Carolina plans to collaborate with N.C. State on technology for key components of both ERP systems

Carolina will collaborate with N.C. State University to save money and improve efficiency on the human resources and finance components of both universities’ Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems.

The ERP systems are major campuswide administrative systems for student services, human resources, payroll and finance.

At Carolina, this broad initiative is known as ConnectCarolina. The partnership with N.C. State will focus on the human resources and finance administrative systems.

Oracle’s PeopleSoft software underpins both schools’ ERP systems. N.C. State has used PeopleSoft for those functions for a decade and is upgrading to the latest version, and Carolina plans to use those components.

Information technology offices on both campuses can learn from each other while avoiding duplicating efforts.

The partnership aims to tap the most efficient mix of sharing hardware, software, resources, business operations and vendor contracts to improve effectiveness and reduce costs for both universities. Both campuses are investing equal resources – equipment and staffing – and plan to be up and running with the new systems in 2013. 

The idea grew from a previous collaboration by Larry Conrad and Marc Hoit while serving in technology posts at separate Florida universities. Now they hold the same title – vice chancellor for information technology and chief information officer – at Carolina and N.C. State, respectively. They discussed possible joint PeopleSoft work last year as the economic downturn hit. Budget cuts made the opportunity for collaboration and saving money even more compelling.

Conrad estimated that undertaking the same work at Carolina without N.C. State’s involvement would have required at least an additional 60 employees. The joint effort may only require about 30 new hires.

“By working together, we can leverage the knowledge and skills of employees on both campuses in a way that’s more efficient and significantly reduces the personnel expenses required to get the job done,” he said.

At N.C. State, Hoit cited advantages in business continuity if either campus experienced a technology emergency. “Since we will share development, common systems and distribution across both campuses, we can have a significant improvement in our disaster recovery ability at no additional cost,” he said.

The joint work also has positive implications for increasing the technology purchasing power of both campuses by improving discounts, Conrad and Hoit said.

And the changes come at the same time as a new state law covering certain purchases by UNC system campuses.

Improvements in purchasing are timely since the University has just launched Carolina Counts in response to recommendations from a privately funded study by global consulting firm Bain & Company to make the University more operationally effective.

Campuswide procurement is one of 10 priority areas within that initiative.

Top financial and human resources administrators from both campuses will help guide teams dedicated to developing common business practices.

From the information technology offices, Gwen Hazlehurst from N.C. State and Jerri Bland from Carolina will lead the collaboration. Bland is project director for ConnectCarolina and has extensive experience implementing PeopleSoft projects.

Four task committees are exploring the collaboration possibilities for the technical infrastructure, the chart of accounts and the overall human resources and financial systems. One example being considered for early implementation is PeopleSoft’s eProcurement module, which includes a commodity tracking system that may help support efforts to negotiate better prices.

The University plans to begin this work next month. N.C. State already uses eProcurement, and that experience will help the Carolina team fast track the project.

ConnectCarolina is becoming an integral part of campus infrastructure

The University’s transformational endeavor to replace its aging computer infrastructure, known as ConnectCarolina, is on schedule even though the most complicated applications systems – those dealing with student services – are being tackled first.

ConnectCarolina is the University’s new integrated administrative computer system that replaces disparate 20-year-old systems managing student services, human resources, payroll and finance.

It is a colossal undertaking that has taken several years to plan and is being implemented in stages.

Already, the undergraduate admissions, new MyUNC portal and online campus directory components have gone live, with student records, financial aid, graduate admissions, student financials (the Cashier’s Office) and academic advising all slated to be live by October 2010.

ConnectCarolina has also provided an opportunity for the University to examine its business practices and find ways to improve them, Jerri Bland, project director, told an audience in Gerrard Hall during a Nov. 9 town hall presentation.

For example, she said, the admissions office has already gone to a paperless application system by scanning hard-copy documents such as transcripts and recommendations and storing them online with the applications. Now the ConnectCarolina stakeholders are looking at student records to determine which aspects could become paperless.

As additional facets of ConnectCarolina are developed, it is becoming a key component of the campus infrastructure, said Larry Conrad, vice chancellor for information technology and chief information officer.

PeopleSoft, the software that underpins ConnectCarolina, provides several advantages for the University, including one interface for all administrative systems, greater user control and a common data and reporting infrastructure, he said.

While the ConnectCarolina team completes changes to the student services systems, it will begin the process to develop new systems for finance and human resources.

As a result of areas identified in the Bain & Company report, the timeline for restructuring Carolina’s finance system has been stepped up to help business offices reduce costs and increase efficiencies, particularly in the area of purchasing.

PeopleSoft provides an eProcurement system for purchasing. Since N.C. State University already uses eProcurement, Carolina plans to partner with technology specialists there to leverage knowledge and resources (see related story at the left).

Dick Mann, vice chancellor for finance and administration, said the University began developing ConnectCarolina long before the Bain study, but the study reinforced the need to become more efficient by restructuring Carolina’s outdated finance and human resources systems.

Bruce Carney, interim executive vice chancellor and provost, summed up the process of developing ConnectCarolina as an assessment of what the University does now and an evaluation of what should be kept and what should be changed – an “academic pathology,” in his words.

“The more thought we put into it up front, the fewer problems we’ll have down the road,” he said.

For information about ConnectCarolina and the town hall meeting, refer to connectcarolina.unc.edu.