1 Local Readiness Team Lead Kick-Off Meeting May 16, 2007

2 Agenda Project Café Purpose Business Process Improvement Goals Timelines Project Café Update Implementation Readiness Overview Implementation Readiness Team and Responsibilities Local Readiness Team Lead Meetings & Activities

3 Project Café Purpose Project Café (also known as the Financial Management Systems Replacement Initiative) is charged with replacing Northwestern University’s current financial system, CUFS, with the following software: PeopleSoft Financials (Chart of Accounts, General Ledger, Post-Award, Supply Chain) InfoEd (Grants Pre-Award) Cognos Planning (Budget) FAMIS (Facilities Management) Other 3rd Party Software

4 Improve efficiency, timelines, and customer service o Eliminate the need for redundant data entry o Reduce paper-based routing o Increase self-service capabilities by distributing functions to end users Simplify and standardize University-wide processes and practices, to the extent practicable o Minimize variations in business processes across the University o Improve adherence to existing (and new) policies and procedures Business Process Improvement Goals

5 Improve data quality o Enter information as close to the original source as possible o Use pull-down menus to reduce data entry errors Enable managers to focus on higher level considerations and decisions o Use a greater degree of post-transaction review rather than pre-transaction approval o Manage risk with system controls and meaningful exception reports o Provide reporting that is timely, easy to use, and meets the needs in formats that are relevant to the research and teaching community

6 Project Café Timeline

7 Caf é Activities Timeline

8 Project Café Update InfoEd o finishing design/build phase o starting business process and user acceptance testing o training development in process PeopleSoft: working on designing and building modifications Cognos Planning: working on requirements gathering FAMIS: working on requirements gathering

9 Purpose Ensure that all members of the Northwestern community who are impacted by the new systems are consulted, informed, trained, and prepared to successfully use the new systems. Goals Assist all affected units to anticipate and prepare for change in workflow, policy, and business processes Identify new responsibilities associated with new and changed business processes Assist the units in socializing new terminology, distributing communications, identifying end user hardware requirements, security, and training needs Implementation Readiness Overview

10 Implementation Readiness Team (IRT) Project Café Readiness Liaisons Process Owners Team (team created for each functional area within Project Café) Local Readiness Team Leads (LRTLs)

11 Local Readiness Team Leads (LRTL) Primary Responsibilities Learn about impending process changes and and impacts to school/department Help prepare school/department for necessary business process, policy, and system changes as identified by Project Café Provide feedback from the school/department to the Project Receive communications from Project Café and disseminate to school/department Determine appropriate access levels and training for end users in school/department Ensure end users register for and attend training Identify technical gaps in school/department based on Project Café hardware/software requirements Coordinate Project Café requests for user participation (user acceptance testing, data clean-up)

12 Process Owners Team Primary Responsibilities Help define implementation scope and change impact Assist in determining possible barriers to change across the University Identify functional requirements and provide input to configuration and functional designs Assist in the design of policies and procedures based around the functionality of the software Provide input to the identification of central and unit security roles Assist in the preparation and review of testing materials Participate in test execution Review converted data and perform data clean-up Assist in the communication of changes to processes and policies Assist in the creation and review of training materials

13 Project Café Readiness Liaisons Primary Responsibilities Facilitate meetings of the Local Readiness Team Leads Provide information about implementation-specific readiness requirements Develop implementation schedules and milestones Provide ongoing, timely, and relevant communication Provide consultation as needed Develop and disseminate targeted communications and resource materials for LRTLs and end users Provide end user training Prepare checklists and templates

14 Monthly Implementation Readiness Team Meeting all members should attend o Review project timeline and status o Discuss approach for conducting project tasks (training, end user support, testing, communications, etc.) o Discuss overarching process and procedure changes and their impacts o Address questions and provide feedback o Review activities on the Unit Readiness Plan Meetings on implementation specific topics (e.g., InfoEd) will be held as necessary only members from affected schools/departments need attend o Demonstrate the new software o Discuss implementation-specific changes and impacts to business processes and procedures LRTL Meetings

15 What you should do at your home location Communicate information at your school/department standing meetings o Use presentation materials from LRTL meetings o Obtain feedback and address questions (or forward them to us) Perform activities noted on the Unit Readiness Plan o Assign end users to appropriate security role(s) o Assist end users in training registration Create school/department distribution lists for each implementation to assist in disseminating information LRTL Activities

16 Questions? Feel free to contact us with any questions… Tiffany Cleaver Implementation Readiness Team Lead Assistant Functional Manager OR