ERP Evaluation and Selection at at Austin Community College Bill Carter Associate Vice President of Information Technology

Why Replace Legacy System? Cost of Software and Hardware Maintenance Integration of Shadow Systems Departmental Reporting Needs Vendor Maintenance of State and Federal Reports Leadership Change Culture Change Control of All Processes by IT Department

September 1 Financial System online June Datatel software installation May 5 Datatel/IBM RS-6000 approved by the ACC Board of Trustees May 2Datatel/IBM RS-6000 unanimously approved by the ACC Best System Evaluation Team May 1- 2SCT on Campus Presentations April 28-30Datatel on Campus Presentations April 2Computer Options Corporation on Campus Presentations Descending Chronological List of Major Events, 1997

April 15ACC Evaluation Team visited Houston CC, Peoplesoft April 15ACC Evaluation Team visited College of the Mainland, Computer Options April 14ACC Evaluation Team visited North Harris CC, Datatel April 8ACC Budget Hearing listed new administrative system as #1 priority March 26ACC Technology Planning Task Force listed new administrative system as #1 priority Descending Chronological List of Major Events, 1997

Implementation Schedule ACC begins search for new administrative system - Nov 1996 Contract signed with Datatel - May 1997 Administrative System Installed - June 1997 Business Services LIVE - Sept 1997 Human Resources LIVE - Jan 1999 Student System LIVE - June 1999

Pre and Post Legacy System An Overview of the Change Process Structure System Ownership Communication Decision Making Management Then 7 Campuses Departmental Telephone/Paper Departmental Closed Minded Now One College College Wide Web/ Work Groups Open Minded College Wide

Pre and Post Legacy System An Overview of the Change Process Analytical Thinking Learning Curve Job Requirements User Knowledge Then Not required None Clerical Comfortable Now Required Teachable Moments Information Managers Challenged College Staff

Pre and Post Legacy System An Overview of the Change Process Computer Operating System Printing Security Decisions System Architecture Database Structure Then Mainframe VM/VSE Centralized IT Closed Flat File Now RISC Server Unix De-Centralized Supervisor defined Open Relational DBMS Information Technology

Implementation Traps: Information Technology Description Users logging on Never enough Agenda Early Onsite and Timely Trap Number of Users Consulting Days Consulting Visits IT Training Staff Training Avoiding/Minimizing Count the number of users Budget for twice as many Require agenda for all visits Early and repeated Budget for onsite training and schedule around realistic LIVE dates

Implementation Traps: Information Technology Description Terms of agreement Vendor manual Who will do it? System runs fine He said - She said Trap Contract Manuals User Training Hardware Sizing Meeting Minutes Avoiding/Minimizing Read the contract Write your own Train in-house staff Number of users Document everything

Implementation Traps: Information Technology Description Nothing else needed to make it work Person in charge Long term employees and their contribution Trap Third Party Software Org Structure of Vendor Institutional History and Staff Avoiding/Minimizing Full Inventory to go LIVE Know the President and Vice Presidents of the vendor Best sources of information on why it was done this way.

Implementation Traps: Student Services Description Realistic Same meaning to everyone Verify data and setups consistently “The way we were” Dr Jeckel and Mr. Hyde Trap Time lines Terms Staff Skills Legacy vs New LIVE vs TEST Avoiding/Minimizing Survey and Visit Detailed Expectations Sign off and document experiences Plain Vanilla Expect the worst and hope for the best

Implementation Traps: Student Services Trap Implementation Integration Additional Duties Right and Wrong Description New software and reengineering Other modules of system Current job and the new system Software vendor vs Staff members Avoiding/Minimizing Drive change before implementation Business Services and Curriculum Management Implementation Team and EXTRA staff Know what you don’t know

Implementation Traps: Student Services Trap Size of Staff Automated System Description New system will reduce staff size Automated vs Automatic Avoiding/Minimizing Manage expectation through implementation Reports, Processes, Staff and the commands required to run them.

Questions to Ask Before Purchasing a Software System Is the system fully integrated and installed at an institution of comparable size? What is the process for reporting bugs and receiving fixes to the system? Is the process done by the vendor or the institution? What third party systems are integrated with the software system? Are any required in order to complete the installation? What is the timeline of the regulatory releases for: W2s, 1099s, IPEDS Reports, 1098Ts and any State Reporting requirements?

Questions to Ask Before Purchasing a Software System Are trainers and consultants cross trained on modules throughout the system? (Example: AR/CR and Financial Aid) Does vendor have a rapid response team or SWAT team to address clients during crisis and critical times? What is the ratio of trainers and consultants to each module? How will the vendor deal with future growth to keep this ratio service oriented? What does the vendor consider its CORE business?

Questions to Ask Current Clients Before Purchasing a Software System What are the strengths of the system from a users prospective? If you could change five things about the system, what would they be? If you were installing the software for the first time, what would you do differently and why? If your institution were purchasing a new system today, would you purchase the same system from the same vendor?

Questions to Ask Current Clients Before Purchasing a Software System On a scale of 1 to 4, how satisfied were you with the vendors assistance in the following areas: Preparing approach document Training IT staff Training users Responding in a timely and useful manner to questions Trouble-shooting problems Telling users when something they want to do is not possible Helping the team at the top develop realistic expectations and timelines Delivering the product they promised to deliver

Questions to Ask Current Clients Before Purchasing a Software System What were the gains and losses in the following areas during the first year of the implementation? Information Technology Financial Aid Business Services Admissions and Records Advising and Counseling Human Resources State, Federal and Local Reports

Questions to Ask Current Clients Before Purchasing a Software System Does it take more or less time to accomplish the following in the new system compared to the Legacy system? Process an application Register a student Process a financial aid award Collect and post payments Run state and local reports Are processes automated and automatic, or do they involve lots of hands-on work?

Questions and Answers from Participants

The End Thank you