Supporting faculty during technology upgrade

The Enterprise Systems Upgrade Program (ESUP) will change the way students, faculty, and staff take care of business with the University. The Faculty Go­-To advance team is a group of system users who will serve as resources for faculty in their units throughout the upgrade of the University’s PeopleSoft system. The Go­-To advance team represents the concerns and needs of their units with regard to supporting faculty during the system transition and may serve as a communications contact after the planned launch in April 2015*.

Kick-off meetings will be held:

• Wednesday, August 13, 10-11 a.m. - Biological Sciences Center, room 64 (St. Paul)
• Thursday, August 14, 2:30-3:30 p.m. - STSS, room 114 (East Bank)
• Friday, August 15, 10-11 a.m. - Hanson Hall, room 1-106 (West Bank)

Most colleges have nominated representatives for this Faculty Go-To role. If you wish to join or want further information about who from your college is part of this group, please email vollu004@umn.edu.

You can find more information about the Faculty Go-To team here.

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

New book highlights portal project's University engagement

Historically, implementing new products at the University has been a challenge. Students, staff, and faculty worry their needs won’t be met by the new product. To address this concern early in the process, staff on ESUP’s portal project looked to innovative participatory methods highlighted in a new eBook, Cultivating Change in the Academy: Practicing the Art of Hosting Conversations that Matter within the University of Minnesota.

According to their website, Art of Hosting Conversations that Matter (AoH) is “An approach to leadership that scales up from the personal to the systemic using personal practice, dialogue, facilitation and the co-creation of innovation to address complex challenges.” This means ensuring that when groups of people get together they have meaningful and productive conversations.

From the beginning, staff incorporated many AoH techniques as they engaged stakeholders and started their work developing the new Portal. Getting everyone together to discuss a future project using AoH helped “provide a vehicle to move from idea to action,” wrote Susan Geller, portal project director. These techniques, including World Café, guided Geller and the Portal Leadership Team from the initial steps in the process through the first phase of the project.

Landscape agenda for portal kick-off event

World Café, smaller circle discussions around a specific topic where people move around to different circles to hear others’ opinions, helped participants share ideas about success, challenges, assumptions, and identify themes used in the Portal’s project charter. At the kick-off event, over 430 people simultaneously participated from all five system campuses and it was well received. According to surveys completed after the event, 75 percent of respondents said ‘Yes’ when asked “Did you feel a part of the conversation about portal and that your input was valuable?”

Feedback harvested from the AoH activities has had a direct impact on the “Rough Draft” version of the Portal currently available through the project’s website. Join the conversation by looking at the “Rough Draft”, telling us what you think, and reading the new ebook. “If we all create the Portal together, we’ll have a better chance of meeting all of our needs,” said Geller.

‘Huge Potential’: OHR Portal Steering Committee Kicks Off

The newly formed Office of Human Resources Portal Steering Committee held its first meeting on Friday, June 14, to help define, plan, and support the delivery of high-functioning, user-friendly HR functionality and content via the University’s new enterprise portal. Vice President for Human Resources Kathy Brown, who charged the committee, welcomed the group by outlining the “huge potential” of the new portal to transform how OHR provides tools, services, and content desired by and useful to the University community. Committee members then shared briefly their own excitement and aspirations for the new portal and reviewed the committee’s charter.

The bulk of the meeting was dedicated to an overview of the ESUP Portal Project and level-setting with regard to what the PeopleSoft Enterprise Portal delivers and how it works. Portal project director Susan Geller guided the committee through several HR and Student examples of delivered portal functionality that could enable University faculty and staff to better manage their employment and do their jobs. Geller spoke to the importance of developing functionality and content from the perspective of the user, and emphasized plans to test portal prototypes as early as this fall.

The OHR Portal Steering Committee includes the following members:

• Lori Lamb, co-chair
• Jim Thorp, co-chair
• Jennifer Reckner, project manager
• Susan Diekman, communications
• Kim Kopplin, HR consulting team
• Kelly Krattiger, technology and Portal Leadership Team
• Mike Overline, HR consulting team
• Chris Schanus, communications
• Brandon Sullivan, engagement

The committee will collaborate closely with the HRMS Upgrade Project leadership and team, the ESUP Portal Project leadership and team, and the other ESUP work streams, and will engage users and stakeholders from the broader HR community as needed.

Information about the OHR Portal Steering Committee’s work and progress will be shared on the HRMS work stream site, z.umn.edu/hrms. For more information on the ESUP Portal Project, as well as opportunities to take part in the process, visit the Portal work stream site at z.umn.edu/portal.

Weekly Update for the week of May 13, 2013

Finance work stream kicks off
The Finance work stream held their project kick off last Wednesday, May 8, at Coffman Union. About 175 invited attendees participated both online and in person. They heard from a number of project representatives, including the project sponsor, Mike Volna; project director, Dan Hemauer; and chair of the EFS Functional Steering Committee, Rob Super. The presentation is available on the Finance website.

Phase 1: Plan and Discover work begins today for Finance’s General Ledger module. Congratulations to the entire Finance team and good luck!

Emerging themes from system campuses
This spring, members of the ESUP leadership team travelled to the Morris and Crookston campuses to meet with Program participants and campus leadership. The discussions and listening sessions yielded helpful insights and some immediately actionable items to improve Program operations. Some of the commonly heard themes include:

• Employees: be sure to take care of our people; be careful with burnout.
• Training: don’t make formal training a barrier.
• Communications: focused, smaller topics that can be repurposed or easier to find.
• Repository: send out copies or file paths to meeting documents in advance.
• Kudos: the many people involved with ESUP have been doing a great job.

Portal launches new survey, Faculty Advisory Team
ESUP’s Portal team is gathering opportunities and needs for the new portal, and wants to hear from the University community about some of the ideas already collected. The team will use the survey responses to prioritize opportunities and begin design work. Please fill out the 10-15 minute survey by May 20th. A sneak peek of survey topics includes: mobile functionality, checklists, grants management, events calendars, drag and drop graphics.

The Portal Faculty Advisory Team met for the first time last week, with 7 faculty members on three campuses. Santiago Fernandez-Gimenez attended to help frame Portal in the context of ESUP, which faculty appreciated. The team created a strategy for engaging faculty around Portal in the fall.  They were also very pleased with the engagement approach of gathering extensive input into Portal opportunities, even if not all suggestions can be initially realized.

Quick hits and reminders from across the work streams

• The Executive Oversight Committee (EOC) approved two Student work stream change requests at today’s meeting, Scholarships and Application Processing. These requests are approved to begin work within the next phase of the project; Phase 3: Configure and Develop.
• Dean Robert Elde, chair of the Executive Oversight Committee, met with University Chancellors last week to discuss ESUP’s progress. The Chancellors were supportive of the Program and pleased with the campus-wide engagement efforts.
• Last week, the University’s Board of Regents approved ESUP’s equipment request to purchase new Exadata and Exalogic servers, which will be used to house a number of platforms, including: the new portal, the new identity management system, and upgraded PeopleSoft applications. The servers are expected to be delivered this month.  
• The Student FA module will be moving their summer operations from Fraser Hall over to 16 Johnston Hall, effective May 20th. 
• Members of the Integration project have been holding preliminary meetings with collegiate IT leads to discuss how changes to the PeopleSoft applications and data structures will impact their home grown applications and reports. 
• The HRMS work stream is beginning to plan their communication and stakeholder engagement efforts around the planned data conversion strategy and streamlined appointment structure. More information will be coming soon.

Weekly Update for the week of April 1, 2013

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

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

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

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

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

Quick Hits and Reminders From Across the Work Streams

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

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

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 01/21/13

Sign Up Now for the ESUP Portal Kickoff! 
The Portal Kickoff event will take place on Monday, Feb. 4, from 2 to 4 p.m., with locations on every campus. The kickoff begins a University-wide conversation about creating an easy-to-use interactive web tool for facilitating access to information and services that are of primary relevance and interest to you and the University community. The event will include a short overview of the portal project and then move into World Café small group conversations about opportunities this project offers to the University community and strategies for being part of creating a new portal that delights the people who use it. Register for the event by Wednesday, Jan. 30. Learn more at z.umn.edu/portal. 

Cross-Functional Work Streams Essential to ESUP Success 
With so much focus on the “big three” work streams and PeopleSoft systems impacted by ESUP (Student, HRMS, and Finance), it’s easy to overlook the important cross-functional work streams that are essential to adoption of the upgraded systems and to the long-term success of the program. The Enterprise Data Management and Reporting (EDMR) work stream, the Portal work stream, and Technology teams focused on application development, identity management and security, infrastructure, integration, and testing are currently developing and socializing work stream-specific strategies and plans.

Each of these cross-functional teams has its own approach to coordinating with the other work streams. The EDMR team, for example, has been actively participating in Student and HRMS sessions to ensure that data management and reporting needs and concerns are surfaced to be addressed in the Analyze & Design phase. The Portal team includes representatives from each of the other work streams and will engage with those projects in coming months as the emphasis shifts from the business processes (the “what” of ESUP) in Phase 1: Plan & Discover to delivery (the “how” of ESUP) in Analyze & Design. And since ESUP is a business-led program, the Technology teams are developing strategies and plans to work in coordination and parallel to the other work streams, offering technical expertise and input when and where needed during the early phases of the program (before development begins).

All of these work streams are using CCI’s iterative Propel Methodology, adjusted to fit the scope and timeframe of their respective projects. Check back for more information on the ESUP Consolidated Program Plan and phase-by-phase timelines in the coming weeks! 

ESUP Quality Review Identifies Program Strengths, Needed Actions
In December, the Enterprise Systems Upgrade Program (ESUP) team hosted CedarCrestone (CCI) quality manager Vickie Cleary for the first of several program quality reviews planned between now and December 2014. Her report identified a number of important program strengths and gave ESUP a “green” (positive) rating for Overall Project Status, Schedule, and Quality/Performance. The report also identified several challenges that, left unaddressed, could negatively impact the program going forward. For more information, access the complete story and related materials here.

Gagner Assumes New Role ESUP
Assistant Program Director for Technology Mark Powell announced this week that Tim Gagner will assume Mark’s former role as project director for infrastructure. The two will be working closely to facilitate this transition. Please congratulate Tim on his new position!

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.

Weekly Update and Key Messages for the Week of 12/24/12

ESUP Forums at UMR, CLA
ESUP Program Director Andy Hill and UMN Director of Academic Support Resources Sue Van Voorhis traveled to the University of Minnesota Rochester campus on Tuesday, Dec. 18,  for a UMR campus kickoff event. According to Hill, UMR Chancellor Stephen Lehmkuhle spent more than four hours with the two of them and key UMR leaders; additionally, an open forum on the program was attended by approximately 40 members of the the UMR community, who expressed strong support and enthusiasm for the program and its goals.

Hill also gave an ESUP overview presentation to staff and stakeholders from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities College of Liberal Arts (CLA) on Wednesday, Dec. 19. According to CLA Finance Director Brent Gustafson, the audience numbered approximately 50 people, including most of the college’s Finance and HRMS user community and a number of key stakeholders from the academic side.

Other colleges interested in planning an ESUP forum should contact communications director Jim Thorp at (612) 624-8942 or jthorp@umn.edu.

Changes in ESUP Leadership
College of Biological Sciences Dean Robert Elde will be taking over as chair of the ESUP Executive Oversight Committee following Vice President for Research Tim Mulcahy’s retirement at the end of this month. (Read the full announcement here.)  Also, please welcome Sherwood Daniels to the ESUP Leadership Team, as project director for the Portal work stream and Susan Geller’s CCI counterpart.

HCM Rocks!
Last week’s demos of the latest versions of the HRMS system (PeopleSoft HCM version 9.1 and 9.2) earned rave reviews from HRMS project directors Kris Hause (UMN) and others in attendance. Among the system highlights, stakeholders were wowed by the Manager’s Dashboard, loved Forms and Approvals functionality, and saw great opportunities in the Life Events functionality for the Benefits module. Enthusiasm for the new system is high going into the final weeks of Phase 1 for HRMS.

Staggered Scheduling for ESUP Work Streams
Coordinating the several work stream-specific projects that comprise ESUP is no small task. Each is starting from a very different point, with its own unique scope and objectives, but with the need for a shared roll-out and successful cross-functional integration.

The Student and HRMS work streams, for example, are undertaking significant system and business-process changes, and as a result, are the first two work streams out of the gate. (In fact, Student is approximately four to six weeks ahead of HRMS, as planned, and is effectively piloting ESUP governance processes and methodologies for the rest of the program.)

Since EFS was implemented relatively recently, changes in the Finance work stream are less substantial, and Phase 1 for Finance has not yet begun in earnest. This is the reason that Finance system stakeholders have heard relatively little about the project in recent weeks. Rest assured, you will hear more about the Finance project in the new year, as the EFS upgrade gets underway and integration points with the Student and HRMS systems are discussed in detail.

The Portal and Enterprise Data Management and Reporting (EDMR) work streams are also still ramping up. The scope of these cross-functional projects touches each of the other work streams and requires both a high level of coordination and extensive stakeholder engagement to be successful. We will be reporting more frequently on the progress of these projects in the coming year, as well.

Upgrade Lab On Track for Early January
The CCI Upgrade Lab is on track to deliver the development and test environments for PeopleSoft CS version 9.0 (the new Student system) in early January, as planned.

ESUP Meetings and Communications Schedule 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, please take a moment to confirm them with your colleagues. Sessions will resume on Monday, Jan. 7.

This is the weekly update for Monday, Dec. 24, and there will be no ESUP messages on Monday, Dec. 31. Beginning on Monday, Jan. 7, the ESUP weekly update and key messages will resume the regular release time of Monday afternoons.

Weekly Update and Key Messages for the Week of 11/12/12

• The program and project directors want to thank the hundreds of subject-matter experts, end-users, and stakeholders from across the University of Minnesota system who have participated in the first few weeks of ESUP sessions.
• Project directors report that participants have been engaged, open to change, and embracing of the principle of reducing system customization.
• All five campuses have been well-represented, and despite occasional technical challenges, thus far everyone seems willing to take the time to do this right.
• Thank you, colleagues, for your time and effort so far!

• Last Wednesday, much of the ESUP Program repository on Google Drive were removed from view, disrupting access and work for a number of ESUP team members.
• The problem may have been triggered by a team member who had moved the ESUP Program folder to “My Drive,” then later decided to remove it from their personal drive.
• This action in itself should not have caused the more significant access problems that resulted, and the University has opened a ticket with Google to investigate these issues.
• Until the remaining repository folders and files are recovered and we understand exactly what happened, please do not remove the folder “ESUP Program” from your personal “My Drive.”

• Access to the ESUP Program repository on Google Drive is managed by the work stream project directors.
• If you are using Google but do not have access to the repository, please contact your project director.
• If you cannot use Google mail because of the nature of your work at the University, please let your project director know -- we need to know the scope of this problem so we can provide alternative access.
• Please do not rely on personal Gmail accounts to access ESUP folders and files.

• The ESUP Consolidated Calendar is now available online by clicking Calendar on the ESUP blog at upgrade.umn.edu.
• This calendar features all scheduled sessions across all work streams (primarily Student and HRMS at this point), plus blackout dates and other key events.
• For more information about these sessions, please contact the appropriate work stream project director.
• If you are a part of the University of Minnesota community and are unable to view these calendars, please email us at esup@umn.edu to report the issue.

• Approximately 180 people attended the University of Minnesota Duluth’s ESUP Kickoff Brown-Bag last Wednesday, Nov. 7, in Kirby Ballroom on UMD’s campus. 
• For more information, check out this brief overview of the event, including presentations.
• We hope to schedule similar forums on the other campuses in the next several weeks, and are looking into scheduling additional forums on the Twin Cities campus, as well.

• The Student work stream held its ESUP project kick-off on Thursday, Nov. 8. 
• More than 80 people, representing all five campuses, attended either in-person or online. 
• The purpose of the event was to create a shared understanding of project operations, project roles, and next steps for everyone involved with the project.
• The presentation can be found at z.umn.edu/studentkickoff. 
• The videos are not embedded in this version, but can be viewed using the following links:
• Bob McMaster: mediamill.cla.umn.edu/mediamill/html5/176355 
• Sue Van Voorhis: mediamill.cla.umn.edu/mediamill/html5/176361
• The Student work stream has also launched an informational web page with additional work stream-specific information at z.umn.edu/esupstudent.

• The current ESUP team roster, including both University of Minnesota (UMN) and CedarCrestone (CCI) team members, is now available online.
• This listing will continue to be updated regularly as the team composition changes.
• Please introduce yourself to those team members you don’t know when you have the chance!

UMD Holds ESUP Campus Kickoff

UMD ESUP 2014: Together Everyone Achieves More

Approximately 180 people attended the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) ESUP Campus Kickoff Brown-Bag on Wednesday, Nov. 7, in the Kirby Ballroom. Chancellor Lendley Black offered opening remarks, in which he anticipated the transformative impact of the effort – as well as the challenging work ahead.

“We are here to celebrate the Enterprise Systems Upgrade Program and the incredible impact it is going to have on our HR, Finance, and Student operations,” Black said. “We are taking a team approach, and the vice chancellors and myself are all committed to the process. … We are behind you and supporting the staff the whole way.”

Program Director Andy Hill offered an overview of ESUP, including the scope, rationale, and governance structure. Sue Bosell (Finance), Linda Kinnear (HRMS), Carla Boyd (Student), and Steve Patterson (IT) provided a more detailed look at the ways in which UMD has engaged in the program and opportunities for end-user involvement. The presentations were followed by a brief Q&A with all the presenters.

• UMD ESUP Kickoff Overview Presentation (PDF)
• UMD ESUP Kickoff TEAM Presentation (PDF)

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.

Key Messages for the Week of 10/22/2012

• The Enterprise System Upgrade Program (ESUP) Kickoff drew more than 300 participants (in person, via ITV, and online) on Tuesday afternoon. 
• A number of online resources are available if you missed the kickoff or would like to share more information with others in your organization.
• ESUP Kickoff Session 1: Overview 
• Download PDF of Session 1 presentation
• Watch Session 1 (with slides) online
• Download Session 1 video (with slides)
• ESUP Kickoff Session 2: Deeper Dive
• Download PDF of Session 2 presentation
• Watch Session 2 (with slides) online
• Download Session 2 video (with slides)
• Reminder: If you attended the Kickoff in person or online and have not turned in an evaluation, please take a moment to complete our brief online survey.

• As part of the kickoff agenda, program directors Andy Hill and Rebecca Collings introduced the project leaders from the University of Minnesota (UMN) and CedarCrestone (CCI).
• The organizational chart they shared can be found online on the Management page of the ESUP blog at upgrade.umn.edu.
• Please be sure to introduce yourselves to the ESUP project directors when you see them!

• The Student and HRMS work streams began hosting ESUP Personal Information Sessions last Wednesday, Oct. 17.
• These biographic/demographic (or bio/demo) sessions address shared data and processes pertaining to personal information in the enterprise systems, e.g., name, birthdate, addresses, etc.
• Project directors from Student and HRMS reported strong interest and attendance and productive discussions. 
• Feedback from attendees has been positive, as well.

• The ESUP blog at upgrade.umn.edu will continue to expand and will be a primary communication tool with the broader University community; an internal project management web site will be launched in the next few weeks.

Kickoff Session Videos Now Posted

Videos from last Tuesday's Enterprise System Upgrade Program (ESUP) Kickoff are now available at the links below. The videos include all speakers and slides and can be watched in your web browser or downloaded as Quicktime video files.

Session 1: Overview

• Watch video online
• Download video

Session 2: Deeper Dive

• Watch video online
• Download video

Reminder: If you attended the Kickoff in person or online and have not turned in an evaluation, please consider taking a moment to complete our brief online survey.

ESUP Kickoff Presentations Now Available Online!

The Enterprise System Upgrade Program (ESUP) Kickoff drew more than 300 participants (in person, via ITV, and online) on Tuesday afternoon. Session 1 and Session 2 presentations are available in PDF format at the links below:

• ESUP Kickoff Session 1: Overview
• ESUP Kickoff Session 2: Deeper Dive

Video of the sessions should be posted in the next day or two, and online evaluations for coordinate campus participants will be distributed tomorrow. If you have feedback on the kickoff, please send it to esup@umn.edu.

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.

Enterprise System Upgrade Program Kickoff slated for Oct. 16

Between now and December 2014, the University of Minnesota system is upgrading its essential human resources (HR), student and financial systems and re-examining related business processes to improve operational efficiency and user experience. The Enterprise System Upgrade Program (ESUP) Kickoff is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 16, from 1 to 4 p.m. in Coffman Memorial Union’s Great Hall.

ESUP team members and targeted leaders and stakeholders who should attend this event in person, if possible, will receive an electronic invitation with an RSVP included. All project team members are expected to attend; team members from the coordinate campuses will be able to participate in the event and ask questions remotely from the following designated ITV locations on their campuses:

• UMM:  HFA #7
• UMC:  116 Kiehle
• UMD:  173 Kirby Plaza
• UMR:  Rm #397

The agenda is as follows:

• Registration (12:30 to 1 p.m.) and light refreshments; program begins promptly at 1.
• Session 1 (1 to 2 p.m.) including a welcome from University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler, as well as an overview of the motivation, scope and goals for this important initiative for all ESUP team members, University leadership and key stakeholders. Invitees who are not assigned to a specific project team or role can leave following Session 1 if they choose.
• Break (2 to 2:15 p.m.), including light refreshments.
• Session 2 (2:15 to 4 p.m.) including a deeper dive into project methodology, norms and expectations, etc., specifically for ESUP team members. 

Both sessions will also be streamed live at livestream.com/umntv and recorded for viewing after the event, so other interested faculty, staff, and students can watch the kickoff online. We will also have additional opportunities for system users and the broader University community to learn more about and engage in this important effort.