It’s been greater than a yr for the reason that kickoff of the One U PeopleSoft Finance Transformation Undertaking, a multiyear endeavor with three fundamental targets: redesign the overall 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 educational affairs, stated throughout a undertaking advisory assembly August 26.

On this article, undertaking stakeholders revisit the “why,” have fun latest milestones, and dispel some frequent misconceptions.

Why is the U enterprise this undertaking?

Key undertaking targets fall into three common classes: COA redesign, PeopleSoft Finance optimization, and reporting.

COA redesign

• Redesigning the COA will create a extra environment friendly system to course of transactions, help administration reporting, and generate analytics.
• A central, versatile, and scalable COA will enhance monetary reporting for departments, faculties, colleges, divisions, and enterprise items, 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 undertaking will enable us to maneuver towards a aim of standard interim monetary statements,” stated U of U Controller Steven Phillips.
 
“The dearth of standardization throughout enterprise items makes it actually troublesome for these managing areas that cross the establishment to organize analyses and experiences for leaders in a well timed method,” added Theresa Ashman, affiliate vp for Monetary and Enterprise Companies. “Many universities have moved towards extra frequent — in some circumstances, 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 experiences, the U as an entire prepares just one annual monetary assertion that takes nearly 4 months to finish. Transferring towards extra frequent monetary reporting is imminent, and we should be ready to help this. With out this undertaking, 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 lots 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 advanced due to customizations.
• This undertaking entails researching, figuring out, and recommending attainable key enhancements to leverage present up-to-date purposes.

“We are going to create higher monetary transparency via the elimination of shadow methods and utilizing PeopleSoft for all transactions,” stated Ken Pink, deputy chief info officer for College Data Know-how (UIT). “Mitigating Peoplesoft customizations additionally reduces upkeep and will increase flexibility.”

“Customizations have actually tied our palms by way of progress and albeit made issues a lot more durable than they should 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 as a result of complexities of including one other enterprise unit that must be predicated on a overseas forex.”

Reporting

• Trendy reporting capabilities are essential to help U of U and U of U Well being strategic plans.
• This undertaking will enhance monetary transaction transparency.

“Higher reporting capabilities enable for extra data-driven administration selections,” Phillips stated.

The massive image: Accommodating for progress

Extra usually, the undertaking is tied to the success of the U’s Technique 2025, significantly, “consolidate, develop and refresh applied sciences and centralize information and analytics to higher serve our constituents.” 

“The U isn’t the identical establishment it was in 2000 when PeopleSoft was carried out — by way of workers, analysis, administration, affected person inhabitants, organizations, and complexity,” stated Piotr Pawlikowski, senior IT undertaking supervisor in UIT’s Undertaking Administration Workplace.

Listed here are some numbers to again that up.

College of Utah monetary progress (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%)
• Whole income was $1.69B; in 2022, it was $6.86B (+304%)
• Whole 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 progress (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 progress in pupil physique, analysis, endowment, and so forth, we want a extra versatile system that may deal with conditions as they come up, reminiscent of new enterprise alternatives,” Phillips stated.

Latest undertaking accomplishments

• A preliminary draft of a brand new Chart of Accounts was accomplished
• The Common Ledger/COA undertaking workforce continues section 2 actions that embrace gathering suggestions from U of U Well being and fundamental campus stakeholders and customers
• An Elire device was bought, and Elire consulting companies had been leveraged to allow the college to:
  • Establish pointless PeopleSoft customizations
  • Make suggestions on which U customizations to maintain or take away
• The undertaking’s advisory committee was rechartered and relaunched

Misconceptions and myths concerning the undertaking 

“It is a hospital (U of U Well being) undertaking, not a fundamental campus undertaking. Predominant campus doesn’t should be concerned.”

Reality: It’s essential for fundamental campus and U Well being items to hitch collectively in decision-making so all wants may be met. Everyone should be effectively knowledgeable, deeply concerned, and collaborate at each section of the undertaking. Undertaking outcomes will profit each organizations and the bigger establishment.

 “This undertaking was brought on by the Enterprise Unit 06 undertaking. If we didn’t must undergo that undertaking, we wouldn’t have to cope with the One U PeopleSoft Finance Transformation undertaking.”

Reality: BU06 highlighted the underlying shortcomings of our present system. It was not the trigger.

“The fee to replace built-in methods and instruments will far outweigh the advantages” (i.e., integrations with third occasion instruments, HR module, and so on.).

Reality: The fee for this transformation is the proverbial “can kicked down the street” from when the U initially carried out PeopleSoft greater than 20 years in the past. We’re a really totally 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 obligatory price to help the U of at the moment and the U of the longer term.

Further assets