Lea Pennock and Rick Bunt

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• Lea Pennock and Rick Bunt
• University of Saskatchewan

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Who We Are
Dr. 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 Were Doing

• Like everybody, were renewing our administrative
  support systems.
• A strategic priority in the U of Saskatchewan
  Institutional Plan.
• We are 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
• Luminis Portal released 2003/04
• Banner Student implementation underway
• Banner Finance implementation underway
• Coming attractions Library system upgrade, Donor
  management system, ...

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What This Talk is About

• Its not about implementation of ERP systems,
• from either the technical side or the project
  management side
• Its about 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 ...
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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 whats important to our community
  especially the importance of consultation and
  process in a university setting

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Preparing the GroundProject Governance

• Create a governance structure that reflects your
  institutional values collegiality,
  representation, accountability, ...
• Ensure you have academic representation (faculty,
  students, deans).
• Start at the top Provost/VP Academic chaired our
  Steering Committee.
• Dont duplicate decision-making structures and
  bodies that already exist ? co-opt them.

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Preparing the Ground Its 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 your institutions needs
• Site visits were (again) extremely valuable
• Invited broad campus participation and comment on
  vendor visits/demos

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Sowing the SeedsSome 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 SeedsCommunication 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.
• Cant assume that the goals of the institution
  are monolithic
• Different audiences have different goals and
  priorities.

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Sowing the SeedsCommunication Strategy

• More elements
• Need to build community trust in 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 SeedsCommunication Strategy

• Different audiences need/want different things
• Students
• Comfortable with technology want anytime,
  anywhere access to services, and want it now
• Dont 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
• Dont want to be taken by surprise

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Sowing the SeedsCommunication 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 weve
  invested in.
• Emphasize project over product project is
  providing an opportunity for change.

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Weeds and Other Pests

• The system as agent of corporate control your
  system is turning our university into a
  corporationwere 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 Pests

• The 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 its good for them!

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Harvest

• Harvest 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 vendors
  CEO, everybody involved in the project, ...
• This is 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!
• Dont wait until the very end to celebrate.

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Celebrate Creatively
You worked long days and nights without solace On
a product by no account flawless. Such a
fabulous team Youre the cream-de-la-cream! Wit
hout you, U of S would be PAW-less.
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Revisiting Dictates of Classic Project
ManagementAdjustments 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.
• Dont 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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Revisiting Dictates of Classic Project
ManagementAdjustments for the Academy

• 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.
• McGills approach vanilla with sprinkles

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Revisiting Dictates of Classic Project
ManagementAdjustments for the Academy

• Dictate Project charters contain fixed truths
  and can be returned to as an enduring reference.
• For faculty, the process of arriving at a
  document often has more weight/value than the
  document itself.
• An academics business is continually to examine,
  re-think the canon, and treat all texts as works
  in progress.

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SummaryLessons Weve Learned

• Cultivation is time and money well spent.
• Representativeness has its place.
• You know youve made a convert when you hear your
  words coming out of someone elses 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 Weve 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

• Were not finished ? we dont know the
  ending yet.
• But
• Were getting positive responses
• from our Board of Governors
• from Senior Administration (President, Provost,
  )
• from our students and faculty
• Weve passed through cost justification with
  very little pushback on cost
• Our challenge now is to meet expectations, and
  were confident we will!

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Questions?
lea.pennock_at_usask.ca
rick.bunt_at_usask.ca http//www.cs.usask.ca/faculty
/bunt/presentations/partners.ppt