ConnectND Review

1
ConnectND Review

• Gary Wawers
• Controller
• NDSU

2
Legacy System

• Mainframe
• Home Grown
• Old software technology
• Expensive updating
• Noncompliance

3
The search for replacement

• Rewrite ourselves
• Partnering with universities private company
  (TRG project)
• Outside vendor higher ed only (SAGE project)
• Technology changed throughout the long search
• What are others doing?

4
ConnectND project

• State government, higher ed, K-12 join forces
• Efficiencies, innovation, risk
• Top level support
• Funding

5
Software Selection Committee

• Broad base of members
• Outside consultant
• Several month process
• System requirements
• Winners
• PeopleSoft
• Maximus

6
The implementation

• University System
• Organizational structure
• Project Leaders
• Committees
• Module leads
• Subject matter experts
• Individual Campus Committees

7
Some key Guiding Principles

• No parallel processing
• Change processes to best business practices
• Just-in-time training
• Vanilla implementation
• (Intent keep implementation costs down)

8
Go-Live dates

• May 1, 2003 Pilot Sites
• Mayville State Valley City State
• July 1, 2004
• DSU, WSC, LRSC, BSC, NDSCS
• January 2005
• NDSU, UND, MiSU

9
NDSU implementation

• 1/6/2005 Go-Live Finance HR/Payroll
• July, 2005 Go-Live Student Finance
• Legacy system used for some transactions
• July - September 2005 Archiving legacy
  information
• October 2005 legacy system dismantled

10
NDSU Implementation Challenges

• Training Challenge NDSU decentralized style
• Just-in-Time training
• Data Conversion
• Attitudes Change Management

11
Early Challenges

• Attitudes - fatigue
• Learning curve
• Slow system response time poor system
  performance
• Early change in pay schedule
• Early payroll paycheck errors

12
Successes

• Open Forums
• Use of computer clusters for training and help
  desk
• Good general ledger data conversion
• Completed two financial audits and federal
  compliance audits

13
PeopleSoft Modules

• Finance
• HR/Payroll
• Student
• Enrollment
• Financial Aid
• Registration
• Student Finance
• Interfaced vs. Integration

14
Ongoing Finance Issues

• Grants Management
• Integration
• PeopleSoft Workarounds
• Heavy spreadsheet usage
• Future version upgrades
• Oracle Fusion

15
Six Phases of a Project

• Enthusiaism
• Dissillusionment
• Panic
• Search for the guilty
• Punishment of the innocent
• Praise and honours for the non-participants
• Author Unknown