Identity and Scheduling Kick Off
Football season is underway, and while we cheer the Loggers on, we’re happy to report not all the great plays are on the field. This week, two new and exciting Optimize initiatives also kicked off!
First, discovery sessions commenced in order to lay the groundwork for implementing Oracle Identity Management, the platform that will allow us to manage user identities, including roles and permissions, across multiple systems.
Second, the Scheduling System Advisory Group held its inaugural meeting. This committee will help guide the implementation of a new, much-needed system to manage room and event scheduling for campus classrooms and non-academic spaces.
Work continued for the Human Resources, Campus Solutions, and technical teams this week. We appreciate the great effort and dedication everyone is putting into this important project. Go, Loggers! Go, Optimize Puget Sound!
Orientation Week Highlights
It’s Orientation week, and as the Class of 2016 roamed the campus learning about their new home for the next four years, they had no idea what amazing and important activities were taking place in the depths of Howarth Hall!
First, there were training sessions on budget administration 1 and 2 and on purchasing requisitions and approvals. Janet Hallman, associate vice president for accounting and budget services, had kind words for Peter Ho of MIS who led the budget training, saying, “We couldn’t have done it without him.”
The Financials team plans to offer monthly opportunities for budget administration training, and Procurement Director Ed Barber will schedule purchasing classes each week over the next few months. Contact optimizetraining@pugetsound.edu for more information on training.
The Human Resources team was also busy reviewing Fit-Gap documents, while the Campus Solutions team continued with their design work. And the Project Management Office finalized a contract with Integral Business Solutions to implement Oracle Identity Management, a platform to “effectively manage the end-to-end life cycle of user identities.”
The management of user identities, which includes roles and permissions, is key to the successful implementation of an enterprise resource planning system like PeopleSoft. Oracle Identity Management will replace similar functionality in Cascade but will also extend capabilities, allowing the audit of permissions across multiple systems to further ensure synchronization and security. It may not be glamorous, but implementing strong identity management is the kind of behind-the-scenes work needed to keep the whole system running smoothly!
A Busy Week in the Heat
As temperatures soared outside, the Optimize computer lab in Howarth 005 was literally the cool place to be this week. The technical team led by Stephen Phillips from MIS spent several days there in PeopleTools 2 training, gaining advanced knowledge on the creation of data conversions, interfaces, and add-ons. With this background, the team can now create views, write complex business logic, and add images and graphs.
The Human Resources team has been fully engaged in the Fit-Gap review process, starting with the HR section. Next they’ll cover Benefit and Payroll with a planned final review and sign-off by the end of next week. Time and Labor discovery is complete, and the review process for that will begin next week.
With the assistance of the Data Standards Committee, the Campus Solutions and HR teams have been reviewing common values and making decisions for standardization of values shared across the databases (examples include name type, address type, name prefixes, etc.). This will provide consistency for both data entry and reporting. Once these values are established, the technical team can finalize the specifications and requirements for conversion of person biographic and demographic (bio-demo) data.
Still basking in the glow of last week’s celebration, the Financials team had a four-hour internal training session on General Ledger reporting tools led remotely by Suresh Pandurangam from MIS.
Step-by-step handouts from this week’s purchasing training on submitting and approving requisitions are available on PSHelp or the Optimize Training Handouts page. Additionally, PSHelp now has purchasing videos and job aids!
A Time to Celebrate!
Jody Putman signs the Optimize wall.
Meanwhile, the Human Resources team participated in some final discovery sessions on core HR functionality, time and labor, benefits, and payroll. They are looking forward to their first Fit-Gap sessions next week.
Training on purchasing and budget administration continued this week as well. We greatly appreciate the good feedback we’ve gotten from participants in training sessions. Such comments and suggestions are very helpful as we plan and conduct future sessions.
The Financials celebration this week marked a significant milestone in this important project. We happily anticipate more celebrations as the Human Resources and Campus Solutions teams move forward with their work!
Optimize: In Full Swing
Financials presented another round of training to the campus community this week. Procurement Director Ed Barber taught classes on submitting and approving requisitions to staff members from across campus. Ed highlighted the university’s new policies around purchasing and approvals, showing classes common tasks, such as adding routinely ordered items to favorites lists and requesting new vendors.
Still need training? Classes are available for Budget Administration 2 training next week! If you participated in Budget Administration 1 and want to dive deeper into budget inquiry and learn about processing non-PO disbursements, please register for Budget Administration 2. There are other opportunities to take Budget Administration 1 and 2, Submitting Requisitions, and Approving Requisitions classes in August for anyone that was unable to attend July’s sessions. You may review the entire class schedule on the Optimize Training page and sign up today!
Then the Human Resources team is in the midst of numerous Discovery sessions regarding benefits and payroll. The team looks forward to even more sessions next week, as MIS consultants will be on campus to incorporate several design discussions into the discovery phase.
The Campus Solutions team is incredibly busy in one-on-one sessions with MIS consultants who are teaching staff members how to enter data into PeopleSoft. The team will go live with demographic data first, and each day the team gets one step closer to that goal. This data is the foundation for the way the university operates and will be shared between the Human Resources and Financial systems. Behind the scenes, the team is also building its calendar of “firsts” (the first time registration will happen in PeopleSoft, the first time financial aid will be incorporated into PeopleSoft, etc.), which helps ensure that all operational tasks get done on time in both the old and new systems.
Financials: Going Live on Monday
This was a milestone week for Financials, Campus Solutions, and Human Resources! As the team leading the implementation process, Financials spent the week testing and training in preparation for go-live on Monday, July 2. Meanwhile Campus Solutions signed off on its Fit-Gap document, outlining each department’s operational requirements for the new system, and Human Resources kicked off its Discovery sessions to begin documenting operational requirements. Training sessions with the General Ledger and Accounts Payable teams went well, with team leaders guiding their staffs through PeopleSoft, and the purchasing department taught requesters and approvers—in seven departments!—how to order goods in the new system. But the accomplishment everyone is most excited about was getting checks to print correctly! (Woo hoo!)
The PeopleSoft Help system is now accessible with basic PeopleSoft navigation instruction videos. Budget administration and purchasing resources will be available shortly. Remember to check the Optimize Training page for updates on in-person and online training. Additionally all weekly campus communications about Optimize Puget Sound system changes and training opportunities are available on the Optimize communications page for your reference.
As the university transitions to PeopleSoft, please refer all questions or comments about system access and functionality to the Service Desk at 253.879.8585 or servicedesk@pugetsound.edu. It is important to document all the questions during the coming months. The Service Desk will then route your question to the appropriate party. Thank you for your patience and excitement as the university launches PeopleSoft Financials!
Gaining Momentum
The Optimize project gains momentum through the combined efforts of Puget Sound and MIS! On the Financials side, technical and functional teams are busy organizing the system to ensure that processes run smoothly. Members of Accounting and Budget Services were pleased to learn how to query in PeopleSoft, moving them into a new world of reporting. Instead of using many systems to generate reports, the team will now be able to utilize one system for reporting. The team also experienced a breakthrough with the Approval Framework structure streamlining the approval process for the purchasing of goods.
Campus Solutions had an exciting week as the team assembled to approve the Fit-Gap document. The Fit-Gap document summarizes each department’s operational requirements and how the new system will handle those requirements.
Additionally, Human Resources is preparing for Discovery sessions to begin June 25.
Technology Services’ Optimize Puget Sound page now includes a calendar for upcoming training sessions. Budget administrators and staff members with purchasing authority should take note and see when upcoming opportunities for training will occur. Stay tuned next week for more information about Financials progress.
Optimize Rolls On!
There was a lot of positive energy in Howarth 005 this week as MIS representatives Robbie de Leur, Jessica Ewald, and Tina DuBose joined the Campus Solutions team in discovery sessions focused on financial aid, charges and payments, academic requirements, academic exceptions, and enrollment. As Melanie Sullivan from the Office of the Registrar noted, “The best part of these sessions is getting to work with people from across campus that we don’t typically work with!”
The Financials team signed off on their Fit-Gap document to guide design and configuration of the module. The Human Resources team is making good progress as they explore opportunities for integrating the current timekeeping processes for faculty, staff, and students.
Project Manager Travis Nation and Associate Academic Dean Alyce DeMarais continue with presentations about Optimize Puget Sound to faculty and staff groups across campus. To schedule a presentation for your department or office, please contact Travis at 253.879.2710 or tnation@pugetsound.edu.
Work on Procurement and Campus Solutions Set to Begin
Things keep rolling along for Optimize Puget Sound! This week, the Financials team and the technical folks initiated touch-base meetings as an ongoing way to document recent accomplishments and plan for upcoming hurdles. The Financials team also conducted a phone interview with several new consultants coming on board from MIS, our implementation partner.
Seven representatives from MIS will be on campus next week to facilitate discovery sessions for Procurement, Hyperion (budgeting), and Academic Structure/Campus Community. Numerous campus members will be involved in these discussions to finalize requirements for the new system.
As an FYI for those of you involved in all this hard work, Travis has stocked up on yummy treats to help keep you going!
Financials Fit/Gap Wraps Up and Other Updates
The Financials team was the first group to embark on the intense journey of design and implementation, and they are blazing a trail for the rest of us to follow! Throughout January, they participated in an extensive fit/gap analysis with representatives from MIS, Inc., our implementation partner. This week saw the wrap-up of those sessions intended to identify Cascade and Banner processes that will transfer easily to PeopleSoft as well as any processes requiring additional configuration or interfaces. Also in January, the development team from Technology Services participated in training on the use of PeopleTools.
Yesterday, several representatives from Puget Sound visited our counterparts at George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon, to learn about their implementation and use of PeopleSoft. We appreciate the willingness of folks there to share their experiences, insights, and good advice as we move forward!
Today we had a demo of PeopleSoft for representatives from Human Resources and CES as design and implementation will start in their area in July.
Special thanks to everyone for their active engagement in these important activities!