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Financial Management System Replacement Project Café Update Kellogg Monthly Staff Meeting March 15, 2006 Presented by Debbie Brodsky and Adair Waldenberg Project Café / Sr. Functional Specialists [email protected] [email protected] 847.467.1544 (Debbie) 847.467.0119 (Adair) http://cafe.northwestern.edu

PROJECT CAFE

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Page 1: PROJECT CAFE

Financial Management System Replacement

Project Café Update

Kellogg Monthly Staff MeetingMarch 15, 2006

Presented byDebbie Brodsky and Adair

WaldenbergProject Café / Sr. Functional

[email protected]@northwestern.edu847.467.1544 (Debbie)847.467.0119 (Adair)http://cafe.northwestern.edu

Page 2: PROJECT CAFE

• Introduction• Project Goals• Project Organizational Structure• Project Timeline and Status• PeopleSoft Financial Modules• Chart of Accounts Update• InfoEd Selected for Pre-Award Administration• Project Next Steps

Project Café Presentation Agenda

Page 3: PROJECT CAFE

•What is Café? The project also known as the ‘Financial

Management Systems Replacement Initiative’ An acronym for:

C omprehensiveA ccess toF inancials for theE nterprise

Project Café Introduction

Page 4: PROJECT CAFE

Three Concurrent IT Initiatives

1. Data Warehouse

2. SNUPER (Research Data Integration and Access / RDIA)

3. Project Café

Page 5: PROJECT CAFE

Replace NU’s current financial system, CUFS, with a more robust, easier-to-use tool

Gather feedback and input from representatives at all levels of schools and departments, ensuring that the project is focused toward the needs of the NU community

Re-engineer and improve financial business processes Implement a new system for administration of

sponsored research Implement new software to provide additional

functions, such as for enhanced budget preparation and planning

Integrate with the existing systems and the Snuper (RDIA) and Data Warehouse efforts

Project Café Project Goals

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• Communicate frequently through The project web-site: cafe.northwestern.edu Regular newsletters ‘Meet and Greet’ and brownbag events Presentations at regular meetings of various campus groups Articles in the Observer NU Bulkmail updates

• Ensure the quality of what we deliver to the NU community Hire a Quality Assurance Coordinator Develop test scenarios with users before development

begins Conduct lengthy ‘user acceptance testing’ in 2007 before

going live Apply a requirements-based, user-focused approach

Project Café Project Goals

Page 7: PROJECT CAFE

• Provide extensive training and comprehensive documentation Hired a training manager and two trainers Purchased web-based training software to supplement classroom

training Provide extensive on-line and print documentation and quick

reference guides Provide frequent and on-going classroom training,

starting before we go live

Project Café Project Goals

Page 8: PROJECT CAFE

Project Café Project Organizational Structure

Office of Change

Management

ASIAC**

ESEC*

Project Director

FMS Advisory

Committee

ConsultantsTechnical Committee Project

Team

Technical Workgroups(e.g. Local

Management Systems)

Functional Workgroupsand Design

Teams

Functional Steering

Committee

* Enterprise Systems Executive Committee

** Administrative Systems Initiatives Advisory Committee

Page 9: PROJECT CAFE

• Financial Management Systems Advisory Committee (FMSAC) Provides overall counsel to Project Director Comprises senior representatives from schools and central administration Reviews the work of the Functional Steering Committee and Technical Committee Provides guidance on requirements for the implementation Provides guidance on priorities, resource availability, and planning Reviews and approves suggestions for business process improvement Reviews and recommends policies related to the design and implementation of the new system Charters workgroups, and determines workgroup chairs, as needed to gather requirements and produce gap-fit analyses

Project Café Project Organizational Structure

Page 10: PROJECT CAFE

• Senior Functional Specialists Provide leadership and guidance, taking a decision-making role for

their unit/ area Provide input from their unit/ area’s perspective Attend their unit/ area’s regular meetings to ensure two-way communication between their unit and the project Perform out-reach to members of the NU community Perform business analyst tasks on the project We are:

Debbie Brodsky, formerly of Feinberg School of Medicine Jim Elsass, of Budget Analysis, Planning & Allocation Ellen Feldman, formerly of Institute for Policy Research Carol Henes, formerly of McCormick School of Engineering & Applied Science Randy Henry, formerly of Purchasing Karl Turro, of Controller’s Office Adair Waldenberg, formerly of Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences

Project Café Project Organizational Structure

Page 11: PROJECT CAFE

• Functional Steering Committee Comprises co-chairs of the workgroups chartered by the FMSAC and the seven Senior Functional Specialists Charged with driving the gathering and review of requirements as workgroup members Works with members of the University community to promulgate information about the project Analyzes and recommends areas and processes for business process improvement Works to ensure integration amongst workgroups Produces recommendations to the FMS Advisory Committee

• Technical Committee Charged with assisting in coordination between project staff, school IT staff, and NUIT Works with the project team on documenting the technical requirements of local management information systems in the context of the replacement of CUFS Disperses information on project-based IT decisions Produces recommendations to the FMS Advisory Committee

Project Café Project Organizational Structure

Page 12: PROJECT CAFE

• Workgroups formed: Chart of Accounts Internal Sales & Services (‘re-charge’) Supply Chain (Purchasing and Accounts Payable) Budget Development, Operations, & Analysis Reporting Strategy Research (Pre- and Post-Award Administration) Security/ Controls

• The summer workgroups documented Current process flows High-level system requirements How NU needs relate to the PeopleSoft software (‘fit-gap’ or ‘gap-

fit’)

• The summer workgroups produced a scoping and planning document for executive approval in September 2005

Project Café Project Organizational Structure: Workgroups and

Design Teams

Page 13: PROJECT CAFE

Project Café Project Organizational Structure: Workgroups and

Design Teams

• Functional Team Leads Responsible for ensuring that workgroup members complete their

tasks, providing structure to meetings and information exchanges, and ensuring that resource or other issues are relayed to the FMSAC

Participate in the Functional Steering Committee, comprising all workgroup co-chairs, to facilitate co-ordination and information sharing between workgroups

• Functional Unit Representatives Provide information on current business processes, identify

deficiencies in current systems or processes that should be addressed, and produce a list of items that areas would like to see implemented as part of the project

Contribute ideas from area/ unit’s perspective at workgroup sessions

Relay workgroup discussions, recommendations, and issues back to area/ unit for exchange of information, additional input and confirmation of opinions

Empowered to represent area/ unit in the decision-making process

Page 14: PROJECT CAFE

Project Café Project Organizational Structure: Workgroups and

Design Teams

• Project Team Members and Consultants Responsible for facilitating design session discussion, documenting

the outcome of any meetings, writing up requirements, and documenting current- and future-state process flows

Provide PeopleSoft application expertise, both during design team sessions and via additional research and testing of application functions

Perform the initial gap-fit analysis with the software and presents the results of this analysis to the workgroup

Page 15: PROJECT CAFE

Project Café Project Organizational Structure

GRANTS MANAGEMEN

TTEAM

GENERAL LEDGER TEAM

SUPPLYCHAINTEAM

FUNCTIONAL TEAM

CROSS-FUNCTIONAL

COLLABORATIONS

Page 16: PROJECT CAFE

Project Café Project Timeline and Status

PHASE PROJECTED TIMEFRAME

DESCRIPTION

1: Planning Summer 2005 Confirm scope, define team policies and processes

2: Requirements Analysis

Sept. 2005 – Jun. 2006

Detail requirements, decide how to address gaps, prepare development environment

3: Design/Build

Mar. 2006 – Feb. 2007

Specify how requirements will be met, design support processes and organization, and build the solution

4: Test Winter 2006 – Spring 2007

Test features, security, reliability, performance

5: Rollout Summer 2007 – Fall 2007

Train users, convert legacy data, turn on interfaces, begin “live” use

6: Closeout Late Fall 2007 Stabilize system and support, document lessons learned, prioritize enhancements

Page 17: PROJECT CAFE

Project Café Project Timeline and Status

High-level

Business terms PLANNING

REQUIREMENTS ANALYSIS

DESIGN/BUILD TEST

“Apply for a grant”

“ Purchase goods & services”

“Prepare award budget”

“Select vendor from list of vendors”Detailed

System terms

Each phase builds on and validates the previous phase

Requirement descriptions

Examples

“Create a proposal”

“Prepare requisition”

Page 18: PROJECT CAFE

• Thus far, we have

Completed high-level requirements gathering and fit-gap analysis

(Phase 1 – Planning)

Recommended modules to implement and had the list approved by our executive committee

Installed and begun demonstrations of the PeopleSoft software

Begun the work defining our technical architecture

Obtained approval of recommendation for the purchase of InfoEd as our pre-award research administration solution

Installed InfoEd and brought InfoEd representatives on-site to train the team

continue . . .

Project Café Project Timeline and Status

Page 19: PROJECT CAFE

• continued . . .

Completed our project plan in our web-based project management tool, using a standardized implementation methodology

Immersed Project Team and functional users in design sessions

Completed vendor demonstrations as part of process to select a Business Intelligence (BI) tool to address financial reporting needs

Chartered the Budget Development, Operations, and Analysis workgroup with recommending a tool to support

NU’s budgeting needs

Completed the strawman chart of accounts and continue to provide introductory presentations and design consultations to user community

Project Café Project Timeline and Status

Page 20: PROJECT CAFE

PeopleSoft Financials Modules Integrated with theGeneral Ledger

Asset Management (AM )

Accounts Receivable (AR)

Billing (BI)

Contracts (CA) Project Costing (PC)

Grants (GM)

Budgeting

Accounts Payable (AP)

Expense Management (EM)

GENERAL LEDGER

Purchasing (PO)

eProcurement

PeopleSoft Interfaces:

HRISSES

Identification of Non-PeopleSoft

Interfaces:Work in Progress

Asset Management (AM )

Accounts Receivable (AR)

Billing (BI)

Contracts (CA) Project Costing (PC)

Grants (GM)

Budgeting

Accounts Payable (AP)

Expense Management (EM)

GENERAL LEDGER KK

KK

KK

KK

KK

KK

KK

KK

KK

KKPre-Award:

“InfoEd”

KK = Commitment Control

Page 21: PROJECT CAFE

Project Café Chart of Accounts Update

• In CUFS, we commonly refer to several values in the chart to as “account”– Emphasis is on fields in combination with each

other

XXXX – XXX – XXXX – XXXXFund - Area - Orgn - Objt / Rsrc / BS

• Other chart values inferred or optional– Includes Function, SubOrgn, SubObjt

Page 22: PROJECT CAFE

Project Café Chart of Accounts Update – Guiding

Principles• Before any designing, the Chart of Accounts

Workgroup wanted a chart that would: Use values which are intuitive and recognizable to

users Enable units to be accountable for financial activity

and resources within their direct control Provide the financial information needed to make

decisions and report to external and internal constituencies

Reduce the need for non-economic transactions and local management information systems

Support alternative financial management approaches and be easily changed in the future

Use only one purpose for each ChartField and one chart for the entire institution

Facilitate and enable security, controls and approvals at various of levels of the University

Page 23: PROJECT CAFE

Project Café Chart of Accounts Update – Design

• The PeopleSoft account number is called a chart string which is a combination of individual ChartFields.

• The chart of accounts is the organizing framework for both financial and management reporting within the financial system

• PeopleSoft delivers 25 ChartFields Some ChartFields are specialized (e.g. for corporations /

industries) Other ChartFields are intentionally built with flexibility in mind Some ChartFields are dependent on the use and configuration

of another ChartField No higher ed institution uses all the delivered ChartFields

Page 24: PROJECT CAFE

Chart of Accounts Update – Proposed PeopleSoft Design

ChartField Name

Max. Lengt

h

Proposed Length

NU Require

d

Proposed Use

Bus. Unit 5 5 Yes ** Designate legal entity; we will use 1 value - “NWUNV”

Operating Unit

8 2 t.b.d Could be used to designate school under a decentralized budget model

Fund 5 2-3 Yes Designate type and source of funds. Indicate broad restrictions; (different from current use)

Department

10 8 Yes Designate owner or responsible unit with which transaction is affiliated

Account 10 5 Yes ** Define natural classification of activity (object of expense, revenue source or balance sheet)

Project 15 6-8 Varies Define restricted pool of funds (distinct endowments, gifts, discretionary, grants and other restricted funds).

Program 5 4 Varies Identify collaborative activities

Class 5 3-4 Yes Identify “purpose” of activities (function)

ChartField 1

10 3-4 No User-definable label

Budget Ref 8 2 Varies Specify grant year; required for sponsored research

** PeopleSoft requires Business Unit and Account ‘only’

Page 25: PROJECT CAFE

Sample Chart String

Bus Unit - Fund - Dept ID - Project - Account

NWUNV - 500 - 11222203 - - E0100

NWUNV - 600 - 11222203 - G31664 - E3075

(this doesn’t include class (which may be inferred), operating unit, program, and chartfield 1, which are all under discussion)

Inferred

Project Café Chart of Accounts Update – Design

Page 26: PROJECT CAFE

Project Café Chart of Accounts Update – Next

Steps• Continue holding ‘design consultations’ with schools,

departments, centers, institutes and administrative units to obtain feedback from the University community.

• Complete recommendation document detailing our design

• Continue discussions related to outstanding areas of our design, including: Endowment and gift accounting Collaborative activities across units Reduction of non-economic activity Plant and construction activity

• Map CUFS values to PeopleSoft ChartField values

Page 27: PROJECT CAFE

Project Café InfoEd Selected for Pre-Award

Administration

• The Project Café Research Workgroup: Evaluated 3 software programs

• InfoEd, Coeus, and PeopleSoft Identified the criteria for selection as

• Easy to use• Enable faculty and staff to prepare grant proposals

and budgets • Electronically route for approval AND • Provide for electronic submission

Page 28: PROJECT CAFE

Project Café InfoEd Selected for Pre-Award

Administration

• The Project Café Research Workgroup:Described InfoEd as:

• Web-based• User-friendly • Compatible with Grants.gov

•A big step for NU in streamlining the proposal development and submission process

Page 29: PROJECT CAFE

•Continue the momentum with phase two requirements analysis

•Review recommendations from the Reporting Strategy and Budgeting workgroups

•Continue with the work that will lead us to a fall 2007 go-live with a system to best serve you!

Project Café Project Next Steps

We value and encourage your feedback!

Page 30: PROJECT CAFE

Team LeadersJeffrey MundtProject Director847 / [email protected]

Jason SchoberFunctional Application Manager847 / [email protected]

Pradeep PavuluriTechnical Application Manager847 / [email protected]

Joseph SunTeam Lead, General Ledger847 / [email protected]

Tom(my) HarmonTeam Lead, Grants Management847 / [email protected]

Marina LerinTeam Lead, Supply Chain847 / [email protected]

Project Café Website:http://cafe.northwestern.eduProject Café E-mail: [email protected]

Page 31: PROJECT CAFE

Project Café

Come one, come all . . .

Evanston Friday April 21, 2006Presentation 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.‘Meet and Greet’ 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.Hardin Hall

Financial Management System Replacement