ERP Evaluation and Selection at at Austin Community College

Bill Carter

Associate Vice President of Information Technology

wecarter@austin.cc.tx.us

Why Replace Legacy System?

• Cost of Software and Hardware Maintenance

• Integration of Shadow Systems

• Departmental Reporting Needs

• Vendor Maintenance of State and Federal Reports

• Leadership Change

• Culture Change

• Control of All Processes by IT Department

September 1 Financial System online

June 11-12 Datatel software installation

May 5 Datatel/IBM RS-6000 approved by the ACC Board of Trustees

May 2 Datatel/IBM RS-6000 unanimously approved by the ACC Best System Evaluation Team

May 1- 2 SCT on Campus Presentations

April 28-30 Datatel on Campus Presentations

April 2 Computer Options Corporation on Campus Presentations

Descending Chronological List of Major Events, 1997

April 15 ACC Evaluation Team visited Houston CC, Peoplesoft

April 15 ACC Evaluation Team visited College of the Mainland, Computer Options

April 14 ACC Evaluation Team visited North Harris CC, Datatel

April 8 ACC Budget Hearing listed new administrative system as #1 priority

March 26 ACC Technology Planning Task Force listed new administrative system as #1 priority

Descending Chronological List of Major Events, 1997

Implementation Schedule

• ACC begins search for new administrative system - Nov 1996

• Contract signed with Datatel - May 1997

• Administrative System Installed - June 1997

• Business Services LIVE - Sept 1997

• Human Resources LIVE - Jan 1999

• Student System LIVE - June 1999

Pre and Post Legacy System An Overview of the Change Process

Structure

System Ownership

Communication

Decision Making

Management

Then

7 Campuses

Departmental

Telephone/Paper

Departmental

Closed Minded

Now

One College

College Wide

Web/Email

Work Groups

Open Minded

College Wide

Pre and Post Legacy System An Overview of the Change Process

Analytical Thinking

Learning Curve

Job Requirements

User Knowledge

Then

Not required

None

Clerical

Comfortable

Now

Required

Teachable Moments

Information Managers

Challenged

College Staff

Pre and Post Legacy System An Overview of the Change Process

Computer

Operating System

Printing

Security Decisions

System Architecture

Database Structure

Then

Mainframe

VM/VSE

Centralized

IT

Closed

Flat File

Now

RISC Server

Unix

De-Centralized

Supervisor defined

Open

Relational DBMS

Information Technology

Implementation Traps: Information Technology

DescriptionUsers logging on

Never enough

Agenda

Early

Onsite and Timely

TrapNumber of Users

Consulting Days

Consulting Visits

IT Training

Staff Training

Avoiding/MinimizingCount the number of users

Budget for twice as many

Require agenda for all visits

Early and repeated

Budget for onsite training and schedule around realistic LIVE dates

Implementation Traps: Information Technology

DescriptionTerms of agreement

Vendor manual

Who will do it?

System runs fine

He said - She said

TrapContract

Manuals

User Training

Hardware Sizing

Meeting Minutes

Avoiding/MinimizingRead the contract

Write your own

Train in-house staff

Number of users

Document everything

Implementation Traps: Information Technology

DescriptionNothing else needed to

make it work

Person in charge

Long term employees and their contribution

TrapThird Party Software

Org Structure of Vendor

Institutional History and Staff

Avoiding/MinimizingFull Inventory to go

LIVE

Know the President and Vice Presidents of the

vendor

Best sources of information on why it

was done this way.

Implementation Traps: Student Services

DescriptionRealistic

Same meaning to everyone

Verify data and setups consistently

“The way we were”

Dr Jeckel and Mr. Hyde

TrapTime lines

Terms

Staff Skills

Legacy vs New

LIVE vs TEST

Avoiding/MinimizingSurvey and Visit

Detailed Expectations

Sign off and document experiences

Plain Vanilla

Expect the worst and hope for the best

Implementation Traps: Student Services

TrapImplementation

Integration

Additional Duties

Right and Wrong

DescriptionNew software and

reengineering

Other modules of system

Current job and the new system

Software vendorvs

Staff members

Avoiding/MinimizingDrive change before

implementation

Business Services and Curriculum Management

Implementation Team and EXTRA staff

Know what you don’t know

Implementation Traps: Student Services

TrapSize of Staff

Automated System

DescriptionNew system will reduce

staff size

Automatedvs

Automatic

Avoiding/MinimizingManage expectation

through implementation

Reports, Processes, Staff and the commands

required to run them.

Questions to Ask Before Purchasing a Software System

Is the system fully integrated and installed at an institution of comparable size?

What is the process for reporting bugs and receiving fixes to the system? Is the process done by the vendor or the institution?

What third party systems are integrated with the software system? Are any required in order to complete the installation?

What is the timeline of the regulatory releases for: W2s, 1099s, IPEDS Reports, 1098Ts and any State Reporting requirements?

Questions to Ask Before Purchasing a Software System

Are trainers and consultants cross trained on modules throughout the system? (Example: AR/CR and Financial Aid)

Does vendor have a rapid response team or SWAT team to address clients during crisis and critical times?

What is the ratio of trainers and consultants to each module? How will the vendor deal with future growth to keep this ratio service oriented?

What does the vendor consider its CORE business?

Questions to Ask Current Clients Before Purchasing a Software

System

What are the strengths of the system from a users prospective?

If you could change five things about the system, what would they be?

If you were installing the software for the first time, what would you do differently and why?

If your institution were purchasing a new system today, would you purchase the same system from the same vendor?

Questions to Ask Current Clients Before Purchasing a Software

SystemOn a scale of 1 to 4, how satisfied were you with the vendors assistance in the following areas:• Preparing approach document• Training IT staff• Training users• Responding in a timely and useful manner to questions• Trouble-shooting problems• Telling users when something they want to do is not possible• Helping the team at the top develop realistic expectations and timelines• Delivering the product they promised to deliver

Questions to Ask Current Clients Before Purchasing a Software

System

What were the gains and losses in the following areas during the first year of the implementation?• Information Technology• Financial Aid• Business Services• Admissions and Records• Advising and Counseling• Human Resources• State, Federal and Local Reports

Questions to Ask Current Clients Before Purchasing a Software

System

Does it take more or less time to accomplish the following in the new system compared to the Legacy system?• Process an application• Register a student• Process a financial aid award• Collect and post payments• Run state and local reports

Are processes automated and automatic, or do they involve lots of hands-on work?

Questions and Answers from Participants

The End

Thank you