Integrated Systems Project Update - July 1999
CONTENTS
1. Contract
Negotiations at Final Touches Stage
2. Technology Secretary Learns about ISP
3. ISP Teams Hit the Road to Develop Business Case
4. KPMG "Tiger" Team Lays the Foundation
5. Recruiting Continues
1. Contract Negotiations at Final Touches Stage
Yes it’s slow, but progress is definitely being made. Contract negotiations are nearing completion.
2. Technology Secretary Learns about ISP
As of July 1, there is new legislation that will require that the Integrated Systems Project plan be approved by the Secretary of Technology prior to moving into the implementation phase. On July 21, several officials from the office of the secretary were in Charlottesville for a conference. Leonard Sandridge, Bill Randolph, Bob Reynolds (interim U.Va. CIO) and Peter Farrell (KPMG project manager) were able to meet with Secretary Donald Upson and members of his staff to provide them with information on the history and future plans of the ISP. A follow-up meeting in Richmond is planned.
3. ISP Teams Hit the Road to Develop Business Case
At the heart of
the business case, which will be presented to the Board of Visitors in the fall,
is a cost-benefit analysis of implementing an Enterprise
Resource Planning (ERP) system for the University of Virginia. In preparation
of the business case, ISP staff have identified the areas of greatest anticipated
impact of such a system and divided into teams to explore current operations
in those areas, which include:
Team members are
currently interviewing representative U.Va. employees in each of these areas at
the central, school and departmental levels to track the personnel and material
resources applied to the processes and to solicit their ideas about where an
ERP system might make their jobs more efficient and effective.
This fact-finding phase of the business case, and the subsequent calculation
and documentation of costs and savings, will continue through August.
4. KPMG "Tiger" Team Lays the Foundation
No task of the magnitude of the Integrated Systems Project can succeed within a defined time frame without a clear methodology and schedule. A team of consultants from KPMG has been at work for two weeks establishing such a framework, incorporating the needs of U.Va. and the lessons of other universities. The result will be an MS Project scheduling system for all the ISP teams to use in planning and implementing the ERP system over the next five years. While the thousands of steps in a multi-year project cannot be set in stone in the first two weeks, establishing initial parameters and milestones will set the project on a course to reach its ultimate goal.
Interviewing continues for team leaders and team members for the first phase of financial applications implementation. Anyone interested in being considered for these positions should submit an application through University Human resources.