Student Services Transformation
Past Updates
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July 25, 2009
July 2009 marks the completion of the first year of the Student Services Transformation Project! With the help of many individuals from across the University, we have reached our annual goals on time and within our budget and we look forward to maintaining our pace in order to achieve our goals for the next year.
At present, we have completed the core configuration of the following modules: Academic Structure, Campus Community and Admissions. We will complete the core configuration of the remaining modules over the course of the next several months. The Configuration Phase includes establishing our security settings; redesigning current business processes for optimal efficiency; testing the data conversion efforts; and creating a comprehensive training curriculum for each modular go-live. The efforts of each module are now being charted by monthly updates from each module team. These updates, as well as other project information, are available on our website.
In addition to the configuration activities, the Student Services Transformation Project has established a Directors Advisory Group to help guide our decisions with respect to the effect of the implementation on the administrative units across campus; and we have created a Change Readiness Assessment survey to help us prepare the campus for the transition to the new software.
During the fall 2009 semester, we will launch our “Name the System” contest; conduct training and change management workshops to facilitate the adoption of new business processes; and develop advisory groups to accommodate the needs of faculty and students during this transition. In the late spring 2010 semester, we will experience our first go-live event – the advent of the Course Catalog – the foundation of our system!
With the continued support of our dedicated project team members and the university community, the Student Services Transformation Project remains on schedule and advancing as planned. We look forward to the numerous ways that the implementation of this system will enhance the services for faculty, staff, and students at UB. Again, thank you for all of your efforts and we will continue to keep the campus community updated regarding the overall progress of the project.
Please forward any comments or questions to us. | Provide feedback
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April 27, 2009
The spring 2009 semester has brought in the next phase of the Student Services Transformation project, where we are configuring (setting up) the new system. This configuration allows us to tailor the system specifically to UB’s needs. We are also beginning our security, data conversion, and reporting efforts. The Admissions, Campus Community, Financial Aid, Student Records, and Portal Teams have been involved in the configuration phase of the implementation. The remaining teams, Academic Advising and Student Financials, have been preparing for configuration and will begin in the upcoming weeks. Configuration will continue throughout the 2009 calendar year.
An important part of this phase is the redesign of our business processes to match the new system and to achieve efficiencies across all student services areas. To redesign our processes, we must first examine closely our current practices and then devise new approaches that will result in improved functionality and service delivery to faculty, staff and students. A proactive training plan will accompany the completed business process redesign in order for all users to have the appropriate level of support prior to the transition to PeopleSoft.
While we continue to configure the system, we will keep the university community engaged in the project. Our upcoming plans include a naming contest for our new system; organizational change management workshops to help facilitate the transition to new practices and procedures; and increased, targeted information regarding the progress of the implementation in each of the functional areas. Each team will be sending specific updates to Subject Matter Experts in that area, and these updates will be posted to our Web site.
With the continued support of our dedicated project team members and the university community, the Student Services Transformation is progressing as planned. We continue to be excited about the positive changes this project will bring to the campus. Thank you for all of your efforts.
Please forward any comments or questions to us. | Provide feedback
Details
- February 10, 2009 Throughout the fall 2008 semester, the Student Services Transformation project was actively engaged in the Discovery Phase of the project. We analyzed how PeopleSoft’s Campus Solutions will fulfill UB’s business needs for each functional area, and this information has been compiled into detailed Fit-Gap Reports; we finalized several strategy documents that will guide our management of the numerous software and database development environments, organizational change management, and training; and we crafted a draft of our SST Project Charter, which describes the goals, principles, and approaches of the project. These documents have been posted to SST website, on the documents page. (Note that UB IT name and password are required to access these documents.) We invite you to review these documents and provide us with your comments and questions.
The culmination of these efforts marks the transition to the next phase of the project – configuration of the new system and remodeling of our processes in preparation for transition to the new system.
We would like to thank everyone involved during the Discovery Phase of the project. The level of dedicated staff involvement has ensured that the SST project progressed to the next phase well-prepared and on time. Thank you for your continued support, and please forward any comments or questions to us. | Provide feedback - November 21, 2008 At the November 21st, 2008 Townhall, Elias Eldayrie, project leader, reported that the Student Services Transformation Project is moving forward and continues to be identified as a priority for UB. The discovery phase is expected to be complete by end of December 2008. In January 2009, the project will move into the configuration phase. The fit/gap sessions, where product features are compared to customer needs to identify deficiencies, are complete. These sessions will guide the team to determine where any necessary customization will be needed. Details
- October 23, 2008 The Student Services Transformation project has focused on a number of activities over the past several weeks. Our fit/gap sessions have been extremely productive in outlining UB’s business processes so that PeopleSoft’s Campus Solutions will best meet our business needs. The sessions provide an opportunity for the CIBER consultants to show us how the software will be used in our daily work, and the vital input of our staff will be incorporated into the next phases of the project. We would like to extend our appreciation to all those who are participating in these necessary discussions.
To ensure that UB’s needs are met to the fullest extent, we intend to extend the timeline for the project over an additional year. We will begin configuration as planned in spring 2009 and then stagger the go-live dates of particular components through the fall 2011 semester. The best timeline for a project of this complexity is one that takes into consideration multiple aspects: proper staffing levels during all phases of the project; sufficient time for in-depth analysis of fit/gap output; and adequate testing and staff training prior to roll-out to minimize disruptions during the final phase. The extended timeline allows for prolonged testing to ensure a smooth transition to the new software and increased change management opportunities to provide support through the post-go-live period. Specific details regarding the new timeline will be forthcoming.
The SST is an integral part of our UB2020 initiative, and the university remains committed to realizing the project’s goals, with the full support of the Executive Steering Committee. An extended timeline helps to respond to budget concerns while maintaining our commitment to improving student services at UB.
Thank you for your continued support in this exciting and challenging phase of our project. We welcome your valuable insight. Please pass along any comments and suggestions regarding the project to us. | Provide feedback
- August 22, 2008 The Student Services Transformation project is moving into the implementation phase. We have finalized our project team membership and have successfully negotiated contracts with Oracle and CIBER, Inc. for software and consulting services.
In July we held meetings with the project team and several campus constituents to begin drafting the Project Charter document, which involves outlining our goals and objectives, and identifying potential risks to the project. These groups also participated in a Project Charter Validation session. | See presentation
The first of several fit/gap sessions - the process of modeling UB’s business practices to the software – is scheduled to begin this week. These sessions, which will involve representatives from throughout the campus community, will continue through the end of the fall 2008 semester. The result of these preparations will be a detailed blueprint that will define how PeopleSoft will be configured to meet UB’s needs, and will set forth timeframes for testing, training, and roll-out of the software.
We would like to thank the entire campus community for its continued support of the Student Services Transformation project, an integral part of the UB2020 initiative. We understand that the success of this project is linked to our dedicated faculty and staff who will be participating in various meetings and sessions over the next several months.
We welcome your feedback at ub-sst@buffalo.edu.
- July 1, 2008 The implementation phase of the Student Services Transformation is poised to begin in early July. This represents a major step forward in our ongoing efforts to transform our academic support services and campus infrastructure in support of UB’s vision to become a model public research university for the 21st century.
After a semester of productive contract negotiations, UB has reached agreements with Oracle for PeopleSoft Campus Solutions software and CIBER Inc. to provide systems integration consulting services for the Student Services Transformation project.
Many staff members throughout the campus have invested a great amount of effort in bringing us to this significant milestone, and we would like to extend our thanks and appreciation for their participation and support.
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank the entire campus community for their commitment in staffing. The membership of the Student Services Transformation project team has been finalized; a list of project team members can be found on the project membership page. We have a strong campus team positioned to participate in this endeavor, and we look forward to working together in bringing fundamental changes to the ways that we provide student services.
The first phase of implementation—project planning—will commence when the CIBER consultants arrive at UB later this month. We will engage a number of campus constituencies in the planning process, which will include development of communications and training plans, a detailed timeline, and the other strategies needed to guide us to success. In late summer and early fall, we will begin our fit/gap sessions, which will engage representatives from across the university in mapping our business needs to PeopleSoft’s Campus Solutions software.
As the project progresses, we will continue to provide you with frequent updates. We welcome your feedback at ub-sst@buffalo.edu.
We look forward to engaging the campus as we move forward, and we hope that you share in our excitement for the improvements that we can achieve.
- April 11, 2008 Over the last several months, the campus has been engaged in the Student Systems Assessment Project to identify the needs of the campus to improve the delivery services for students, faculty and staff. These efforts have culminated with the decision to implement PeopleSoft’s student information system, Campus Solutions and to commence the Student Services Transformation Project. Details
The Student Services Transformation is a university-wide initiative and continued support from the campus community is a necessary element to this project. Please feel free to forward comments and questions to us at ub-sst@buffalo.edu.