Information Technology at SFU

1
Information Technology at SFU

• January 21, 2005
• Jim Cranston Chief Information Officer (CIO)
• jim_cranston_at_sfu.ca

2
Agenda

• Overview of Information Technology at Simon
  Fraser University
• Implementation of New ERP System to Replace
  Legacy Systems
• Student Administration
• Contributor Relations
• Human Resources/Payroll
• Financials (G/L, A/P, Purchasing)
• Budget
• Portal

3
CIO Mandate

• Management Administration
• Responsible for Three Main Departments
• Academic Computing Services (ACS)
• Operations and Technical Support (OTS)
• Application Integration and Support (AISG)
• Delivery of Core Systems Infrastructure
• Backbone network telephones
• Institutional Services e-mail, computer
  accounts, active directory, etc
• Central computer facilities main servers, high
  performance computing
• Administrative systems student administration,
  HR/Pay, Finance, etc.
• e-Learning systems
• Strategic Planning of common IT services
• Campus Wide
• Influencing, coordination role
• IT Governance, Policy Standards
• Advocacy Role for IT
• Practical Innovation
• Last resort support to Faculty/Staff

4
CIO Organization
5
IT Reporting Relationships
President
VP FA
VP Academic
VP Research
VP Development
CIO
Chief Librarian
Deans
Depts
IT Support Groups
ACS
OTS
AISG
Library Systems
6
IT Objectives For 04/05

• Finish Legacy System Replacement
• PeopleSoft (Oracle) and Facilities Management
• Network Expansion And Enhancements
• Expansion Of Research Support Services
• Rationalizing Learning Management Systems
• Addressing Sustainability And Security At The
  Desktop
• Extending E-services
• conference registration, reduce paper, payments
• Capacity Planning

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Overview of IT _at_ SFU

• Any Questions So Far?

8
Implementation of New ERP System to Replace
Legacy Systems

• Student Administration (SIMS)
• Contributor Relations (Part of SIMS)
• Human Resources/Payroll (HAP)
• Financials (G/L, A/P, Purchasing) - FINS
• Budgets - BUDG
• Portal (Part of SIMS)

SFU Chose PeopleSoft (now Oracle) ERP Solution
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The PeopleSoft Journey32 Months Start Finish
FINS/BUDG
HAP
SIMS
THE LIGHT AT END OF TUNNEL DOESNT LOOK LIKE A
TRAIN
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Key Factors For Success

• Senior Management Support and Commitment
• Full time, dedicated project teams
• assign best internal staff
• use outside expertise
• Define Very Clear Business Drivers and Manage
  Project Scope Accordingly
• (what are we trying to achieve)
• replace existing functionality
• web based services for students
• low cost keep package vanilla

11
Key Factors for Success 2

• Manage Expectations and Change
• cant solve all past problems
• resistance to change in University culture
• Stay the Course
• dont panic and change project under pressure
• just say no at times
• Implement Quickly and Refine
• people wont understand until they see things

12
How SFU Accepted New SystemTechnology Adoption
Life Cycle
Peak of Inflated Expectations
SIMS 1 Year
Increased Visibility and Expectations
Cutover
Plateau of Productivity
1 3 Months
Increasing Realism
Trough of Disillusionment
Time
Source Gartner Group
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Lessons Learned

• An ERP, such as PeopleSoft must be viewed as a
  strategic investment, not a system replacement
• It is not possible to accomplish business process
  redesign staff/organization changes system
  implementation simultaneously
• As a consequence, processes were not redesigned
  as part of the project. We are doing more process
  redesign now that people understand the new
  system and need for change
• Large doses of change management are essential
• more than we did, University culture resistance
  to change
• Large systems will take 2 3 years to settle
  down and become accepted
• Infrastructure issues cannot be underestimated
• new tiered architecture, staff learning curve

14
Current Issues with New ERP System

• Define IT Governance Process around ERP
• Selecting which changes to implement, priority
  setting, resource allocation
• Build Ongoing Support Staff Capacity
• Transition to internal staff from expensive
  consultants
• Plan/Staff for Never Ending Patches/Upgrades from
  Vendor
• Future Emphasis/Value Added Opportunities
• Opportunity Pyramid
• Recognizing Where Improvements Can Be Made
• System vs Business Process change

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SIX Sources of Demand for SIMS IT Services

• IT/Operations
• critical production items
• bundles/upgrades
• data integration
• performance tuning
• overall process improvements
• infrastructure and security

•  2. Student Services
•  Admissions
• Student Records
• Financial Aid
• Student Financials

• Academic Departments
• Advising transcript
• Course Profiles
• Reporting DB

Fixed Delivery Capacity How to Choose?

• 4. Other Departments
• Grad Studies
• Alumni Development
• Recreation, etc.

•  5. Individuals
• Students/Faculty
• goSFU tickets
• Information downloads

•  6. Strategic Initiatives
• Faster Admission turnaround
• Student Recruiting
•   Full course turnaways

Back
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ERP Future Emphasis/Opportunities

• Cost/Value-add Break-down
• Ten percent of cost and effort is devoted to
  strategic planning/analysis efforts. Potentially
  50 of all benefits from new system
• Twenty percent of cost and efforts is devoted to
  services delivery or tactical issues.
  Potentially 40 of all benefits from new system
• Seventy percent of costs, activities and people
  are devoted to administration or operational
  activities record keeping, compliance, and
  bureaucratic paper shuffling. However a system
  replacement would only achieve 10 benefits over
  legacy systems

Cost
Value Added
50
Strategic
10
Analytics
Service Delivery (Tactical)
40
20
Student Recruitment Degree Audit e-Recruit Positio
n Budgeting
Administration (Operational)
10
70
Legacy System Replacement Student
Registration Admissions Payroll G/L
Cant get to the top without fixing systems
lower down
Back
17
System vs. Process Change
Service Level Objective
Service Level
System Process
System Change
Business Process Change
Continue As Is
Time Cost
Back
18
Thank You!
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Jim Cranston CIO Simon Fraser University

• Engineer, MBA by academic background
• Joined SFU September 2001
• Previously Management Consultant specializing in
  IT for over 25 years
• worked for clients in many industries and around
  the world.
• Observation after 3 years at SFU
• University environment different from other
  organizations, but the IT issues are essentially
  the same