It’s been greater than a 12 months because the kickoff of the One U PeopleSoft Finance Transformation Venture, a multiyear endeavor with three primary aims: redesign the final ledger chart of accounts (COA), scale back finance customizations within the College of Utah’s occasion of Oracle PeopleSoft, and enhance finance reporting capabilities throughout the establishment.
“The necessity to streamline and modernize our processes and maintain them over time is paramount to the place we’re headed as a college,” Martell Teasley, Ph.D., interim senior vp for tutorial affairs, stated throughout a venture advisory assembly August 26.
On this article, venture stakeholders revisit the “why,” have a good time latest milestones, and dispel some frequent misconceptions.
Why is the U enterprise this venture?
Key venture targets fall into three normal classes: COA redesign, PeopleSoft Finance optimization, and reporting.
COA redesign
- Redesigning the COA will create a extra environment friendly system to course of transactions, assist administration reporting, and generate analytics.
- A central, versatile, and scalable COA will enhance monetary reporting for departments, schools, colleges, divisions, and enterprise models, whereas persevering with to allow exterior monetary reporting.
- The redesign will place the U to implement new enterprise useful resource planning (ERP) software program that may present higher controls, information, and audit documentation.
“This venture will permit us to maneuver towards a aim of standard interim monetary statements,” stated U of U Controller Steven Phillips.
“The dearth of standardization throughout enterprise models makes it actually troublesome for these managing areas that cross the establishment to organize analyses and reviews for leaders in a well timed method,” added Theresa Ashman, affiliate vp for Monetary and Enterprise Providers. “Many universities have moved towards extra frequent — in some instances, month-to-month — monetary reporting on a [generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP)] or near-GAAP foundation. Whereas our hospitals and clinics put together month-to-month reviews, the U as a complete prepares just one annual monetary assertion that takes virtually 4 months to finish. Transferring towards extra frequent monetary reporting is imminent, and we must be ready to assist this. With out this venture, we merely can’t do it.”
PeopleSoft Finance optimization
- The U hasn’t been capable of take full benefit of Oracle’s performance enhancements as a consequence of tons of of customizations over the previous twenty years.
- Customizations are costly and improve the effort and time required to implement upgrades and patches. Different modifications, like reorganizing or adopting new chartfield accounts, are additionally made extra complicated due to customizations.
- This venture entails researching, figuring out, and recommending attainable key enhancements to leverage present up-to-date functions.
“We’ll create higher monetary transparency via the elimination of shadow programs and utilizing PeopleSoft for all transactions,” stated Ken Pink, deputy chief data officer for College Data Know-how (UIT). “Mitigating Peoplesoft customizations additionally reduces upkeep and will increase flexibility.”
“Customizations have actually tied our arms by way of development and albeit made issues a lot more durable than they must be,” Ashman added, noting that the U’s Asia Campus, which makes use of QuickBooks, would “logically be a part of a PeopleSoft implementation, however proper now we are able to’t even take into account it because of the complexities of including one other enterprise unit that must be predicated on a international forex.”
Reporting
- Fashionable reporting capabilities are essential to assist U of U and U of U Well being strategic plans.
- This venture will enhance monetary transaction transparency.
“Higher reporting capabilities permit for extra data-driven administration choices,” Phillips stated.
The massive image: Accommodating for development
Extra typically, the venture is tied to the success of the U’s Technique 2025, notably, “consolidate, develop and refresh applied sciences and centralize information and analytics to raised serve our constituents.”
“The U isn’t the identical establishment it was in 2000 when PeopleSoft was applied — by way of workers, analysis, administration, affected person inhabitants, organizations, and complexity,” stated Piotr Pawlikowski, senior IT venture supervisor in UIT’s Venture Administration Workplace.
Listed here are some numbers to again that up.
College of Utah monetary development (information courtesy of Theresa Ashman, affiliate VP for FBS)
In 2001:
- The U employed 10,528 workers members and enrolled 27,668 college students; in 2022, these numbers elevated to 30,089 workers (+185%) and 34,424 college students (+24%)
- Complete income was $1.69B; in 2022, it was $6.86B (+304%)
- Complete property had been $2.62B; in 2022, they had been $9.83B (+275%)
- Endowment property had been $297M; in 2022, they had been $1.36B (+142%)
- Analysis {dollars} had been $242M; in 2022, they had been $641M (+165%)
College of Utah Well being operational development (information courtesy of Karen Macon, controller for College Hospitals and Clinics)
In 2000:
- Roughly 19,004 sufferers had been admitted to the U of U Well being; in 2022, that quantity rose to 34,254 (+80%)
- U of U Well being had 421 affected person beds; as of 2022, it has 782 (+86%)
- ~417,000 sufferers visited U hospitals and clinics; in 2022, that quantity jumped to 1.48M (+355%)
In 20 years, these numbers are anticipated to rise much more.
“To accommodate targets for development in pupil physique, analysis, endowment, and so forth, we’d like a extra versatile system that may deal with conditions as they come up, similar to new enterprise alternatives,” Phillips stated.
Current venture accomplishments
- A preliminary draft of a brand new Chart of Accounts was accomplished
- The Basic Ledger/COA venture crew continues section 2 actions that embrace gathering suggestions from U of U Well being and primary campus stakeholders and customers
- An Elire device was bought, and Elire consulting providers had been leveraged to allow the college to:
- Establish pointless PeopleSoft customizations
- Make suggestions on which U customizations to maintain or take away
- The venture’s advisory committee was rechartered and relaunched
Misconceptions and myths in regards to the venture
“This can be a hospital (U of U Well being) venture, not a primary campus venture. Predominant campus doesn’t must be concerned.”
Truth: It’s essential for primary campus and U Well being models to hitch collectively in decision-making so all wants could be met. All people should be properly knowledgeable, deeply concerned, and collaborate at each section of the venture. Venture outcomes will profit each organizations and the bigger establishment.
“This venture was brought on by the Enterprise Unit 06 venture. If we didn’t need to undergo that venture, we wouldn’t must cope with the One U PeopleSoft Finance Transformation venture.”
Truth: BU06 highlighted the underlying shortcomings of our present system. It was not the trigger.
“The associated fee to replace built-in programs and instruments will far outweigh the advantages” (i.e., integrations with third social gathering instruments, HR module, and so on.).
Truth: The associated fee for this variation is the proverbial “can kicked down the highway” from when the U initially applied PeopleSoft greater than 20 years in the past. We’re a really completely different establishment now than we had been then and are on a trajectory to develop and alter much more. Sure, it’s a price, however it’s a crucial price to assist the U of immediately and the U of the longer term.
Further sources
