the Student Records FSC, says taking the time to carefully consider each decision was a priority. “The Student Records functional steering committee took the time to discuss how we could change our business processes and how we would identify and fix errors that might arise from the new processes. We then allowed enough time for members of the FSC who would be the most impacted by the change to air their concerns.”

Transparency and a willingness to listen were critical. “All decisions were the result of open and thorough discussions,” says Brenda Herzig, director of financial aid and One Stop Student Services at Duluth and a member of the Financial Aid FSC. “Most decisions made were to improve issues we have had in the past but couldn’t resolve because of a lack of system resources. The upgrade is providing us the opportunity to make much needed changes that all campuses agree on.” For the Financial Aid module, these changes resulted in a 70% reduction in modifications to the system--a huge win for the University. 

To learn more about the outcome of work of the Student work stream FSCs, visit What’s Changing. 

Student Work Stream Finishes IDPs

University business analysts, subject matter experts, and members of functional steering committees from the Student work stream recently concluded nine months in IDP -- evaluating what PeopleSoft has delivered and what our business requirements are and making decisions on what the system would look like after upgrading.

This work translates to:

• 694 IDP sessions equaling roughly 16,621.5 hours
• 93 change requests
• The replacement of more than 26 homegrown self-service applications 
• The replacement of 100 UM Reports 
• Discussion of all business processes
• A 55% demodification rate

Thanks to a cohesive, highly effective team, in addition to the experienced guidance from implementation partner CedarCrestone, the University will benefit from a much more mature system. It’s also been an opportunity for staff to not only contribute to the project, but to meet people outside of their unit and home campus.

Associate Vice Provost and University Registrar Sue Van Voorhis, who serves as the business process owner for the Student upgrade and the Portal said, “We’ve been able to break down barriers. This is a very united group. Everyone is so committed to making this a success and going with our principles.”

Read the full story here...

Weekly Update for the week of May 6, 2013

EOC approves 2 change requests
The Executive Oversight Committee approved two change requests from the Student work stream earlier today. These approvals (Course Catalog and Course Approval) represent the first changes that require new development and signal the official transition to Phase 3, Configure and Develop. Project Director William Dana said these approvals are “a significant milestone... let the development begin!” Congratulations, Student work stream!

HRMS, Finance work streams tackle joint Payroll Accounting IDPs
Beginning in late April, the HRMS and Finance teams began joint Interactive Design and Prototyping (IDP) sessions on Payroll Accounting. Each session includes more than 50 invitees, representing a variety of stakeholders from across the finance and human resources user community and central offices. ESUP Reporting team members are also in attendance to understand and identify reporting implications and requirements. Dennis Bortolus (CCI) is leading the sessions, bringing tremendous experience implementing PeopleSoft payroll accounting functions at other large research institutions.

This cross-functional team is working together to identify solutions that best meet the needs of the University community while also addressing ESUP objectives of simplifying business processes and reducing system modifications -- paying particularly close attention to the specific requirements around research and grants. During the week of April 22, the group discussed combo codes and account mapping; last week, the focus was on salary distribution entry. Upcoming topics include encumbering, fringe processing, and historical salary adjustments. This is important work requiring strong collaboration across work streams. The Program is excited about the process and progress to date!

Quick hits and reminders from across the work streams

• The Portal team presented to the Student work stream at their bi-monthly all-Student team meeting on May 2. The two project teams will work together more closely to ensure they understand how to think about Portal when looking at alternatives to filling gaps.  
• The HRMS work stream will begin their Time & Labor and Absence Management IDP sessions in mid-July. The Recruiting Solutions (the University’s name for recruiting business processes within PeopleSoft’s Talent Acquisition Manager) will begin their IDP sessions in September.
• The Portal team is looking for input on some of the opportunities that have been identified through plan and discover activities. A survey will be available from May 13-20 to gather this input. The link will be in next week’s posting.  
• Gophers, Gators, and Horses, oh my! Florida Gator die-hard fan Walter Terrell (CCI) came face to face with Goldy Gopher last week. The pair seemed to get along well enough for a photo... 
• During last week’s trip to the Crookston campus, the ESUP group was treated to a tour. In addition to great feedback from Crookston ESUP participants, a highlight was the Equestrian Center where JP Hagerty and Santiago Fernandez-Gimenez stopped to horse around for a few minutes. (Get it, horse around?) 

Weekly Update for the week of March 25, 2013

New Faces in ESUP
There will be some new faces on the ESUP team in the coming weeks. ESUP would like to extend a warm Minnesota welcome to the following new team members:

• Cynthia Murdoch, lead business analyst on the Portal work stream
• Staci Ludwig, developer and analyst on the Portal work stream
• Mike Murphy (CCI), co-project director on the Finance work stream

HRMS Welcomes IDPs and Oracle Software
The HRMS work stream was busy last week with the start of their Interactive Design and Prototyping (IDP) sessions. The week ended on a high note with the release of Oracle 9.2. The release of this version had previously been delayed; now HRMS can move forward with 9.2 implementation as planned. The work stream hopes to receive a 9.2 database in June that can be used in IDP sessions.

For more information on IDPs, check out the “What is an IDP?” post.

Quick Hits and Reminders From Across the Work Streams

• The Portal work stream continues to host Design Thinking workshops around the state. The next workshop is scheduled for this Thursday (3/28) on the Duluth campus from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. in the Kirby Student Center, room 310 [http://www.eventbrite.com/event/5542999260].
• Reporting and Data Management plans to complete work on the BI Roadmap this week. The information will be presented to the EDMR Steering Committee for their review, input, and direction. 

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 March 18, 2013

Oracle to release key software

ESUP Program Director Andy Hill announced on Monday, Oracle has confirmed at the Alliance Conference that the Human Capital Management (HCM) and Finance 9.2 software will finally be released.  This software release had originally been scheduled for December 2012, and the delay was seen as a potential risk for ESUP. Now the program will be able to proceed with the solid target of implementing these two modules. The HCM software is seen as a significant improvement, especially in terms of usability.

ESUP will move forward as quickly as possible to adopt the 9.2 environment in redesigning HR business processes. The Finance work stream's later start date works out extremely well with the timing of this software release. This is great news, as these products are critical to ESUP’s technical strategy and timeline. 

Design Thinking Workshops Begin to
Shape the Vision of Portal

ESUP's Portal project has forged a partnership with the College of Design. By taking advantage of the College’s cutting edge design practices, Portal is demonstrating how ESUP can engage with University academic resources to produce excellent outcomes.

So far 75 people from the Morris and Twin Cities campuses have attended one of the system-wide Design Thinking@College of Design workshops, creating 15 prototypes that explore specific features users want from the portal. The responses so far show appreciation for an open and inclusive process. After each workshop, attendees receive a survey as an additional opportunity to provide feedback. The current survey completion rate is over 70%!

More information, including pictures and videos of the prototypes built so far, can be found on the Portal website.   Click on the Design Thinking Workshop tab.
Upcoming Design Thinking workshops (more workshop dates available online):

• Tuesday, March 28: 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. [http://www.eventbrite.com/event/5542999260] Duluth, Kirby Student Center - Room 310
• Tuesday, April 9: 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. [http://www.eventbrite.com/event/5543075488]
  Rochester, University Square - Room 417 
• Wednesday, April 10: 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. [http://www.eventbrite.com/event/5537978242]
  Twin Cities, Conference Center - Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs - Room 180

Best practice guidelines for analyzing gaps

CedarCrestone has developed a set of best practices to help guide the scope of issues addressed during Interactive Design and Prototyping (IDP) sessions. These guidelines are designed to help IDP participants focus on large and meaningful business process design issues. The following relatively small customizations have downstream impacts that increase maintenance costs, but they may not deliver sufficient business value to merit attention during IDP :

• Field Edits -- (validates the content or format of a field value)
• Field Defaults  -- (pre populates a value in a field)
• Field Location -- (where a field appears on the page)
• Labels -- (names a field on the page)
• Tab Order -- (the order that the tab button moves the cursor through fields or links on a page)
• Search settings -- (search parameters such as “include history”)

While there may be exceptions to this practice, most of these items will be left as delivered by PeopleSoft. This should help IDP teams to move forward and focus on larger and more meaningful business process redesign issues.

OHR Explores Vision, Strategy for Portal Implementation

More than 20 members of the Office of Human Resources (OHR), the Portal work stream, University Services, the College of Liberal Arts on the Twin Cities campus, and University of Minnesota Duluth met last Wednesday to begin to develop a vision and implementation strategy for dynamic new human resources content and functionality, which will emerge over the next few years with the implementation of the PeopleSoft Enterprise Portal as part of ESUP.

The half-day session, led by Vice President Kathy Brown, Director of HR Operations Lori Lamb, and the retreat facilitator, Sue Gebelein, included brainstorming of short- and long-term goals for HR content and functionality in the portal, as well as a discussion of the foundational work and leadership required to prepare OHR staff, processes, and content for a new portal environment.

“It was a great day,” Lamb said. “It’s exciting to see the great potential of a new HR portal to really transform the way faculty and staff interact with the University and to convey our employment brand. At the same time, I think everyone agreed that the success of ESUP overall will determine how transformational the HR portal can be. What we do between now and 2014 to upgrade technology, streamline business processes, and improve HR data, reporting, and content will determine how much of our dream portal can be realized.”

Campus Schedules Diverge

Next Friday Morris, Rochester, and Twin Cities will be closed, but Duluth and Crookston are open. Please double-check your schedule to see if you have ESUP-related meetings on this date.

Quick Hits and Reminders From Across the Work Streams

• The Finance work stream continues to plan for its project kickoff in May. The Functional Steering Committee and the business process owners spent time discussing the list of financial business processes. This resulted in identifying each business process as 'customer facing' or 'central facing' to plan who will need to be involved for each session. The project team is scheduling the Finance work stream Phase 1: Plan & Discover meetings for May through August.
• The Student work stream: Due to the holiday closure of three campuses on March 22, the Student Records team will not hold a Town Hall meeting that day. The next Student Records Town Hall will be held April 12. More information about Town Hall meetings can be found on the Student Records Stakeholder Engagement page.
• The Technology work stream:  Developers continue to attend and assist in work stream IDP sessions as needed.
• The Portal work stream is out and about talking to people about the future of portal, answering questions, and getting great input to help shape this technology. Recently, Portal has met with University Relations, the Senate Committee on Information Technology, and the Faculty Consultative Committee, just to name a few. Click here to provide your feedback and/or arrange for a meeting with your department or college.
• The Reporting and Data Management work stream:    Information gathering sessions for the BI Roadmap effort concluded this past week.  Interviews and discovery sessions were conducted across the University, meeting with over 150 people. Interview representation included:  University Analysts, Analytics Collaborative, Data Governance Team, distributed developer communities, Office of Institutional Research, members from the System Campuses, Financial Report Working Group, RRC Managers, Collegiate Chief of Staffs, representation from central functional groups (HR, Student, Finance), University units with existing BI systems, and Office of Information Technology.
  
  Over the next two weeks the information will be compiled, analyzed, and provided to EDMR to provide direction in enhancing the skills, processes, technologies, applications and user support for BI services that better meet the needs of University stakeholders.  

Weekly Update for the Week of March 4, 2013

HRMS Hosts Successful IDP Orientation
Over 80 people attended last week’s HRMS Orientation, including the Functional Steering Committee, team members, the OHR Upgrade Group, and Subject Matter Experts. Ben Santelman, HRMS consultant from CedarCrestone, Inc., led the group through a training on Interactive Design and Prototyping (IDP), a key component of Phase Two: Analyze and Design. A more detailed training session on IDPs for team members will be held on March 6, 2013.

For more information on this module, check out our ‘What is an IDP session?’ post on the blog!

Portal Welcomes U’s New Content Management System
The University has recently acquired a new enterprise content management system - Drupal. This is a systemwide initiative available to and supporting all system campuses, and a great opportunity for ESUP. The Enterprise Portal project will be working closely with the Drupal team so that content providers can enter content into Drupal for their websites and have it appear in the new portal.

Open Positions in ESUP
ESUP is growing! We’re currently looking for new staff members to help in ESUP’s “central” offices, located in 150 Williamson Hall and 50 WBOB. We are hiring for two strategic communicators, one communications technology associate, and one executive program coordinator.

ESUP Around Town
A number of governance and professional organizations have requested an ESUP update at their spring or summer meetings, and we are happy to oblige! If your campus organization would be interested in learning more about the upgrade, please email us at esup@umn.edu. We are happy to talk about the exciting changes going on in ESUP!

Quick Hits and Reminders From Across the Work Streams

• The Reporting and Data Management work stream posted the summary document of themes and the slide deck of their presentation from the BI Roadmap Discovery session online at z.umn.edu/reporting.

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.

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 2/18/2013

Student IDP Sessions Illustrate Scale of Change, Flexibility of Process

The Student work stream finished its second week of Interactive Design and Prototyping (IDP) sessions, and thus far, the process has proven to be flexible enough to address significantly different business needs of the different PeopleSoft modules.

During week one of IDP sessions, for example, the Student Records group began by mapping a high-level of all the SR business processes and then dove into the Course Catalog. Moving forward, they will focus on specific business processes, keeping in mind the big picture and the impact of changes downstream.

The Student Finance group, on the other hand, kicked off their IDPs by diving directly into a specific business process: the Self-Service functionality related to billing. The IDP methodology and deliverables will be the same from both groups; the difference is the tools and techniques used.

In the case of business processes that are self-contained, well-defined, or simply required by law, it may be possible to move through IDP more quickly -- and the methodology is flexible enough to accommodate the needs and work styles of the group and business process in question.

Identity Management (IdM) Presents Implementation Plan 

Arash Forouhari (UMN), project director for Identity Management, presented his implementation plan to ESUP’s Leadership Team last week. Forouhari outlined his vision for replacing the University’s X.500 environment with Oracle Identity Manager (OIM). The work stream analyzed in depth how both PeopleSoft and non-PeopleSoft data feeds integrate with IdM to provision users to downstream systems such as Active Directory or Gmail. 

Cross-functionality at work in IDP sessions

With Student IDP sessions officially underway, both Portal and Reporting team members have participated in a number of sessions, including Student Finance Self-Service and Student Records. Project directors William Dana (UMN) and Walter Terrell (CCI) were eager to reflect on the successful interactions in their first week. “It has been tremendously beneficial to have Reporting, Technology, and Portal participating in the IDP sessions,” Terrell said. 

Portal to Host Design Thinking Workshops

The Portal team is inviting participation from the University community to their design thinking workshops. The workshops build on what the team learned from the kickoff (kickoff summary document: z.umn.edu/portalkickoff).  In partnership with the College of Design, participants will cycle through a process of observation, brainstorming, synthesizing, prototyping, and evaluating towards the goal of identifying and ranking possible features and design elements for the new U of M portal. No experience necessary. 

The workshops will be held throughout the University system in March and April and will build on the information generated from the Portal Project Kickoff. The first workshop is March 5. More information and sign up will be available at z.umn.edu/portal on Wednesday.  Space is limited and registration is required.

Quick Hits and Reminders From Across the Work Streams

• The Application Development work stream is welcoming two new members to the Program this week. Stop by and say hello if you’re in 150 Williamson!
• The HRMS work stream has been busy preparing for their IDP sessions, which are slated to begin in March in WBOB. As a result, the HRMS team members are coordinating efforts to move their daily operations into WBOB.
• The Reporting and Data Management work stream will start their BI Roadmap Discovery sessions this week. These sessions are open to all, but people involved in data, reporting, and analysis may find the most benefit. Check the ESUP consolidated calendar for session times and locations (http://upgrade.umn.edu/p/calendar.html). In addition, the work stream continues to coordinate efforts with the Data and Reporting fCOP, which will begin in March.
• The Integration work stream will use the Data and Reporting fCoP as the official communication conduit for collecting information on UMN impacted application systems, disseminating information concerning data structure changes and tracking readiness for integration testing.
• The Change Management, Communications and Training work stream will engage participants within each work stream to assess potential changes that might impact faculty across the University system.

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 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!

Weekly Update and Key Messages for the Week of 02/04/13

HRMS Work Stream Completes Phase 1: Plan & Discover Sessions
Last week’s Minnesota Daily article on ESUP made little mention of the HRMS work stream, which has completed all but one of its Phase 1: Plan & Discover sessions. During the course of Plan and Discover, HRMS conducted 67 fit-gap and fit-gap validation sessions, ranging from one to six hours each, for a total of 170 hours. In total, more than 100 people participated from across the University, delving into 55 major categories of business process, covering Human Resources, Payroll, Benefits, Time and Labor, Absence Management and Commitment Accounting.

The final HRMS fit-gap session for Time and Labor will be this held early this week. Phase 1 workbooks for all HRMS modules and business processes are at various stages of development and review in preparation for Phase 2: Analyze &  Design, which is scheduled to begin for HRMS in March.

Work Stream Renamed to Distinguish Between ESUP, EDMR
The reporting and data management aspects of ESUP will now go by the name Reporting and Data Management (often referenced as simply Reporting, although it’s more than that). The purpose of the name change is to distinguish this element of ESUP from the ongoing enterprise-wide data management and governance initiative at the University, known as EDMR (for Enterprise Data Management  and Reporting) The distinction is an important one, since the work of ESUP’s Reporting and Data Management work stream ends with the program, while EDMR will continue for the long term.  The ESUP Reporting and Data Management team will be working closely with the EDMR governance structure over the lifecycle of the program to ensure alignment with long-term University strategy.

Business Intelligence Assessment Launches This Week
Additional consultants from our implementation partner, CedarCrestone (CCI), will be on campus beginning this week through mid-March to help the University’s Analytics Collaborative and the Reporting and Data Management work stream assess current business intelligence (BI) work at the University.  “We need to do an assessment of where we are today and develop a roadmap on how we best move forward,” said Steve Gillard, Director of the University’s Analytics Collaborative. “We will be working with ESUP and the University community to review our existing business intelligence and data warehouse reporting capabilities and related needs.  We are starting this effort now in order to meet the milestones and work needed for the project, and we intend that the outcomes will also help to inform the newly forming Data and Reporting Strategies formal Community of Practice [fCoP].”

While much work has been done in the data and reporting space across the University, a number of questions remain.  Further, the University also wants to leverage and learn from the work to date by Finance, University Services, Office of Institutional Research (OIR), and Academic Support Resources (ASR) to advance the University’s enterprise data management and reporting strategy.

To help address the unmet needs in the data and reporting space a collaboration between ESUP, the fCoP on Data and Reporting and EDMR is needed.  Outstanding questions that such a collaboration can address range from identifying the technical architecture need to support the next general enterprise data warehouse to determining the needs for the next generation enterprise data warehouse.  The below list of bulleted items highlight the scope of this BI Assessment.

The outcome of this effort will be a BI Roadmap document that addresses the following:

• High-level business requirements
• Subject area identification and prioritization
• Security (authentication and authorization)
• Source system identification
• Implementation strategy, including roles and responsibilities, timelines and staffing plans
• Audience (end user profiles)
• Training needs assessment document
• Enterprise architecture document
• Technical architecture recommendations
• BI tools evaluation and recommendations

The tentative schedule for this BI assessment is as follows:

• Feb. 4  – Feb. 8:  Project planning and launch
• Feb. 11 – Feb. 15:  Discover Workshops – Current Reporting Capabilities Review
• Feb. 18 – March 1:  Current Technical Architecture Review
• Feb. 25 – March 15:  Discover Workshops – Future Reporting Requirements Capture
• March 11 – March 22:  Gap Analysis
• March 18 – March 30:  Roadmap document

The Reporting and Data Management team will continue to collaborate with the Student, HRMS, and Finance work streams, as appropriate, while the BI assessment and road map is underway. Watch for more information about specific date and locations to participate.

Quick Hits and Reminders From Across the Work Streams

• The Finance work stream launched its web site last week, with details on the upgrade strategy for Finance; management and governance, work group, and staffing information, frequently asked questions, and more. You can find it online at z.umn.edu/esupfinance. 
• The Student work stream begins Phase 2: Analyze & Design this week, with its first Interactive Design and Prototyping (IDP) session slated for Wednesday. 
• The Change Management, Communications and Training work stream will pilot a number of strategies and tools to provide support to the IDP process with the Student work stream in the coming weeks.
• The Portal work stream kickoff event is this afternoon (Monday, Feb. 4), with participants engaging in person and remotely from multiple locations on all five University of Minnesota campuses.
• The Identity Management and Security work stream has finished its Phase 1: Plan & Discover activities and is preparing to start development in mid-February.
• The remaining Technology and Testing work streams continue to meet with the business work streams to develop and refine their strategies.

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 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).

Weekly Update and Key Messages for the Week of 01/14/13

Phase 1 Activities Underscore ESUP’s Unprecedented Scope
One of the ongoing communication challenges associated with ESUP is conveying the scope and pace of the work underway. One way of capturing this is to take a closer look at the hours, number of people, and work product devoted to ensuring each phase of the program is successful.

Last week, for example, the leaders of the Student work stream shared the following:

• Since the first Phase 1: Plan and Discover session on Oct. 24, the team has completed 76 of 78 scheduled fit-gap validation sessions, each of which ran two to three hours and yielded 6 to 7 pages of notes.
• On average, 15 and 25 people attended each session, either in person or virtually. (The highest was more than 80.)
• These sessions have resulted in more than 500 pages of Plan and Discover workbook deliverables that will serve as the foundation for the work of Phase 2: Analyze and Design.

In Phase 2, Interactive Design and Prototyping (IDP) sessions will move the discussion from “what” to “how,” as teams of stakeholders, subject-matter experts, and consultants re-examine each business process, compare it to best practice and the latest delivered functionality in PeopleSoft and associated systems, and decide how best to configure the process and system to meet business needs, improve operations, and reduce customizations and cost. These sessions will be more intensive than the Phase 1 fit-gap validations, but also promise to be more rewarding, as we begin to shape new ways of doing business and delivering on the University’s mission. Student IDP sessions will begin in February.

The HRMS project is also moving rapidly through Phase 1; its timeline is approximately four to six weeks behind Student. The HRMS team will spend the next several weeks conducting sessions on new PeopleSoft modules not currently implemented at the University, as well as completing Benefits, HR, and Payroll fit-gap validation sessions (some in conjunction with Student and Finance) and reviewing workbooks in preparation for Phase 2. HRMS is also planning IDP sessions, which are slated to begin in mid-March.

The other three work streams are at various stages of ramping up for Phase 1:

• The Finance work stream is working on its project plan and communications infrastructure in preparation for launch this spring, while also taking part in relevant Student and HRMS sessions that impact EFS. 
• The Portal work stream continues its planning and team-building activities in preparation for its Feb. 4 kickoff event (see below).
• The EDMR team is attending Phase 1 sessions for Student and HRMS, fleshing out its own plan and team, and looking ahead to Reporting IDP sessions in the spring.

These staggered project timelines are part of the plan, enabling the program to coordinate across projects and implement in a timely manner with the most efficient use of resources. Kudos to all of the work streams for the hard work done so far!

Portal Charrette Lays Groundwork for Vision and Engagement
The Portal Leadership Team and Portal Project Team held a charrette last Monday to begin the work of collaborative engagement that will be the hallmark of the Portal project.  A charrette (sha-RETT) refers to a collaborative session in which a group drafts a solution to a design problem -- in this case the design problem is how to lead the portal initiative. The teams will continue their work this week in part two of the charrette, refining a draft of the charter and considering stakeholder engagement planning.  We are gearing up for kick-off on Monday, Feb. 4, from 2 to 4 p.m. on all campuses (invitation with sign-up instructions coming the week of Jan. 22). We'll be looking for input on the charter from the entire University community, and everyone is welcome!

Portal Team Launches Web Site; Other Work Stream Sites In Development
Portal now has a web site! Keep up to date with Portal happenings at z.umn.edu/portal, or by clicking the Portal tab on the ESUP blog. (If you are viewing the ESUP blog on a mobile device, click the drop-down arrow at the upper right on the screen to access the tabs menu, then select Portal.) The HRMS, Finance, and EDMR work streams plan to launch similar sites in the next few weeks.

Weekly Update and Key Messages for the Week of 01/07/13

ESUP Sessions Resume This Week
Happy New Year from ESUP! After a well-deserved break, the ESUP team resumes a full schedule of sessions, meetings, and activities this week. As always, you can see what’s on tap for all the work streams by viewing the ESUP Consolidated Calendar on the ESUP blog at upgrade.umn.edu.

New Leadership for Technology, Change Management Teams
The new year has brought new opportunities for University leaders involved with ESUP. On Friday, Dec. 21, Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer (CIO) Scott Studham announced that Sharon Ramallo will join his leadership team as associate CIO for enterprise systems, effective Jan. 3. Sharon has been leading the ESUP technology team as the University’s assistant program director for technology, alongside CCI’s Christopher Cameron. Mark Powell, who has been working as project director for infrastructure on the ESUP technology team, will take over as assistant program director with Christopher, and the three of them will work together over the next few weeks to manage the transition.

On Jan. 4, ESUP program director Andy Hill announced that Santiago Fernandez-Gimenez will become the ESUP’s assistant program director for change management, working with CCI’s Georgi Frye to lead ESUP change management, communications, and training efforts. A long-time University staff member, Fernández-Giménez believes that ESUP is an opportunity to build a strong foundation for future innovation, both technologically and socially. “I’m excited to jump into this challenging role,” he said. “I plan to reach out to the University community, try to ask insightful questions, surface differences of interest, and challenge us to find creative solutions that allow us to more fully leverage our enterprise infrastructure.”

Please congratulate Sharon, Mark, and Santiago on their new opportunities!

Mark Your Calendars for the Portal Kickoff!
With much of the project coordination underway, the Portal workstream is ready to introduce opportunities for the involvement of all University stakeholders. The Portal kickoff meeting will explain the portal project, identify ways that all interested parties can get involved, and be the start of creating the portal as a University collaborative effort.  This event will take place on Monday, Feb. 4, from 2 to 4 p.m. -- an email invitation with more details will come soon. There will be at least one location to attend on every campus. We hope you will join us!

Student Work Stream to Host IDP Orientation
The Student work stream will host a two-hour Interactive Design and Prototyping (IDP) orientation session this Thursday for its functional steering committee members. The session is similar in scope to the IDP training held for ESUP team members before the holiday break. Each work stream will hold similar training sessions as they get closer to IDPs and the Analyze & Design phase. For more information about IDPs, see this “What is IDP?” blog post.

What is Interactive Design and Prototyping (IDP) and Why Do We Need to Do It?

When upgrading to a new version of software, there’s always a change in how specific tasks are accomplished. You likely have experienced this with programs you use daily; new buttons are available, some options move to another area, some tasks are accomplished in another way. Since the software was designed for a wide base of users, you likely find some things to be the same, some things to be easier, and some things to be more difficult. Some tasks may not even be possible in the new version.

When the software being upgraded is your word processing program (e.g., Microsoft Word) or web browser (e.g., Internet Explorer, Chrome), these differences may be frustrating at first, but over time, you develop new habits. When the software is an enterprise resource planning system, a more methodical approach to addressing the differences is needed. For the Enterprise Systems Upgrade Program (ESUP), this approach is called Interactive Design and Prototyping (IDP).

The first phase of ESUP is a fit/gap analysis. This involves a comparison of our current business processes with the upgraded version of PeopleSoft to see where there are “fits” and where there are differences, or “gaps,” between how we do things now and the functionality provided within the off-the-shelf (or “vanilla”) version of PeopleSoft.

The off-the-shelf versions of the HR and student PeopleSoft systems implemented in the 1990s were not yet sophisticated enough for our operations. Over the years, these systems have been heavily customized with groundbreaking applications to deliver functionality that PeopleSoft originally could not provide. Today, however, the off-the-shelf capabilities of PeopleSoft exceed those of many of our customizations, but they may work differently. Those differences are addressed in IDP.

The IDP process focuses on the business requirements of the institution and how the new functionality of the software will meet those requirements when the upgraded system goes live.  The approach ESUP is taking for IDP is process-centric. This means that technological gaps between current practice and how the new version of PeopleSoft works will be approached in the context of an entire business process (e.g., financial aid application processing, grade entry, hiring an employee, changing a job appointment). This process-centric approach helps identify opportunities to facilitate best practices, enhances the knowledge of both business and technological experts, and aids in knowledge transfer.

In order to be successful, it is critical that the right people participate in IDP. In addition to consultants from implementation partner, CedarCrestone, there will be University business analysts, subject matter experts, and members of functional steering committees (or their designees). These key decision makers will work together to make design decisions quickly and effectively by identifying business process requirements, reviewing the functionality available in the new version of PeopleSoft, and prototyping business processes to identify issues.
When the off-the-shelf version of PeopleSoft does not meet all of the business requirements, a gap in functionality is identified. The team will then work together to develop solutions for bridging the gaps and recommend their approval by the governance of ESUP. In addition to these solutions, the IDP process will also identify requirements for training, security, testing, and change management.

The IDP process is intensive and time-consuming--one business process may take several weeks of day-long work sessions. Sessions will run concurrently for approximately six months. At the end, solutions for how to move forward will be finalized and developers will have the information they need to complete the technological upgrade.

While ESUP is a multi-year project and most changes will not take effect until 2014 or later, how we operate in the future will be decided in IDP. These highly interactive and participative sessions are designed to gather the best collective ideas of system users and stakeholders. They should be intense, but very rewarding.

Weekly Update and Key Messages for the Week of 12/17/12

Progress Across All ESUP Work Streams 
The Student and HRMS work streams announced last week that they have scheduled the remainder of their Plan and Discover sessions and are beginning to look toward the Analyze and Design phase of the program. While the focus of Plan and Discover has been the careful review and verification of Student and HRMS fit-gaps (confirming what the systems and business processes need to be able to do, but not how they do it), the focus of Analyze and Design will be Interactive Design and Prototype (IDP) sessions -- hands-on sessions in which participants will help to design how the systems and processes should work together. These highly interactive and participative sessions are designed to gather the best collective ideas of system users and stakeholders. They should be intense, but very rewarding. This Thursday morning, Dec. 20, CCI will lead UMN program and project directors and lead business analysts from across all of the work streams through a half-day of IDP training in preparation for the second phase of the program. This “train the trainer” session will enable each work stream to prepare its respective team and stakeholders to conduct productive IDPs.

The Finance, Reporting, Portal and Technology work streams continue to meet with stakeholders, define their respective strategies, and form teams and working groups to address the challenges of their projects. It is important to note that these ESUP projects are proceeding as planned and on schedule. Because the starting point, scope and scale of these projects differ significantly from Student and HRMS, they are ramping up at their own pace and will have more to report as they progress. Users and stakeholders in these areas should expect more communication and engagement in the coming weeks, and the rollout of new systems and processes will still happen in a coordinated and timely manner as ESUP moves toward completion in 2014.

First ESUP Quality Review Wraps Up This Week
CCI quality manager Vickie Cleary is completing a series of interviews with selected ESUP team members this week and will issue a draft report for review by the end of the month. Once finalized, this independent report will be shared more broadly with program leadership to address recommended changes and ensure continuous improvement. If you have not been contacted or surveyed as part of this first quality review, do not be concerned -- not everyone will be targeted for every review.

Early Results of Stakeholder Assessment Look Positive
The response to the initial ESUP Stakeholder Assessment Survey was strong, with 30 percent of those invited to take the survey responding. While the survey showed significant areas of opportunity to increase understanding about the scope and rationale for the upgrade program, overall support for and confidence in the program are high across all stakeholder groups surveyed. Respondents were vocal with regard to their expectations and concerns regarding ESUP -- the Change Partners team, a cross-functional group of ESUP representatives, communicators and change professionals, is now reviewing the quantitative results and pages of comments from each work stream, looking for emerging themes. A comprehensive report on the survey results will be released in January.

ESUP Downshifts for the Holidays
There are no ESUP sessions and few standing meetings scheduled after this week due to the winter holidays and break. If you have meetings scheduled next week or the first week of January, please take a moment to confirm them with your colleagues. Sessions will resume on Monday, Jan. 7.

 Happy holidays!

Key Messages for the Week of 10/29/12

• Following the ESUP Kickoff on Oct. 16, we are hearing lots of stakeholder interest in learning more about and engaging in the upgrade program.
• We definitely want broad engagement from stakeholders and users from all UMN campuses and units.
• We will provide multiple opportunities to get involved in the coming months, including Interactive Design Prototyping (IDP) sessions, focus groups, “town halls,” and more.
• We are committed to sharing plans, schedules and opportunities to engage as they are finalized.
• To help ensure that you receive information about these opportunities, please email esup@umn.edu and ask to be included on future ESUP stakeholder communications. 

• It’s important to remember that we just kicked off the Plan and Discover phase.
• This phase reaffirms and builds upon our preliminary fit-gap analyses and planning and will set the scope and schedule for ESUP going forward.
• At the end of Plan and Discover, we should be able to share a more definitive ESUP timeline. 
• The dates for important milestones and “go-live” have not been set.
• Please rest assured that we will work closely with the work streams to minimize disruption to mission-critical activities.

• Finance has made significant progress on e-Procurement.
• A contract with SciQuest has been approved.
• We are in the process of defining requirements and reviewing vendors.
• SciQuest will be coming into town for the initial eProcurement kickoff on Nov. 13

• In the Student work stream, the Campus Community Fit-Gap Verification sessions are underway, and active participation by session attendees is providing key information about current UMN business processes.

• Our ESUP leadership team continues to grow -- when you have the chance, please introduce yourselves to the two newest ESUP project directors:
• Testing Project Director: Alex Ryan (UMN)
• Enterprise Data Management and Reporting (EDMR) Project Director: Jennifer McCord (CCI’s counterpart to Amy Winkel; arriving Nov. 5)

• Finally, we are working intentionally to connect ESUP team members and stakeholders with each other and the information they need to make this project a success.
• The entire ESUP project team should have access to our online document repository, the structure of which is summarized here:
• This will be the home of all ESUP documentation, including meeting and session agendas and minutes; planning documents; and status reports.
• If you are on the project team and cannot access the repository, please let your project director know.
• The ESUP blog, online at upgrade.umn.edu, will continue to expand to include a glossary of ESUP terms and acronyms, a calendar listing upcoming sessions and forums for interested stakeholders, and more.
• We are also in the process of establishing ESUP Google Groups to help target our communications appropriately to the ESUP team, work stream teams, ESUP governance groups, and other audiences.