1. GeorgiaFIRST Financials 2018 Update and Roadmap
Donna Wooddell, Assistant Director
Administrative Services
Information Technology Services

2. Agenda GeorgiaFIRST Financials – Our History Where we are today
Current Projects and Initiatives
Our Future
Questions

3. GeorgiaFIRST Financials – Our History
Celebrating 20th Anniversary
The “GeorgiaFIRST” project was created in January 1998
Began the Financials implementation at the USG teaching institutions, along with System Office (USO).
GeorgiaFIRST branding
Financial, Information & Reporting Systems for Tomorrow
Why PeopleSoft?
To meet GASB (Governmental Accounting Standards Board) Requirements
Enhanced Functionality
Future Maintenance Issues of legacy Financials Software (CUFA)

4. GeorgiaFIRST Financials Timeline
GeorgiaFIRST Project Created
v7.5 Go-Live
January 1998
Stabilization Period
1998
2002
2003
2004
2005
2007
GeorgiaFIRST Financials Timeline
Database Consolidation
GeorgiaFIRST Marketplace Implemented
March 2011
July 1, 2009
2011
2010
2009
2008
2013
iStrategy
v8.9 Upgrade
May 2010
October 2008
v9.2 Upgrade
Database & PT8.52
March 2015
December 2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
PUM13 PT8.54
PUM19 PT8.55
PUM27 PT8.56
PUM23
December 2018
November 2015
November 2016
December 2017

5. Where We Are Today

6. GeorgiaFIRST Financials Model
One Production Database (FPROD)
23 Institutions currently supported
Represented as GL Business Units
14 GL Business Units no longer active
Retained for historical information

7. Adoption of Application Functionality
ePro and GeorgiaFIRST Marketplace
21 Institutions using ePro
18 use both ePro & GFM

8. Adoption of Application Functionality
Institution
T&E Module
Cash Advances
Travel Auths
Albany State University
Yes
Clayton State University No
Fort Valley State University
Georgia College & State Univer
Georgia Southern University
Georgia Gwinnett College
Georgia Southwestern St Univ
Valdosta State University
University of West Georgia
Atlanta Metropolitan State College
Dalton State College
Georgia Highlands College
Gordon State College
Middle Georgia State University
South Georgia State College
Board of Regents - USO
Columbus State University
N/A
Kennesaw State University
No (Concur)
Savannah State University
University of North Georgia
No*
Abraham Baldwin Agri College
College of Coastal Georgia
East Georgia State College
Travel & Expenses Module
16 Institutions using Travel & Expenses
2 institutions considering implementation

9. Adoption of Application Functionality
Positive Pay
(Fraud Prevention Tool)
18 institutions use Positive Pay

10. Application Trends – ACH Vendor Payments

11. Application Trends - SHARE Supplier (Vendor) file
7 institutions use SHARE Suppliers
(Maintained by Shared Services Center)

12. Payment Request Functionality
Included in Annual Maintenance Release (5.30) December 2017
Benefits:
Automates Invoice routing and approval prior to Voucher creation
Reduces AP workload
Implementation status:
Fort Valley and Georgia Southern – implemented this year
Albany – completed UAT and in process of implementing
Attend the “Implementing AP Payment Request for Your Institution” session
Thursday 1:20 – 2:10

13. Financials Audit Framework (Audit Logging)
Provides efficient tracking of transaction processing for enhanced visibility and detailed audit trail.
Tracks the User ID and date/time of specific actions
Does not track the changed values
Turned on PeopleSoft audit logging for:
Accounts Payable
General Ledger
Asset Management

14. Financials Audit Framework (Audit Logging)
Example: AP needs to know who cancelled an AP Payment
Navigate to Search Audit Logs page
Retrieve payment cancellation log
A new Job Aid will be created to provide:
List of processes by module
Instructions
Security needed

15. Budget Prep Redesigned!
Significant Changes FY2019
Change from ADP to OneUSG Connect
Streamlined Budget Prep module processing
Required development in both Financials and OneUSG Connect
Now a highly cross-functional process that engages practitioners from both Financials and OneUSG Connect
Attend “The Fiscal Year Budgeting Process: Lessons Learned and Future Enhancements” session Friday 9:45am
UGA will demo their Hyperion Budget Management and Budget Amendment solution

16. USG Consolidations Completing our 5th Consolidation project
Merged two sets of GeorgiaFIRST institutions:
ABAC (A) + Bainbridge (B) = ABAC (A)
Georgia Southern (A) + Armstrong (B) = Georgia Southern (A)

17. Current Projects and Initiatives

18. Keeping the Application Current
Oracle Critical Patch Updates (CPU’s)
Apply quarterly
Proactive, stay current policy
Oracle Maintenance and new features
Apply annually
Retrofit BOR customizations
Full system test

19. Annual Oracle Maintenance Release 2018
Release Number: FREL5.40
Applying PeopleSoft Update Images (PUM):
through
Includes PeopleTools Upgrade to
System Downtime:
Begins 5:00pm Thursday, November 29th
Available again by 7:00am Monday, December 3rd

20. Annual Oracle Maintenance Release 2018
New Classic Plus stylesheet
Unifies the look and feel of Classic and Fluid pages
Buttons green, padding increased, fonts match
Not all pages converted to Classic plus yet

21. Annual Oracle Maintenance Release 2018
Single Sign-on for Financials
Permits a user to access multiple applications with one set of login credentials
SSO and Multifactor Authentication are OneUSG Connect requirements
Attend Debora Exum’s session “GeorgiaFIRST Financials Annual Maintenance Release”
9:40am

22. Augusta University Financials Project
Working with Augusta University to transition hosting and support of their Financials from Cerner to ITS
Project referred to as “Lift and Shift”
Go-live planned for May 30, 2019
Next Step
Analyze all current USG Financial models with a goal of creating a “Best in Breed” application
Timeline not yet determined

23. Our Future

24. How do we get there?

25. Change Control Process
OneUSG Connect team has been actively engaged in utilizing a formal Change Control process and committee to prioritize efforts.
GeorgiaFIRST Financials will be working with the committee as we move forward to help guide our priorities.
Cost
Resources
Timelines

26. Improve Budget Functionality
Additional Budget Prep enhancements
Financials and OneUSG Connect
Budget Amendment Functionality
On hold until:
Budget Prep improvements completed
Vacant ITS Budget Prep BSA position filled

27. Implement new Modules Implementation of Grants Suite:
Accounts Receivable
Billing
Grants
Project Costing
Contracts

28. Take Advantage of Delivered Features
Accounting Tags
Similar to SpeedCharts
Automatically fills in the accounting information
New Query Tools
Connected queries
Can link multiple queries to a single parent query
Implement Procurement Contract functionality
Attend “Procurement from A to Z” 9:45am

29. Identify a Reporting Solution
Looked at options within database
Department Manager Dashboard
iStrategy
Support Challenges (e.g. Vendor has to make needed changes)
Need to sunset or upgrade
Oracle has not announced their direction (Business Analytics)
Will look at reporting tools currently used
UGA – Hyperion, etc.

30. Implement PeopleSoft Test Framework
Automates system testing
Reduces the overall time of manual testing
Speeds up deployment

31. Questions