 At the halfway point of fiscal 2006, I am pleased to report progress on a number of responsibilities assumed by the Financials Support Services (FSS) team. Perhaps most significant is the launch of the project to upgrade UCF Financials to version 8.9. Although Hurricane Wilma disrupted our scheduled launch presentation and luncheon on October 24th, we have nonetheless begun our Interactive Design and Prototyping TM (IDP) sessions. Here is an update on the wide variety of projects that the FFS team has undertaken to support and enhance UCF Financials:
- The upgrade project is in full swing. Effectively, the first stage of the upgrade started with advance planning in August. With a go-live date of May 1, 2006, the project is currently at the Interactive Design/Prototyping TM (IDP) stage. IDP sessions provide an opportunity for principals and experts to work together to design a system that will function for UCF’s specific requirements, using the Oracle/PeopleSoft Enterprise Financials accounting software. At the conclusion of the design process, UCF will have a detailed understanding of how the upgraded system will support university requirements, as well as any modifications that will need to be applied or business processes that need to be updated. The changes will be included in the prototype and reviewed throughout development and testing phases.
- The enhanced Financials DataMart was successfully launched on October 24th. You can now access not only actuals data, but also encumbrance and budget transactions, and obtain disbursement data from the legacy FLAIR system for transactions prior to July 1st, 2003. The successful completion of this project required extensive time commitments from members of the FSS team, the Office of Research and Commercialization (ORC), and Computer Services, and I am truly proud of our collaborative effort.
- Finance and Accounting was instrumental in developing a new application to automate the request of new departments and projects via application messaging, and the application has been successfully implemented by the Office of Research and Commercialization (ORC). Again, the success of this project required the joint efforts of many at F&A and ORC, as well as Information Technology specialists at the Institute for Simulation and Training (IST). A second phase of this project entails a rollout to a wider UCF audience in the near future, thereby affording to other groups who request departments and projects the benefits of automation.
- The revised Departmental Authorization List (DAL) is scheduled for go-live in December. Financials Support Services will provide a number of resources to help explain and implement this online version of the DAL. We plan to host workshops for hands-on training, provide new Addy Notes and Tips, and populate DAL information into the Ask Addy knowledge base. In addition, Financials Help Desk representatives will be fully qualified to assist users with the enhanced, online DAL.
- In September, I and several Computer Services and Student Financials team members attended the 2005 Oracle OpenWorld conference held in San Francisco. With over 35,000 reported participants, OpenWorld is the premier Oracle event for business decision-makers and IT management. The conference provided me a progress report on Project Fusion, Oracle’s plan to combine the strengths of both Oracle and PeopleSoft applications into a unified software product. Fusion is a likely candidate for implementation at UCF, in accordance with the university’s stated policy to remain current with its software vendors.
- The 2005 Educause conference was held from October 18th–21st in Orlando. Educause is a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology. The conference offered ways to gather information, engage with colleagues, and hear from leading figures in the field. UCF’s Director of Computer Services and Telecommunications Robert Yanckello and I were pleased to be asked represent UCF as Oracle clients in Oracle’s booth at Educause. We made valuable connections with corporate Oracle/PeopleSoft specialists in higher education, as well as our own counterparts from different universities who use Oracle/PeopleSoft products.
I expect to have the opportunity to meet personally with many of you over the coming months as we work together to support and improve UCF Financials, and as always, I remain open to suggestions and constructive feedback from you, our user community.
Project Manager
Associate Controller, UCF Finance & Accounting
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