Making Partners of Making Partners of Academic Colleagues in Academic Colleagues in

Administrative System ProjectsAdministrative System Projects

Lea Pennock and Rick BuntUniversity of Saskatchewan

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Who We AreDr. Lea Pennock

•Director, Student Information Systems• 15 years in the Office of the Registrar (experience at three universities)•sometime lecturer in English

Dr. Rick Bunt•Associate VP, Info & Comm Technology•30 years as a Professor of Comp Science•sometime Dept Head, Associate Dean, ...

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What We’re Doing Like everybody, we’re renewing our

administrative support systems. Articulated as a strategic priority in the U of

Saskatchewan Institutional Plan. “We are also committed to the renewal of our core administrative

support systems ... and to the delivery of integrated, role-based, on-line services to our customers, both within and outside the University. These new systems will provide exciting new functions and services, and the powerful workflow and integration tools that come with these products will enable the interoperability we require and help us

achieve the cross-functional services that our users demand.”

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Where We Are PeopleSoft HR System implemented 5 years ago Banner Student implementation underway Luminis Portal released 2003/04 Banner Finance implementation underway Coming attractions: Library system upgrade,

Donor management system, ...

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What This Talk is About We’re not going to talk about implementation

of ERP systems, from either the technical side or the project management side

Our focus might be called the cultural dimensions of administrative system implementation How the university community is predisposed

to view such projects How to cultivate the community readiness and

buy-in we need to be successful

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Our Thesis Universities are unique places of business

The collegial system The “faculty factor”

A university environment defies some of the expectations and assumptions upon which classical project management is founded A university project requires some different

approaches

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How many academics does it take to change a light bulb?

CHANGE????

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An Agricultural Metaphor ...

This is Saskatchewan, after all ...

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Outline Climate and soil conditions Preparing the ground Sowing the seeds Tending the crop Weeds and other pests Harvest Thanksgiving

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Climate and Soil Conditions

The climate and soil conditions at a university are far from ideal for the implementation of a large administrative system Universities are not particularly

supportive of new and innovative IT initiatives [ECAR, “IT Leadership in Higher Education: The Condition of the Community”, January 2004]

Faculty resist such expenditures

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Climate and Soil Conditions The climate can be especially cool for

initiatives seen to come from “the administration”

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Preparing the Ground Year-long Needs and Options phase Enormously worthwhile investment of time and money

helped us to identify the various stakeholders of the system

got us campus buy-in, but also buy-in from the Senior Administration and the Board of Governors (2 presentations)

gave us a chance to sell the idea that this was a university-wide project, and

Gave our fledgling project team a chance to establish credibility and confidence

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Preparing the Ground Site visits are very helpful during this

phase To learn about both products and projects To make contacts

Consultants and vendors can also help, but use them wisely They know about implementing software but

we know about what’s important to our community, and especially the importance of consultation and process in a university setting

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Preparing the Ground:Project Governance Create a governance structure that

reflects your institutional values collegiality, representation, accountability, ... ensure you have academic representation

(faculty, students, deans) Provost/VP Academic chaired our Steering

Committee don’t duplicate decision-making structures and

bodies that already exist co-opt them

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Preparing the Ground: It’s Not Just About Software A project like this presents opportunities

for re-thinking the way you do things for re-evaluating your institutional decision-making

processes for re-configuring your governance structures for identifying (and sometimes altering) the formal and

the “real” authority for your policies and processes for discovering things about your institution that nobody

remembers the history of, or the reasons for

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Sowing the Seeds

Product Selection phase Continued focus on project as much as on

product Developing an RFP is an exercise in refining

and thinking through the institution’s needs Site visits were (again) extremely valuable Invited broad campus participation and

comment on vendor visits/demos

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Sowing the Seeds:Some Early Lessons

The importance of faculty and student support

The importance of external advice The importance of being up-front about

what the project will cost and what the returns will be on that investment

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Sowing the Seeds:Communication Strategy Many messages need to be communicated

to get community acceptance of the project

Develop a communication strategy: Vision and goal for the project

System will support the academic mission of the university —teaching, learning and research.

Can’t assume that the “goals of the institution” are monolithic

Different audiences have different goals and priorities.

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Sowing the Seeds:Communication Strategy More elements:

Need to build community trust in both the project leaders and the project team.

Get the faces of project people “out there”. Build positive image of team in the community: capable,

enthusiastic, positive, committed to institutional goals and attuned to institutional values.

Put the project on the big stage — a university project.

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Sowing the Seeds:Communication Strategy Different audiences need/want different things:

Students: Comfortable with technology: want anytime,

anywhere access to services, and want it now Don’t want (or need) to know which office has

responsibility for what Faculty:

Comfort with technology varies substantially Like to do things for themselves but resist being

trained Don’t want to be taken by surprise

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Sowing the Seeds:Communication Strategy

Deans, Dept Heads, Committees of Council/Senate:

Concerned about who has authority for what Concerned about “downloading” work, but sensitive

to institutional efficiencies Administrative Staff:

High level of technical sophistication Need to know which office/person has responsibility

for what Things like system speed and number of keystrokes

are very important

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Tending the Crop Implementation and Change Management

Avoid temptation to “hole up” during implementation

Continue to grow, nurture, and coax your community of support

not a task for the Project Manager, who is fully consumed with in-project responsibilities

Need an effective Project Ambassador/Evangelist who continues to communicate

Look for “quick wins”

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Weeds and Other Pests: Myths, Misconceptions, Rumours

The system as tyrant: “the system is going to drive our academic policies” Replace this perception with the proposition

that we should make best use of the tool that we’ve invested in

Emphasize project over product: project is providing an opportunity for change

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Weeds and Other PestsThe system as agent of corporate

control: “your system is turning our university into a corporation…we’re turning our control over to central administration” Quite the opposite: distributed web-based

systems empower users by giving them more control of their own data and processes

Distributing control can re-vitalize the collegium

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Weeds and Other PestsThe system as black hole: “These

funds could be much better spent on other things (hiring faculty, journal subscriptions for the library, lab or classroom renovations, …)” Let faculty know that you understand and share their

anxieties, that you are not uncritical. Be sensitive. Talk about jointly-held goals/values rather than cost Find better analogies for costs

new buildings, utilities, … Inspire confidence, demonstrate the value of this

investment through the deliverables. Convince them it’s good for them!

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HarvestHarvest incrementally

Deliver in “tiny bubbles” rather than “big bang”

Look for quick wins Under-promise, over-deliver soft roll-

outs

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Thanksgiving Celebrate, and think big

when you celebrate!

Invite the President, the Provost, your vendor’s CEO, everybody involved in the project, ...

An opportunity not only to thank the team and celebrate their success but also to let the university know that something significant has happened.

Sometimes the best way to tell the Provost or President that your team has done a good job is to get them to say so in a speech to the team!

Don’t wait until the very end to celebrate.

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Celebrate Creatively

You worked long days and nights without solaceOn a product by no account flawless. Such a fabulous team You’re the cream-de-la-cream!Without you, U of S would be PAW-less.

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Revisiting Dictates of Classic Project Management:Adjustments for the Academy Dictate: Get buy-in from the top.

Be aware of the non-hierarchical structure of university decision-making.

Every bit as important to get buy-in from the bottom.

Dictate: Scope creep is bad. Don’t sacrifice opportunity in the name of scope. The academic community is accustomed to seizing

opportunities and needs to be assured that you will be equally flexible should circumstances arise.

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Dictate: Customization is bad. Yes, customizing a vendor system is expensive, but not

customizing can be costly too. If the system is perceived as an impediment, what you gain in going vanilla will quickly be lost in support and buy-in of users.

Revisiting Dictates of Classic Project Management:Adjustments for the Academy

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Revisiting Dictates of Classic Project Management:Adjustments for the Academy Dictate: Project charters contain fixed

truths and can be returned to as an enduring reference. At a University the process of arriving at a

document often has more weight/value than the document itself.

An academic’s business is continually to examine, re-think the canon, and treat all texts as works in progress.

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Lessons We Have Learned Cultivation is time and money well spent. Representativeness has its place. You know you’ve made a convert when you hear

your words coming out of someone else’s mouth. Be conscious of the academic rhythms of your

institution. Use existing structures and decision-making bodies

wherever possible. Learn from others — other projects, other

universities, user communities, ... Look for quick wins.

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Lessons We Have Learned

Not all institutions are the same; be sensitive to the formal and informal decision-making processes of your own institution, its tolerance for centralized coordination, standardization, consistency, and its mood. Can be a challenge for a vendor, consultant or

implementation partner Not all projects are the same either; you need to be

flexible about tailoring your approach to the project. And not all phases of a project are the same;

different approaches serve different phases.

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Caveats We’re not finished we don’t know the

ending yet. But we are getting positive responses:

from our Board of Governors from Senior Administration (President, Provost, …) from our students and faculty

We have passed through “cost justification” with very little pushback on cost

Our challenge now is to meet expectations, and we’re confident we will!

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Questions?

lea.pennock@usask.ca rick.bunt@usask.ca