Financial System Enhancements launch moved to December

In response to campus feedback and resource constraints due to other projects, the Financial System Enhancements (FSE) Steering Committee has decided to move the launch of the FSE projects to December 2017.

In September 2016, The FSE project team collaborated with campus to determine the most appropriate timeframe to launch the projects. At this time, campus constituents also shared concerns and requested focus on improving efficiency in technology and business processes within Procure to Pay Services. The collective decision was made to launch in fall 2017, with a target of early November, giving additional time to make P2P improvements. These P2P improvements will go live in September as communicated in Business Matters.

With the focus on improving P2P processes and aligning the FSE project plan with other initiatives such as eBuilder and Individual Compensation Distribution (ICD), the FSE Project team realized that more time would be required to ensure adequate testing and effective training development. Additionally, several Planning Units expressed concerns around the November go-live date in conjunction with the Fall Budget Reviews and requested additional time to validate Chart of Accounts mapping. As a result, the Steering Committee has decided to delay the launch of the FSE projects by one month. The FSE projects will go live during the first two weeks of December. The final rollout schedule is being developed and will be shared with campus once finalized.

Several project details have been adjusted to accommodate the revised schedule, as defined below.

• Faculty training will be pushed to February to accommodate faculty availability and to support their month-end reporting needs after the semester begins.
• Finance will initially handle departmental internal awards setup. Training for department personnel on internal award setup and management will occur in February in preparation for the transition of internal awards management to staff in campus financial roles. This will enable campus to take advantage of the functionality with go-live but provide adequate time for quality training to be developed and delivered.
• Due to varied feedback about reporting needs, standard Financial and Grants Dashboards will be released in Oracle Business Intelligence (OBI) at go-live. This will allow campus time to get used to the new chart and better understand their reporting needs. Reporting Work Groups will be established after go-live to ensure the Dashboards continue to evolve to meet campus needs.

FSE TRAINING SCHEDULE

The training curriculum and timeframes shared in August have been modified to align with the updated launch. Registration links and locations of training sessions will be emailed to target audiences throughout the month of September. Planning Unit CFAOs and the Change Network will help ensure employees get registered for the trainings that are best suited to individual needs and that new account numbers are distributed as needed. Training will also be delivered on a recurring basis after go-live.

For additional project-related updates, please visit the Chart of Accounts Redesign website.

Questions? Contact the FSE Change Management Lead, Leigh Casal, at casall@ohio.edu.