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Administrative Systems
Stay on the ERP Treadmill!
7/1/2007
Enterprise resource planning systems are not easy to evolve, but regular upgrades will pay big dividends.
In some ways, success with enterprise resource planning (ERP) is like staying fit: You’ve got to remain on an upgrade treadmill in order to keep your university humming along. Skeptical? Talk to William Merck, VP of administration and finance at the University of Central Florida. During the 1990s, the state of Florida decided to decentralize operations, giving each university autonomy and more individual responsibility. “All of us had to have our own accounting solutions within a two-year time frame,” recalls Merck.That was no small task. Today, through the effective implementation and management of ERP software, UCF carefully manages its $927 million operational budget, which serves nearly 50,000 students and more than 7,000 full-time-equivalent (FTE) employees. But back then, “Our legacy systems were held together with rubber bands and chewing gum,” quips Merck.
All that began to change in 1999, when the university deployed a new student admissions system from PeopleSoft (now owned by Oracle). Next up, UCF deployed a modern student financials system from the same vendor. But, importantly, the process did not stop there: UCF has continued regular PeopleSoft upgrades over the last few years. According to Rebecca Vilsack, UCF’s associate controller, the system has now evolved to a point where it has streamlined requisition and purchase order processes, enhanced purchasing card and vendor tracking information, increased reporting capabilities, eliminated unnecessary paper trails, and minimized redundant procedures.
Stop Playing Catch-Up
Unfortunately, many universities haven’t regarded their initial ERP deployment as only the first stage in an evolutionary process. In any number of cases, universities deploy new ERP systems every seven to 12 years, but don’t install incremental upgrades during the in-between years, notes Ed Golod, president of Revenue Accelerators, technology consultants. “It’s a case of being penny-wise and pound-foolish,” says Golod. “Universities try to save a bit on software each year by avoiding upgrades, but they wind up paying big lump sums for massive integration projects when they discover they haven’t kept pace with technology.” Case in point: Many universities continue to depend on antiquated client-server or mainframe-based applications that lack modern features such as web access or support for smart phones.
In stark contrast, however, UCF’s modern ERP system allows individual departments and employees to create online reports, thus freeing IT staff to focus on other activities. UCF also integrated its financial and supply chain management systems with PeopleSoft Enterprise applications for human capital management and campus solutions, further enhancing efficiency and improving constituent service, asserts Vilsack.
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