October 2006 Real Time Financials aka Shadow System Project

October 2006 What is the Shadow System Project? The shadow systems team was charged by the Associate Vice-Presidents for Finance, Research and MAIS with two primary goals  Identify ways to better integrate central accounting systems with local supplemental systems to reduce redundant efforts  Make financial information more accessible to project directors

October 2006 Shadow System Advisory team (created November 2004) Virginia Wait – Engineering – Chair Douglas Duwe – Medical School Brenda Bernhardsson – Public Health Kathleen Gillespie – MAIS Doreen Graden – Dental School Kerri- Anne Sullivan Cross ISR Lea Tune – Financial Operations Kurt Rigg – Financial Operations Elizabeth Holtzman - LSA Debbie Mero - MAIS

October 2006 Process Survey was conducted with Project Directors and Research Administrators to determine the key reasons for departmental systems Committee reviewed several departmental system including purchased systems to determine requirements Using the committee’s expertise, the survey results, plus work that has occurred since the report was issued, we came up with several key principles

October 2006 Principle If you have already told the enterprise system we ought to be able to project it Translation: Estimated Payroll, Benefits, and Financial Aid information should be made available, in a reportable format, for a defined period of time

October 2006 Principle Whenever feasible the enterprise system should be updated real time Translation: We need more timely posting of transactions to the General Ledger including:  Service unit billings  PCards  Journal Entries  Vouchers

October 2006 Principle Changes that are generated from business processes that occur outside the enterprise system need to be reflected in the enterprise system faster. Translation: We need to improve the process for updating personnel funding changes and sponsored budget changes Project: Human Resources is piloting units updating funding changes Project: TBD - Partner with Sponsored Programs to evaluate sponsored budget change business process

October 2006 Principle Control reports should be the same but management reports can vary based on departmental needs Translation: We should update the data warehouse more frequently to allow units to use custom reports that are available real-time Project: Extract translation load project is looking at ways to update the data warehouse incrementally not a full refresh

October 2006 Principle Even if the enterprise system doesn’t know about it, we should be able to include it in the projection Translation: Need a place for storing local data the enterprise system doesn’t know about Project: Unit Defined Commitments (UDC’s) refinements

October 2006 Principle The interface, especially for faculty, needs to be intuitive  It should start at the summary level and drill down to the detail  The faculty member should only need to know their unique name  The system should know who should get access to what – no M1s  No need for formal training  Related Projects: Web reporting, faculty interface

October 2006 Real Time Financials Advisory team (created August 2006) Nathan Eriksen, School of Information Krista Farmer, Physics Shane Fortune, Ross School of Business Dean Girbach, School of Public Health Jeanni Goormastic, Nuclear Med/Radiology Maggie Herron, Life Sciences Institute Margie Lesser, Engineering Christina Luo, Law School Mary Martinowicz, School of Natural Resources Pam Schwarzman, LS&A Dean’s Office Scott Stanfill, Biophysics Research Candace Terhune, Social Work TBD, Financial Operations

October 2006 So, what is the plan? Expediting information to the GL: SUB (Deb Talley, Todd Ayotte) P-Card (Jackie Creager, PCAG) JE (Eric Kruse, Doug Hovey, Chris Allan) Vouchers (Pat Lilley, Jackie Creager) Extracting SA/HRMS estimate data and creating tables in the General Ledger for estimate information: Payroll / Benefits / Financial Aid Redesign of Corporate Documents (PBSR) Creation of GL tables for migration to the Data Warehouse for ad hoc reporting Ultimate goal: merge this initiative with the Web Reporting and Faculty Interface initiatives (Business Intelligence) Timeline Advisory Group Kickoff Meeting (10/10/06) Implementation Team Planning Meeting (10/18/06) Project planning and technical design (in process) Pre-production testing (TBD) User testing and validation (TBD)

October 2006 So, what is your role? Help us understand your business processes and need for shadow systems Partner with us to provide a campus-wide solution that will eliminate the need for manual, duplicate entry Assist in outreach and communication with user groups on campus to ensure that the delivered functionality will meet the needs of Financial Managers, Directors, Deans and Faculty Fill gaps, challenge our assumptions, bring new perspectives

October 2006 Deliverables Ability to project revenues, expenses and available balance Ability to post transactions from the feeder systems more frequently Ability to book encumbrances from the feeder systems Ability to track commitments that are not in any of the enterprise systems Ability to make notations about expenses after they are posted to the GL

October 2006 What is the take away?  We will be publishing the financial reports to the web  The faculty will have direct access to their data