Campus Solutions: Successful Management of Innovative Projects Beyond Go-Live

Transcription

1 Campus Solutions: Successful Management of Innovative Projects Beyond Go-Live

2 Introductions & Ice Breaker UA Overview Assessing the Landscape Project Initiation & Startup Managing the Project Looking Forward

3 Rachel A. Beech, Ed.D. Director, New Student Services Co-Director, Degree Tracker Project Barry Brummund, MBA Lead Consultant, Degree Tracker Project Implementation Strategist, MOSAIC Projects

4 Name, Institution, Position How long have you been in the position? In the field? In Higher Education? How many HEUGs have you attended? One thing you hope to get from the workshop If you had a superhero or magic power, what would it be?

5 Tucson, AZ 387 acres (2 nd smallest in the Pac-12) Oldest continually maintained green space in Arizona. Research I University State Land Grant University NCAA Division-1, PAC 12 Conference More than $600 million in research annually Ranked #16 among all public universities by the National Science Foundation Member, Association of American Universities

6 STUDENTS Undergraduate 30,592 Graduate 6,991 First Professional 1,503 Total 39,086 NUMBER OF DEGREE PROGRAMS OFFERED Bachelors 119 Masters 127 Research Scholarship (Doctoral) 92 Specialist 4 Professional Practice (First Professional) 3 Total 345 EMPLOYEES Men 7,164 Women 7,670 Total 14,834 Total Payroll (FY ) $783,554,053 For the 2009 Fiscal Year, the National Science Foundation (NSF) ranked The University of Arizona 26th among all universities and 18th among public universities for research and development expenditures within the Science and Engineering category.

7 Institutional Restructuring Colleges College of Letters Arts and Sciences Majors University College to Center for Exploratory Studies Sub-plans Student Affairs Student Groups Streamlining departments Financial Restructuring Legislative Commitment Decreases Institutional Financial Savings Intentional changes to preserve strong programs Saving faculty and staff resources Arizona Board of Regents

8 MOSAIC Milestones 2008 Initiate Program 2008 Campus Web Reporting Go-Live 2009 PeopleSoft HCM Go-Live 2010 PeopleSoft CS Go-Live 2011 Kuali COEUS and Financials Go-Lives ~250 of Team Participants Change Felt by Everyone on Campus 2 New Products Emotional Roller Coaster

9 What are the factors that shape decision making at your institution? Are your institutions directly compared to others? In state? In conference? Are the standards you are supposed to reach based on someone else's goals?

10 Strengths MOSAIC project management solid Executive sponsorship Willingness to take risks Expertise with PS Academic Advising and PS PeopleTools Weaknesses Campus Fatigue from 3 years of dramatic technology change Strained relationship with advisors Opportunities Budget funds reserved for 2 more years Way to fulfill Board of Regents goals Advising load improvements Threats Project Budget Competition for the funds Campus Budget Organizational restructuring, property tax losses, lots of oversight

11 Arizona Board of Regents Performance Measures Increase in freshman to sophomore retention Fall 2010 Fall 2011: 77.4% Goal for 2017: 85% Increase in graduation rates Four-Year Graduation Rate (Class of 2007) : 39.9% Six-Year Graduation Rate (Class of 2005) : 61.4% Increase quality (2011 / 2010 / 2009) Full Time Mean SAT: 1109 / 1100 / 1105 Full Time Mean ACT: 24.0 / 23.8 / 23.8 Full Time Mean H.S. GPA: 3.41 / 3.37 / 3.38

12 We re behind the technology curve 2002 NAU Implemented PS CS 2007 ASU implemented PS CS Is our research mission as aligned with state legislative interests? Did we fall behind a political curve? Our enrollment growth has not been as fast NAU 23,600 (2009) to 25,364 (2011) 7.47% ASU 68,064 (2009) to 72,254 (2011) 6.16% UA 38,767 (2009) to 39,236 (2011) 1.21% Retention improvements aren t as great either

13 How does your campus decide what projects to do?

14 Must Have a queue Separate great from good Consider and quantify Risk / Reward Return on Investment Be willing to deal with difficult topics Listen first Be willing to take risks Filter voices that are always volume 11 Separate products from projects

15 How are your projects funded?

16 MOSAIC Portfolio - Local reserve generated from investment income and other local sources Our Project Savings from initial student project Managed scope very carefully Market rates for consulting decreased Returns from new workforce: Business Analysts No state funding and no student fees

17 Do one big deal or several smaller projects?

18 One Big Deal Scarce don t get to do many big deals Opportunity to fulfill a very strategic goal Lots of Small Projects Diversifies Risk Opportunity to Benefit Lots of Stakeholders

19 We had momentum We had a significant need We were taking it in a larger MOSAIC portfolio Urgency to prepare for imminent state funding changes Urgency to respond to significant instate competition for state appropriations

20 10 Minute Break

21 Welcome Back Remaining agenda: From big picture to project development Project Initiation & Startup Managing the Project Looking Forward How are we feeling? Anything else we can be doing?

22 How do you consider important decision? What criteria do you consider?

23 We want all of this but Cost We want to stay on or under budget Scope We want to make sure that my customers get what they need Time We want to deliver on-time Quality We want to minimize Risk We want to know for sure what we re doing and when

24 How will you govern your project? What oversight will you seek? What additional oversight will be required? What sponsors will assist you?

25 Executive Steering AVP for Academic Affairs Deans and Faculty Advisors AVP for Student Affairs Holistic Student Experience CIO Responsible for MOSAIC Portfolio of Projects

26 How do you plan your project? How do you staff your project?

27 Primarily from IT? How many members of campus are engaged? Part-time participation allowed? Consulting? Temporary employment? Backfill?

28 Purpose-built team Led by co-directors Academic Affairs & Student Affairs (part-time) Hired 3 former advisors Leadership roles in the advising community Trained/developed into Business Analysts Engaged consulting Project Management (part-time) Functional (full-time Academic Advising in this case) Technical (technical staff were already busy)

29 What project management methodology do you use? What technology? Dedicated project manager? Measures/metrics?

30 Focus on specific goals Time sensitive / academic calendar driven Milestones established by our sponsors & defined by our customers Communication to the community From start to the end In their space, not ours Build allies from adversaries Strategic choices and campus relationships Agile Project Management Iterative builds Functional / Technical partnership Phased roll-out by college (with pilot) See Barry s presentation from last year on Extreme Project Management

31 Change 1 (there is a 2) How do you handle opportunities (aka scope changes)?

32 Change Management Every Project Changes Ours has perhaps had more than most Knowing when to hold and when to fold Keeping up with the Jones Statewide competition is also moving forward

33 Case Study: Degree Search Big opportunity & small cost (1 month) Willing to accept less Degree Track scope Became a strategic milestone for our executive steering team degreesearch.arizona.edu

34 Key: Development vs Implementation Continuous Change Management Changing directions Feedback driving decisions Multidirectional feedback Constant 360 review How do you listen to so many voices Competitive feedback Difference of opinion Client or Customer? If you don t do something, you re doing nothing

35 Change 2 Lots of external moving parts can impact your project organization, competition, personality, policy, process, technology, etc. How do you handle personnel changes as an example?

36 Changes: 3 rd co-director Additional full-time staff member - BA Work with marketing Swap out web programmer Co-directors (two heads) Highly productive vs group think JAD session / co-location Natural fighter personality How to sustain energy during compromise? UA: This has been hard

37 How do you stay focused on your customers? Do students present a particular challenge?

38 One Project with Three Customers 1. Students (self service) 2. Advisors (opportunity to lever their talents) 3. Department, College, and University Management (course and student planning)

39 Customer 1 Students (as user) Self service Developing a more informed consumer What to take and when 4 year graduation pathways Curricular choice and fit Change of major implications

40 Customer 1 Students (as contributor) Feedback from an end user Student facing interface Driver for adaption of product on campus Various populations Student leaders Students on academic probation Listening between the lines Watching how they click This is NOT easy But it helps to have Student Affairs on your team

41 Customer 2 Academic Advisors Partners in an electronic advising tool Project staff BAs are former advisors Advising community Experts on the data (owners as well?) Specific and frequent feedback from three existing organizations Implications for the future of advising on campus?

42 Customer 3 Curricular Decision Makers Seat demand, ie, what to offer Future instructor hiring RCM implications? Student FTE, Retention, and Graduation Rates State appropriation partially based on performance

43 Student Affairs: Another customer? Career services Degree search content Recruitment Tool for prospective students Tutoring services how many tutors in which subjects NCAA programs of studies Financial aid / scholarships Marketing Visualize the product as a tool for advancement

44 Ready to take a look? Degree Tracker Demo

45 UA: Are we done yet? No, never Finding closure a project that can never close

46 Questions, comments, concerns, testimonials or confessions of any kind?