Fleming Systems Renewal Project

A Strategic Approach to Core Information Systems at Fleming

Fleming CollegeSeptember, 2005

Version 4.0

Background• On June 1st Fleming’s Board of Governors

approved the Fleming Systems Renewal Project including the purchase of PeopleSoft.

• During June, July and August pre-launch activities included identifying the project team, set up of a project space, installation of system hardware and software and hiring an implementation partner consulting firm.

• Project Launch October 3rd

• Accelerated approach to software deployment with new core systems being launched during Summer of 2006

The Vision

• Strategic Priority 2, Providing Superior Services and Facilities states as a goal, “Fleming will provide a clearly superior level of services and facilities to its students and employees. Student success, student satisfaction and employee satisfaction ratings will reflect that our services and facilities are in the top quartile among Ontario Colleges.” The Fleming Systems Renewal Project supports strategy 2.2.

• Success will be measured by how well students, faculty and staff meet their needs when using the systems.

• The new systems will provide to students, faculty and staff one access point and a unified visual experience for all systems and information.

Vision continued

• More control, access and responsibility will be distributed to the end user.

• We want to automate the transactions so that faculty and staff have even more opportunity to personalize their interactions with students and have more time to deal with exceptions.

• From a “how we do work” perspective, “The glass room is filled with transparent processes”. We want to find efficiencies and continuously improve “how we do work” – need to map out processes.

What are we changing?

• Student System• Finance System• Payroll/ Human Resources• Enterprise Portal• Integrated Help Desk/ Call Centre• One Reporting approach and toolset• Supporting IT tools, software and hardware

architecture

Who is involved?

• The short answer “everyone”• Core Team

– Project Manager Lynn Watson– Functional Lead Student: Paul Rochetta– Functional Lead Finance: Jennifer Moore– Functional Lead Payroll/HR: Eva Rees– Functional Lead IT: Brenda McCueProject Sponsor: Jim AngelImplementation Partner: Deloitte

Time lines: Launch October 3rd

Application Module O N D J F M A M JUJL A S O N D J F

All Applications and Modules

Campus Community/Admissions

Student Records

Student Financials

Academic Advisement

Financial Aid

HR/ePay/eProfile

Time & Labour

Payroll

General Ledger

Accounts Payable/Purchasing

Project Management

2006 2007

GENERAL

Release I

FINANCIALS

HRMS

STUDENT ADMIN

PLANNING & SCOPING

Challenges

• Single-expert syndrome. In some cases only one individual really knows the business process.

• Establishing “best practises” - We need to constantly ask if the problem is with the system or with the process that uses the system? We will have to modify business processes (versus customize) and ask, “What do we want to become?”

Challenges

• Individuals and departments must be prepared to embrace some significant work process change - “how we do work” and “who does the work”.

• Integrated databases require institution-wide data management rigor and cooperation. Definitions of what is centralized/decentralized and who gets access to data will be required.

• With all large system changes there will be a difficult adjustment period right after the new system is launched (See next two graphs)

Systems Maturity Model

Time

Syste

m M

atu

rity

Implementing

Post Go-Live

Stabilizing

Leveraging

Time

Syste

m M

atu

rity

Implementing

Post Go-Live

Stabilizing

Leveraging

Implementing: developing, integrating, and installing the systemPost Go-Live: managing the environment immediately after implementationStabilizing: improving control and management processesLeveraging: realizing productivity and other benefits of the system

Maturity & Productivity

Time

Syst

em M

atur

ity

Implementing

Post Go-Live

Stabilizing

Leveraging

Time

Syst

em M

atur

ity

Implementing

Post Go-Live

Stabilizing

Leveraging

ProjectShockZone

ProjectBenefitZone P

rod

ucti

vit

y

Productivity

Baseline

GoLiveDate

Graph from Roger Rigelhof, McGill University

The “Readiness !” factors

1) Alignment and support at the Senior Level and the Board of Governors for this component of our strategic plan.

2) Fleming’s Systems are not in crisis.3) Some core work processes are centralized,

aligned and easier to articulate.4) Students and Staff have already used a

Portal and the Web.5) Front line managers and some staff

recognize we have to change to remain competitive.

6) We’ve built some core infrastructure and skills already, e.g. datamarts, experience with emPath, APIS, ORACLE etc.

Supporting the Change

1) Training – Our approach with the consultant will be to train core staff, before, during and after the transition. Plus we will use a train-the-trainer approach in an ongoing way.

2) Cut-over day front line support.

3) Backfill and overtime support where appropriate.

4) Communication – we have a formal plan, it will be frequent and transparent.

5) Feedback – formal feedback mechanisms to help us deal with issues and improve the process.

6) A formal project implementation methodology to lower risk.

How will we know we’ve achieved our goals?

• Evaluate our progress:

– against goals set in the Strategic Plan.

– against specific objectives in the project plan.

– based on student, faculty and staff feedback and satisfaction.

Student Benefits

Today Students Can….. – Access Self Service Functionality such as:

• Obtain a Class List.• View Timetables.• Change address information.• View fee status.• View Grades.• View Course outlines.

– View Course offerings by term.– Registration is done “in-line”. A Lab is setup to

handle peak registration times.– Online fee payments are currently not available to

all students.

Student Benefits

Tomorrow Student’s Will…..• Continue with the online services listed

above.• Access all services anywhere, anytime

through the internet, enabled by the Portal.• Register online – Reduce line-ups at the

registrar’s office. No labs are required.• Pay fees online and determine fee status.• Add and Drop courses online.• Monitor academic progress in a program

and make changes. • Have a complete view of their campus

experience through a personalized Portal.

Faculty Benefits• Today Faculty…..

– Enter some grades into WebCT, grades re-entered into SIS manually.

– Determine course equivalencies manually, duplicated process across faculty.

– Access multiple systems to obtain a full view of a student.– Use an external tool (DAG) for Academic Advising, no integration.

• Tomorrow Faculty Will be Able To…..– Enter grades once into an integrated Gradebook.– View and evaluate course equivalencies online from a single

source. – View an integrated student record to manage interactions from

Prospect to Career. – Allow Program Coordinators to monitor a student’s progress in a

program and make informed decisions on changes.– Increase their value added time / focus on student advisement /

counseling.– Have additional tools through the Portal to communicate with

students.– Make Students more accountable for the decisions affecting them.

Staff Benefits• Today Registrar’s Staff…..

– Manually evaluate all applications.– Have little flexibility creating letters to communicate with prospects

and students.– Perform program level enrolment planning, limiting ability to maximize

enrolment.– Perform Diploma Audits through DAG, not fully integrated.– Do not have integrated Financial Aid for a full view of students financial

situation.– Have challenges accessing data for reporting and analysis.

• Tomorrow Registrar’s Staff Will be Able To…..– Automatically evaluate all applications, reducing errors / quicker

response.– Communicate with students in many different ways and track all

communications.– Create flexible letters. Provide tailored information without limitations.– Support unique offerings – Continuing Education, Specialized Programs,

etc. – Perform an integrated Diploma Audit.– Access a full student view, including Financial Aid (i.e., bursary

information).– Access information easily through ad-hoc tools, reports and on-line

functionality.

Staff Benefits – cont’d

• Today APO…..– Extract and manipulate data from multiple sources for

Academic Planning.– Extract and manipulate data from multiple sources for

SWF’s. – Re-key updated course and program information into 4

different systems.

• Tomorrow APO Will be Able To…..– Develop Academic Structure supporting course/program

based registration/enrollment.– Track historical program versions as courses are

added/dropped from curriculum.– Enter course and program information into one system,

once.– Extract integrated data for analysis and academic

planning.

Staff Benefits – cont’d

• Today Finance…..– Requires updated tools for tracking / reporting on

College Finances.– Relies on non-integrated systems for analysis and

reporting.– Have challenges obtaining financial information

(payroll) for budgeting.

• Tomorrow Finance Will be Able To…..– Access Student Financial and Payroll data through

an integrated system.– Will achieve efficiencies from purchasing through

to the GL with full integration.

Staff Benefits – cont’d

• Today HOD…..– Require position management functionality to improve

headcount budgeting.– Need integrated tools to slice and dice data for

reporting.– Need ability to create automated workflows for key

processes (i.e., New Hire) – Have system configuration limitations (i.e., limited to 4

“Leave” statuses). – Experience data integrity issues (i.e., decentralized

entry of contract information).• Tomorrow HOD Will be Able To…..

– Perform headcount planning /tracking using integrated Position Management

– Enhance automated workflow and self service functionality.

– Have access to integrated data for reporting and planning purposes.

– Will have more flexibility in configuration.

Have More Questions?

• Check the Website at: (URL coming)• Invite Lynn Watson or me to your

Department or School for a Q&A• Stay tuned for our regular updates via e-

mail and Fleming News• Drop down to the project room (Brealey rm

342)• Call Lynn at: ext. 1387• Call Jim at : ext 1444