Repaving MaineStreet

The Repaving MaineStreet initiative includes projects to migrate the MaineStreet PeopleSoft Human Resources and Financials systems to Oracle Cloud platforms and a reimplementation of MaineStreet PeopleSoft Campus Solutions, the student information system. The overarching goals are to provide:

• An improved MaineStreet Experience for all
• Expanded opportunities for collaboration between campuses
• Enhanced consistency to support process improvements and data consistency

Project Surveys

In March, an initial survey was distributed to all UMS employees to collect input about how aware employees are of the Repaving MaineStreet initiative and its purposes, how the project teams can prepare and support employees for change, and how to communicate effectively with employees about the initiative. A total of 487 employees submitted survey responses. Summary survey results:

• Overall, the pace of change within our organization is:
  • Too Slow – 58.96%, Just right – 34.69%, Too fast – 6.32%
• Communications for this initiative should occur:
  • More frequently – 51.32%, Current Frequency – 46.49%, Less Frequently – 2.19%
• Communications for this initiative are:
  • Just right – 49.66%, Too brief – 39.77%, Not brief enough – 10.57%
• How do you prefer to receive updates about the Repaving MaineStreet initiative?
  • Email – 61.31%, Campus/departmental announcements – 20.11%, Initiative website – 11.73%, Other – 4.75%, Social Media – 2.09%
• Would you be willing to participate in a future focus group session?
  • No – 66.95%, Yes – 33.05%

A second survey was distributed to all employees at the end of 2023 to collect input about training preferences that will guide the development of training programs and contribute to the overall success of the Repaving MaineStreet initiative. A total of 285 employees submitted survey responses as of the end of December. The following are preliminary survey results:

• How do you prefer to receive training content (check all that apply)?
  • Videos – 155, Online Documentation – 153, Hard Copy – 25, All three options – 110
• What type of training format do you prefer (check all that apply)?
  • Live, virtual sessions – 158, In-person, hands-on sessions – 93
  • Online, self-paced training – 211, Guided on-screen training – 170
• How do you prefer to receive support after the initial training period (check all that apply)?
  • Online office hours – 98, Help Desk – 146, Peer Support – 93 
  • Guided on-screen training – 176, FAQs – 164, Access to recorded training – 191

Milestones and Achievements (major project milestones and achievements during the past year)

• Oracle Cloud HCM and ERP Projects
  • This past year, the initial round of Application Review sessions for HCM and ERP were held. During the sessions, Drivestream demonstrated Oracle Cloud functionality in a test environment configured according to UMS input and loaded with converted data. Subsequently, UMS project team members engaged in hands-on testing during Self-guided review sessions, familiarizing themselves with the Cloud Application with Drivestream’s assistance. Feedback, observations, and necessary changes were documented, and application configurations were updated as needed. A third round of HCM and ERP Application and Self-Guided Review sessions is scheduled for 2024.
  • The development of strategies for how Jaggaer (USM Purchasing system) and Concur (UMS Travel and Expense system) will coexist with Oracle Cloud, particularly regarding integrations, was temporarily paused for a period of time this past year while UMS Strategic Procurement conducted a review of Purchasing and Expense processes in consultation with Huron. The consultation is nearing completion, and integration work will resume in the new year.
  • The review of HCM and Finance PeopleSoft integrations and bolt-ons (customizations) continued over the past year, focusing on determining where they are still required and where Oracle Cloud functionality eliminates their need. 

• Campus Solutions Reimplementation Project
  • A series of Business Process Assessment Sessions were conducted from April through August of this year. During the sessions, ERPA met with functional area teams to better understand how users use Campus Solutions (the day-to-day experience), identify MaineStreet customizations that can be replaced by delivered functionality and those that should remain, and discuss possible business process improvements and best practices. The result is a series of ~700 recommendations for implementing underutilized or new functionality and ways that the system could benefit by incorporating more complimentary technical tools in Campus Solutions to improve the student, faculty, and staff user experience. A review of the recommendations with functional area staff concluded in December, and the work to accept or reject and prioritize recommendations will begin in early 2024.

Strategic Alignment Activities (project activities during the past year that supported UMS strategic alignment objectives)

• Oracle Cloud HCM and ERP Projects
  • As the HCM and ERP project teams continued to leverage opportunities for standardizing data and workflow processes, particular attention was paid to finalizing decisions about core data elements such as Department and Location codes, Chart of Accounts structure, and streamlining business processes across campuses.
    • Department code standardization: The focus was to develop a set of standard codes that would be utilized across HCM and ERP. The codes currently differ in the PeopleSoft MaineStreet HCM and Financial systems, which is a significant pain point for those areas.
    • Chart of Accounts structure: The focus was to design a Chart of Accounts based on best practices for higher education where each Chartfield (segment) has a unique definition and purpose, there is no duplication of attributes across segments, and the structure supports future growth and changing needs.
    • Process improvement: The focus was on unifying and simplifying business processes across the campuses. Decisions over the past year include utilizing the Oracle Cloud Recruiting and Onboarding modules for recruiting and hiring student employees, implementing the cloud Web Clock feature that will simplify the punch-in and punch-out process for hourly employees and reduce compliance issues, and reducing the number of approvals required for position approvals. 

• Campus Solutions Reimplementation Project
  • Throughout the discovery process, strategic goals of enhancing consistency and collaboration across the system and meeting the needs of unified accreditation were continuously taken into account. UMS teams collaborated with ERP Analysts, sharing insights into Campus Solutions usage, outlining business procedures, and highlighting existing challenges. The Campus Solutions Reimplementation Core Team is currently analyzing and prioritizing the resulting implementation recommendations, which speak directly to the UMS’s strategic goals.   

Challenges and Mitigations (major challenges and risks and strategies implemented to mitigate)

• Oracle Cloud HCM and ERP Projects
  • Resource Challenges
    • Throughout the project, technical and functional resource limitations due to competing demands and the need to allocate sufficient time to standardize foundational cross-module data and align business processes supporting workflow automation resulted in significant risks to project timelines. 
      • To mitigate technical resource limitations, the UMS and Drivestream technical teams continually consider strategies to streamline data conversion efforts which have required substantial time and manual effort from the UMS technical team. One approach has been to enable Drivestream resources to extract data from PeopleSoft staging tables. This approach reduced the UMS technical team’s data extraction efforts, which enabled them to focus on pre-conversion requirements and integration review tasks. 
      • To mitigate functional resource limitations, along with reallocating staff responsibilities, external project resources were onboarded for the project to provide expertise regarding the standardization of processes and data, lead the review of integration specifications, and serve as key advisors during project strategy sessions.
    • Despite the above mitigation strategies, due to both projects’ immense scope and complexities, as of December 2023, considerations are underway to extend the HCM and ERP timelines to mitigate the risks.

•  Campus Solutions Reimplementation Project
• • Information Processing Challenges
    • ERP analysts provided substantial information and recommendations following the discovery process. The roughly 700 recommendations vary in complexity and necessitate different levels of analysis. To decide on accepting these recommendations, strategies were needed to facilitate effective and efficient processing and understanding for the Core and functional area teams.
      • To address information overload, a series of Recommendations Review Sessions were conducted. During these sessions, ERP Analysts discussed each recommendation with both the Core Team and functional area team members. This approach also allowed for initial reactions and provided an opportunity for questions. The recommendations were then organized into distinct categories, or “buckets.” Core Team members will collaborate with their respective functional area teams, prioritizing the review of recommendations in Bucket 1 initially. The primary objective is to make decisions regarding the acceptance or rejection of each recommendation, with these decisions serving as crucial inputs for shaping the project plan.
  • Resource Challenges 
    • Implementing certain recommended functionalities in Campus Solutions necessitates a PeopleTools upgrade. However, due to limitations in technical and functional resources, the execution of the upgrade is now scheduled for a later stage in the process than initially anticipated.
      • To mitigate delays in prototyping, an 8.60 upgrade was applied to a test environment and made available to ERP Analysts. This approach allowed ERPA Analysts to continue to develop proofs-of-concept to share with the project functional teams as recommendations are further assessed. The teams then worked together to develop a schedule for an upgrade to the production environment, which will occur in June 2024. 

Lessons Learned (insights gained to date that have informed the future direction of upcoming project phases)

• Oracle Cloud HCM and ERP Projects
  • Before the project began, a formal decision-making process was not fully established, posing a risk given the extensive data and process changes planned. This was compounded by the departure of key HCM stakeholders at leadership levels. Decision-making processes have since been implemented and continuously refined to mitigate this risk.
  • Due to the significant transformations involved, the data conversion process from PeopleSoft to Oracle Cloud has demanded substantial time and effort from UMS and technical/functional teams. It was known during the project planning process that this would likely be the case, and our experiences throughout the projects have served as a reminder to always overestimate the time required for data conversions regardless of vendor projections.

• Campus Solutions Reimplementation Project
• • Introducing new functionality into our existing Campus Solutions environment to facilitate the administrative merging of the UM and UMM campuses led to the necessity for short-term troubleshooting of unforeseen challenges. These challenges included adjustments in business practices related to access and the requirement for heightened technical intervention in certain instances. Technical and functional teams worked together to develop temporary solutions, and the teams will continue to develop a broader, long-term strategy to address these challenges as the overall project progresses.

 

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