GUS Cloud Project Updates

To see the project timeline select here

GUS Finance / GUS Procurement

The GUS Finance / GUS Procurement system has been live for over 4 months. For the most part things are running well, but issues and bugs are still being worked out. Recently Department Managers were assigned a financial role, which allows them to review financial transactions and balances via dashboard reports. Videos and job aids were sent out along with being available in Yammer or on the GUS Cloud website.

Remember to use the Yammer GUS Cloud Finance and Procurement group to report problems, ask questions or research previous conversations.

GUS Cloud contact information and methods are available by clicking (http://www.pittstate.edu/info/gus-cloud/customer-support.dot).

GUS Human Resources

The HR team has been working diligently to prepare GUS HR for go-live. With two go-live dates coming soon (Core HR the end of this month and Payroll on July 1) they are working to validate data and also to run parallel payroll test cycles to detect any error or tweaking that need to be completed. Core HR go live will enhance GUS Finance and GUS Procurement since employee data will be kept current in GUS Cloud. Training for Payroll will be conducted via video instruction or hands-on sessions and will begin the end of April. With Payroll going live during the summer, training will also be provided in the fall.

The campus will see some process and approval changes with GUS HR. These changes, along with other implementation information, are being communicated on the GUS HR website, which can be found at www.pittstate.edu/office/hr/oracle-cloud.dot .

You can also leave feedback or comments in the form to the right.

GUS Finance / GUS Procurement

The GUS Finance / GUS Procurement system has been live 6 weeks. Transactions are being processed and bills are being paid. The period close for October is currently underway. For the most part things are working well, but there are a few issues that we are still working through.

The implementation project has been completed, with the Oracle implementation support team handing off support of the system to Oracle Support. PSU has been assigned a CSM (Customer Support Manager) for ongoing support and to help get resolution on any issues encountered.

Initial reports are now available. An overview presentation is available at https://www.yammer.com/pittstate.edu/#/files/72627202 with more report details available in Yammer. Reports will continue to be developed over time as needs are identified.

GUS Cloud contact information and methods are available by clicking ( http://www.pittstate.edu/info/gus-cloud/customer-support.dot ).

GUS Human Resources

The #1 priority of the HR implementation is to be ready and able to successfully process payroll for the first go-live pay period and every following pay period. After two very hard and stressful weeks working on parallel payroll testing, the team decided to push out the GUS HR go-live date until mid-March 2017 so that the #1 priority is accomplished.

The teams are continuing to work through parallel payroll process to test the GUS HR setup against our needs. Once the testing is successful the GUS Cloud site will be configured following the HR specifications. Due to the delay, training is now targeted to start in January.

he campus will see some process and approval changes with GUS HR. These changes, along with other implementation information, are being communicated on the GUS HR website, which can be found at www.pittstate.edu/office/hr/oracle-cloud.dot.

You can also leave feedback or comments in the form to the right.

Training Material

In an attempt to provide a location for all training resources, webpages have been developed to provide a one-stop shop location for resources.

GUS Cloud Finance and Procurement is located at http://www.pittstate.edu/info/gus-cloud/gus-cloud-training-materials.dot

GUS Cloud HCM is located at http://pittstate.edu/office/hr/gus-cloud-training-resources.dot

Information will be added as it is developed.

GUS Finance / GUS Procurement

We are wrapping up our first month of use with GUS Finance / GUS Procurement. There have been a few problems, but overall things have been going well. We are still working with Oracle on issue resolution, reporting, and other miscellaneous details. Remember to use the GUS Cloud Finance & Procurement group in Yammer to post questions or any support.

Training on some basic reporting tools for the primary users will be conducted Nov 3 – 8. More reporting will become available as we get more familiar with this new system.

GUS Cloud contact information and methods are available by clicking the Customer Support link in the left-side menu ( http://www.pittstate.edu/info/gus-cloud/customer-support.dot ).

GUS Human Resources

Initial testing of the test system has been completed. There were some challenges during data conversion since our legacy system is dated and was customized over the years. The teams spent some time determining the correct conversion to ensure the data is properly loaded in GUS HR.

Currently the Human Resources office is conducting parallel payroll testing in GUS HR. This involves running a mock payroll process in Oracle Cloud for one of our recently pay cycles to compare the results of the test to the actual pay data. This will help determine any areas that needs to be revised. After this first test has been completed, the plan is to additional pay cycles to validate the results.

Training for entering hours worked (or absences) should begin soon. There will be several versions of the instructional videos due to the various employee classifications. Employees will receive an email to watch the appropriate video for their classification. They can then log into the test system to enter a mock payroll or can sign up for a hands-on training session. Training will also be offered for line managers (supervisors) on approving the time and leave entered by their staff.

The campus will see some process and approval changes with GUS HR. These changes, along with other implementation information, are being communicated on the GUS HR website, which can be found at www.pittstate.edu/office/hr/oracle-cloud.dot .

GUS Finance / GUS Procurement

It’s go-live time! The teams are working hard to get everything finalized, interfaces completed and systems ready for go-live on Sat., Oct 1.

The cutover schedule has been activated as systems begin to roll over to interface with GUS Cloud. This includes changes due to the new Chart of Accounts, CASHNet (payment gateway for various services), and new business practices. The Business and Purchasing Offices will be working over the weekend to bring balances forward, enter open POs, and give the system a good test. The plan will be to allow SWAT members to access the system on Monday, Oct. 3. They will begin entering POs, etc. If all goes well, the remainder of campus will have access to finance and procurement functions beginning Tuesday, Oct. 4.

There are a number of processes, reports, etc. that will continue to be improved as time goes on. Oracle releases upgrades about every six months. We will be building the plan to test and approve upgrades on a regular schedule.

Much has been done to prepared for and provide support to campus users as we move to GUS Cloud. Contact information and methods are available by clicking ( http://www.pittstate.edu/info/gus-cloud/customer-support.dot ).

GUS Human Resources

The GUS HR teams are reaching a crucial point in the implementation of Oracle HCM. We are currently loading employee data in a new test system that will be used to run parallel payroll processes. This critical process will be run multiple times. It is conducted to ensure all PSU payroll and benefit requirements have been set up correctly by the Oracle team.

ITS has been working with Oracle to recreate the interface files with the State and our various benefit providers. These will also be tested during the parallel payroll testing.

Training for GUS HR is slated to begin in mid-October. All employees will be required to enter time in a test system, with their supervisors approving the time. Training will be presented via video tutorials or by attending a hands-on session. More information to come on the training process.

The campus will see some process and approval changes with GUS HR. These changes, along with other implementation information, are being communicated on the GUS HR website, which can be found at www.pittstate.edu/office/hr/oracle-cloud.dot .

GUS Finance / GUS Procurement

Over 50 training sessions have been completed with more scheduled in the month of September. Those who have received training to date are the primary users who manage procurement and/or accounting for departments across campus. Upcoming training sessions will be available for others who handle similar functions. In addition, information and training will be conducted for all supervisors, since they will be handling approvals.

GUS Finance / GUS Procurement will go live Oct 1. In preparation the Business Office is building a cutover plan. This will look very similar to the year-end process conducted by the Business and Purchasing Offices. Activities will begin the middle of September in the hopes of a smooth transition between systems.

At the time of GUS Finance / GUS Procurement go-live account balances will be moved to Oracle. Financial transactions for FY 2017 will be available as view-only in the current systems.

When moving to a new solution, there are always unanticipated bumps in the road. The functional teams have been prepping for this. The primary users and functional team members have been communicating via a Yammer group, which has help facilitate discussion and questions. This will continue, with the addition of regular meetings. A plan is being developed for support after go-live and to train new employees.

Change can be difficult, but keep in mind a quote from the English writer, Arnold Bennett - “Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts.”

GUS Human Resources

The HR team is continuing to get familiar with the Oracle Cloud HCM product. They are testing data loads and processes to ensure business will be conducted in the best manner. In addition, the PSU and Oracle teams are building out a plan to run parallel payroll process from the GUS system and Oracle to ensure our payroll is computed and transmitted correctly. This parallel payroll test will first be conducted in October, through running several payroll processes.

Knowing that the financial and HR packages will need to be integrated, the platform for the parallel payroll testing received a copy of the go-live finance and procurement data. HR specific data will be added to this platform, which will mimic the go-live of the HCM component for the first 2017 payroll.

All PSU employees will need to receive training to enter time working and absences. This training is currently being planned and scheduled to start in early October. The GUS HR system will beginning capturing payroll data beginning Dec 18, 2016 – which is the first payroll to be paid out in 2017.

The campus will see some process and approval changes with GUS HR. These changes, along with other implementation information, are being communicated on the GUS HR website, which can be found at www.pittstate.edu/office/hr/oracle-cloud.dot .

GUS Finance / GUS Procurement

We are on the countdown!!

The GUS Cloud site for Finance and Procurement is getting closer to completion. The Production site has been set up for go-live and then was copied back to the test environment. This will allow training to occur in a mirror image of the final go-live site, without compromising the integrity of our production system.

Speaking of training, campus training has been officially kicked off. With the help of the SWAT (Support Wiz Action Team) members, training has been tested and reviewed. An initial group of Primary Users (about 80 people) have been identified, who will need comprehensive user training in all aspects of GUS Finance and GUS Procurement. After training is well underway for the Primary Users, other who will only need certain modules, like Punchout in GUS Procurement will be invited to sign up for training.

Since much of the training is hands-on the number of attendees has been limited. Computers will be provided in these sessions. There will also be informational sessions for those that need an overview and understanding of the processes.

In preparation for go-live, the Business Office and Purchasing Departments will be publishing cutoff dates very soon. Those dates will be available on the GUS Cloud website. As a reminder, go-live will occur on Oct 1, 2016.

GUS Human Resources

The GUS HR implementation is also moving along at a good pace. The PSU HR team is testing the initial configuration of the GUS HR system. This is a slow process, but is quite helpful in working through various employee processes.

The current status and information about process changes is regularly communicated in the weekly HRS Newsletter. Demos of the time entry and leave taken process will be held on:

- 8/4/2016 - 9am – Russ Hall Room 401
- 8/11/2016 – 11am – Russ Hall Room 401
- 8/31/2016 – 2pm – OSC, Governor’s Room

More information on the GUS HR status can be found at www.pittstate.edu/office/hr/oracle-cloud.dot .

GUS Finance / GUS Procurement

We’re getting closer!!! The implementation teams were working toward getting the production system ready on July 1. There were some issues, centering around approvals, punch out vendors and user roles, that came up recently which weren’t resolved by that date. Except for these items, all the configurations have been completed and all data loaded. The next steps involve reporting, prepping for go-live and campus training.

The SWAT team continues to meet in preparation for training the general campus user. Approximately 75 high-end users have been identified and notified of the first training sessions on navigation and Chart of Accounts changes will begin on July 25. These training sessions will continue through Aug and Sept. The training will include hands-on and information sessions for various levels of campus users. Information will continue to be sent out regarding training.

GUS Cloud will go live on Release 11. The production server will be upgraded to this version on July 9 & 10. After the upgrade there will need to be some review of the site. The 3^rd week of July the production site will be copied back to the training server. This will allow all training to be conducted in an exact replication of the go-live setup.

The functional and IT teams have been meeting with the Oracle Project Manager to detail the steps that will need to be taken prior to go-live. The data on the production site will need to be refreshed and all integrations will need to interact with the live site. In addition, the financial components of the administrative system will need to change to read-only. Checklists are being created so no steps are overlooked.

Go-live will occur on Oct 1, 2016.

GUS Human Resources

GUS HR implementation team is deep in the details. Moving from a highly customized system to a packaged system creates many discussion points. In addition, PSU is an early higher-education adopter of Oracle Cloud, so we are introducing higher-ed requirements. There are PSU practices and procedures that are being discussed with PSU leadership to determine the best path forward. As you might imagine, there are many meetings to work through all of the intricacies of GUS HR.

The HR functional team is working through testing scripts on the HCM (Human Capital Management) setup and data loads. This is producing a list of issues that require various levels of follow-up. This work will continue for several months as the system is fine-tuned.

At the same time, information and training are being developed. With GUS HR each employee will have the ability to enter their own payroll time. This will require training for all employees, in addition to training heavier users. We anticipate HR training will begin in early fall for a mid-December go-live. There are also many integrations with the State and various providers. Both the PSU IT and Oracle teams are continuing to work out the details for these integrations.

More information on the GUS HR status can be found at www.pittstate.edu/office/hr/oracle-cloud.dot .

GUS Finance / GUS Procurement

The GUS Finance and GUS Procurement implementations are continuing to move forward. Our test system has been upgrade to Release 11 - the version we will be on at go-live, so testing is taking place to get familiar with the changed functionality. Final details are being worked through and our production system is being configured and data loaded. This is all to be completed by July 1. In July support will copy the configured production environment back to our test server. This will give us a mirror environment to train users across campus.

Integrations between GUS Cloud and other PSU systems are also being finalized. There are a number of business reports that will need to be sent to the State. Another group of integrations are centered around business process involving student payments, refunds, payroll, etc. There are also a number of reports that are in process of being built.

A group of early adopters has been formed to work through the processes, review and improve our training material. This group, SWAT (Support Wiz Action Team) includes:

Mark Darker, Intercollegiate Athletics
Bryronni Ferguson, EMSS
Lori Hall, College of Technology
Donna Jacobs, ITS
Karen Kirk, Student Health Services
Karen LaSota, College of Education
Barbara McCarley, Graduate and Continuing Studies
Mimi Morrison, College of Business
Sharese Moser, Facilities Planning
Tish Potter, KCCTE
Mary Scimeca, ACIS
Marla Ulbrich, Advancement Services
Tom Westhoff, University Housing

The goals of the SWAT group are 1) Assist with training development, 2) Assist with training (both scheduled and as a resource in their areas), and 3) On-going end-user support. This group will continue after the go-live date with regular user group meetings.

Training for campus users has been scheduled. There will be different levels of training needed, depending on roles and responsibilities. Approximately 80 people have been identified that will need training in the majority of the GUS Cloud modules. We anticipate their training will begin the end of July and continue through August and September. We will also be scheduling training sessions for those with specific needs.

Training will be in various formats, depending on the topic area and user group. We will provide hands-on sessions, presentations, and videos. Look for more communication on training over the next weeks.

GUS Human Resources

The GUS HR implementation is also moving forward. PSU HR staff has begun their first round of testing. This involves looking at the Oracle configuration to ensure it will support the PSU HR regulations, benefits, etc. At the same time the PSU team is working to export data records from our current system to GUS Cloud. As you might imagine, it is quite an exercise moving from a customize system to a package product. Testing will also be conducted to ensure the data is being loaded correctly in GUS Cloud.

Moving to a new HCM system will require some organization changes that will affect all of campus. One of these changes will be moving all compensatory time to one balance. To learn more about these changes, you can review the HCM detailed update by clicking the GUS HR link.

GUS Finance / GUS Procurement

The Oracle Cloud Finance environment has been configured and data conversion for the third round of testing is being finalized. The finance and procurement departments have begin working through their testing scripts/scenarios. This round of testing is called UAT (User Acceptance Testing). This means that each of our processes will be tested from start to finish with actual user accounts. As the processes are tested all issues are being logged to work toward resolution.

ITS developers continue to work on various components for finance and procurement. These include building reports and various integrations with other PSU services and processes.

There have been several issues that have taken effort from the PSU and Oracle team members. In addition, the PSU Executive Committee has evaluated and made decisions on processes or procedures.

The Oracle Cloud Project Team continues to meet to discuss communication with campus and training of campus users. They are also evaluating readiness for go-live with GUS Finance and GUS Procurement.

GUS Human Resources

The Oracle Cloud team has completed the configurations on the Pod (server) that will host the Human Resource components. Work is continuing on the employee data files that will be used for GUS Finance, GUS Procurement and GUS HR. A small data sample has been loaded and roles being configured. Using a generic account, the PSU HR functional team has begun to evaluate the environment and to better understand the processes.

Moving to a new HCM system will require some organization changes that will affect all of campus. One of these changes will be moving all compensatory time to one balance. To learn more about these changes, you can review the HCM detailed update by clicking the GUS HR link.

GUS Finance / GUS Procurement

The Finance and Purchasing Departments continue to test and work out issues. This has involved many meeting internally and with our Oracle implementation team. Our development team is continuing to work on integrations with the State, our current systems, and other products.

The PSU team will continue to test this week. Several of our Oracle implementation team members will be on campus the end of this week to help wrap up this round of testing and plan for the next round. Our server will be wiped on Monday, March 21 with the financials reconfigured and a fresh data load. It will take a couple of weeks to get things set up, then we will begin the next round of testing. Our goal is that this will be the final testing round.

When we were discussing replacement of our ERP system, student accounts receivable (AR) was considered. All vendors indicated this was part of the Student Information System (SIS). After making the decision to purchase Oracle Cloud we had conversations with them about using their AR for our student payments. After research and evaluation, it was determined that it was in the best interest of PSU and our students to keep the current student AR system in place until PSU purchases a SIS.

For the current time, the assessment system we currently have in place will continue, with work continuing to develop a new process. Payments will continue to be made via CASHNet and funds will be applied to Oracle accounts via journal entries.

Meetings are scheduled during March with each department to share the new Chart of Accounts structure and discuss the department’s accounting needs. These are small working sessions.

GUS Human Resources

The first round of configuration design has been completed and the Oracle team is in the process of setting the server up. HR and ITS have been working to identify the data to be loaded into Oracle HCM. Data is being review and cleaned and some current practices will be modified, which will require the restructure of some data. The first round of testing will begin soon.

The development team is reviewing the list of integrations that will need to be in place for HCM. They are getting training on the Oracle reporting tools, since these will be used for many of the integrations. Work will continue on these for the next several months.

Moving to a new HCM system will require some organization changes that will affect all of campus. To learn more about these changes, you can review the HCM detailed update by clicking the GUS HR link.

March Oracle Cloud Brown Bag

Please click here to view the March Oracle Brown Bag Prezi presentation.

Images of the meeting can be viewed: Image 1, Image 2, Image 3.

GUS Finance / GUS Procurement

CRP2 (Conference Room Pilot) testing started Feb 1 and will continue through early March. From Feb 1 - 12 Oracle functional team members have been at PSU leading the testing process. All implementation team members at PSU and within Oracle have been testing, logging and updating issues for resolution.

We are continuing to load data from our GUS/Admin System into GUS Finance (Oracle Cloud Financials). This has been a slow process, but we are making steady progress. The admin system doesn’t have a way to validate data to ensure it contains the correct information in the correct format. As we load data into Oracle Cloud we are encountering data errors. To facilitate some data cleaning, PSU has purchased an address validation service to ensure addresses for suppliers, students, employees, etc. are in the correct format.

In addition to the data loads, the ITS developers continue to work on integrations with other systems, both internal and external. We are currently focused on the essential processes that need to be in place for go-live. Processes may be manual or a little cumbersome at go-live, but we will continue to refine and automate these as time goes on.

GUS Human Resources

The Human Resources team has daily workshops with Oracle functional team members to learn more about Oracle HCM. They were working on configuration details (the way the system is set up). The end of February the Oracle team will begin to ‘design’ the system using the configuration information we provide. Once the initial setup is completed our HR staff will test the setup to ensure the system will meet our needs.

GUS Finance / GUS Procurement

The initial testing of the core setup has been completed and we are preparing for the next round of testing. CRP2 (Conference Room Pilot) is slated to begin the end of January and run through early March. Preparing for this round of testing, we are setting configurations, workflows, loading data files, etc. In addition, the Financial team is building their test scripts to test processes from start to finish.

Our current Oracle Cloud testing server is on Release 9, but will be upgraded to Release 10 in mid-February. Our financials will go live on Release 10, so we will have time to test prior to rollout.

The Finance team will meet with a group of campus stakeholders to share an update of the implementation project and provide an overview of the new Chart of Accounts (COA) structure and preliminary understanding of the transaction approval process. In the coming months, after the Finance team is comfortable with the COA configuration, they will meet with campus departments to review accounting and reporting requirements and properly define values for COA options. The Finance team is also working through the details of standard configuration for the transaction approval process with Oracle. Once there is a clear understanding of the approval process, that information will be shared with the campus.

In addition to being part of the implementation team, ITS is working on many Oracle Cloud integrations. These integrations will pull or push data from Oracle Cloud into other systems. Due to the number of integrations, at the time of rollout some of the integrations may be manual processes. After go-live, the development team will continue to work to improve processes.

GUS Human Resources

The HR team has been conducting on-line training since early December to gain a better understanding of the HCM (Human Capital Management) system. The implementation project plan is being built and will need to be approved by the State of Kansas Executive Branch CITO (Chief Information Technology Officer). (As a reminder, any project that has a cost over $250,000 has to be reviewed and approved by the State.) The implementation is slated to start in February with on-site workshops and training sessions