Engaging the University in a Student Admin Upgrade

1. Engaging the University in a Student Admin Upgrade

2. Presenters • Janet Backe • Director, Project Management Office, Simon Fraser University • 10 years PeopleSoft experience, 7 years project management • Stanton Guy • Management Consultant, Sierra Systems, Vancouver • 30 years experience in industry, public sector and consulting

3. Simon Fraser University (SFU) • Established in1965 • Located in Burnaby, British Columbia • 24,000 undergrads, 3,200 grads, 5,000 employees • $300M operating budget

4. Background • 8.0 Student in Q4/2003 • 8.8 Human Resources Q2/2004 • 8.8 Finance (GL,AP,AR,PO) Q4/2004 • 8.8 EPM Budgets Q4/2004, in house Q4/2005, 8.9 EPM Budget Q2/2006, in house Q4/2006 • University community fatigued from constant change – Five in three years • But no choice – Must upgrade to 8.9 Student soon

5. What methods did we use? • Proactive communications strategy • University wide staffing strategy • Enhanced technology support • User collaboration throughout • Targeted user training • Post production support strategy

6. Proactive communications strategy • Understand the current situation: • Heard about university’s fatigue with system changes • Reviewed Lessons Learned from the 8.0 Implementation • More frequent communications – in all forms at all levels to minimize misunderstanding and confusion • Departmental and Student Services staff need to be kept more informed of coming impacts to minimize concerns • Interviewed Executive Steering Committee and several other key stakeholders

7. Proactive communications strategy • What we heard: • Be prepared for lots of resistance to change • Have lots of face to face interaction with users throughout the project – not just near the end • Continually repeat important messages • Demo the new system “early and often” to get users comfortable in a low pressure environment – hands on • Manage user expectations • Be aware there are two categories of SIMS users: • Those who use the old (pre 8.0) system as their baseline • Those who use current system as baseline

8. Proactive communications strategy • What we heard (cont’d): • Emails are good but be careful • Answer the question: “Will we have a say?” • Focus on immediate needs of specific user groups – don’t overload them with info • Students will be less challenging – just make sure they can easily tell what they are supposed to do • Don’t forget there is a “Good News” story • “No gotchas!”

9. Proactive communications strategy • The Strategy • Three types of messages: • Project progress – standard updates • Changes to expect – important focused information • Key themes – more subtle messages • Two target audiences: • The “Project News” Audience • The “Impacted User” Audience • Content and delivery mechanism: • One straightforward process – project manager controlled • Efficiently leverage team member knowledge

10. Proactive communications strategy • Focus on the Impacted Users: • Distinct Groups: Departmental Staff, Student Services, Faculty, Students • Early demos • Decided on “market research” approach to define needs and issues: • Talk to every user • Used co-op students – “rookies” but quickly became experts • Ongoing input from project team members • Keep it simple (Excel), short and user friendly • Started small but soon evolved with multiple parameters • Quickly became invaluable data source for project team

11. University wide staffing strategy • Included full-time functional positions from the following areas: • Student Services • Director of Admissions (Functional Team Lead) • Functional resources from Admissions, Records, Student Financials, Financial Assistance & Contributor Relations • Departmental Representatives • Undergrad resource • Graduate resource • Financial Services • Functional resource • Sustainment team • Team Lead • Business Analysts from Admissions, Records, Student Financials and Financial Assistance • Three co-op students

12. Enhanced technology support • SharePoint used for project team collaboration • Easily searchable libraries, version control, check-out, Specifications, test scripts, prototype results, etc. • Centralized use of lists for issues, tasks • Standardized status reporting • Workflow for issues log and go-live checklist • Workflow automation for migrations to environments • Links to all environments & frequently used websites • Access to all project management documentation, i.e., Charter, Risk Log, Project Plan • Access provided for end user acceptance and student testers

13. User collaboration throughout • Interviews with senior executives, all users • Closed the loop with interviews • Weekly meetings with Student Services senior managers • BIRC meetings monthly with senior university members • Quarterly Administrators group meetings • Numerous demos throughout the project • Sought user input to modifications • On agenda for various end user group meetings • Co-op students managed student UAT • Numerous email communications, newspaper ads • Website with ongoing project information, training materials, videos and training registration

14. SIMS Website

15. Targeted training • Used input from user interviews • Created short sessions targeted to specific user areas • Encouraged participation through prizes and giveaways • Use of video-cam at other campuses • Over 30 video tutorials for students and faculty • User survey on training was rated 4.5 out of 5

16. Training Courses Offered

17. Post production support • Kept resources on for 1 ½ months after go-live • Roaming support concept • Use of walkie-talkies • Post go-live training sessions • Demonstrated grade upload to Faculty

18. What would we do differently? • Training • Time consuming but important for SFU staff • Could have used more time to prepare materials • Longer training sessions • Interviews • Re-interview the user base at end of project • Work environment • Dedicated project work room including training rooms

19. Questions? • Janet Backe Director, Project Management Office Simon Fraser University jbacke@sfu.ca 604-268-6997 • Stanton Guy Management Consultant Sierra Systems Consultants stantonguy@sierrasystems.com 604-688-1371