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Project Phase
Implementing HRS
Hundreds of staff from every UW System institution participated in the planning effort, and they have begun the challenging work of implementation.
Implementing HRS is an extraordinarily complex process. The UW System has hundreds of business processes that must comply with University policies, state laws, federal laws, international tax treaties, and the requirements imposed by hundreds of outside funding agencies. HRS project managers are looking for ways to adapt business practices to match the software’s built‐in capabilities. This is a conscious choice to control up‐front costs, ensure a successful implementation, and reduce ongoing system maintenance costs.
Only 4% of the implementation costs will result from software modifications.
Projects such as the University of Wisconsin’s HRS Project consist of a number of intentional choices that are made after careful analysis of the environment and thoughtful consideration of the impact to the organization and staff. The selection of the implementation approach for the project is an example of that type of choice.
The HRS team has developed detailed plans for about 530,000 hours of work required to move successfully from the old system to PeopleSoft.
Large, planned, organizational change initiatives such as the HRS Project can be implemented in several ways. The HRS Project Management Office in collaboration with the HRS Project Team Leaders reviewed and discussed all available options before recommending an implementation strategy. The analysis performed by the team took into account the complexity and magnitude of the change effort for the impacted parties and resulted in the recommendation of a phased implementation of logical groupings of functionality for all campuses within the University of Wisconsin System.
Planning Phase
The HRS Project has completed the planning phase of this project, investing considerable time to ensure a successful implementation. In its April 2007 report, the Legislative Audit Bureau found that most problems with complex, high-risk IT projects resulted from inadequate planning. The HRS Project Team heeded that advice, and took a cautious, diligent approach.
Any good carpenter knows to "measure twice, and cut once." With that adage in mind, the HRS Project Management Team made a strategic decision to invest more time and money during the planning phase, rather than rush the process and pay the price later.
The biggest challenge during this planning phase was to identify and analyze all of the areas where PeopleSoft will meet the needs of the UW System and conform to business practices. The majority of the modifications identified thus far were required to help the UW comply fully with federal law, state law, and Board of Regents policies. Where any changes are in order, the HRS Project Team created extremely detailed plans about the time and money needed to close each gap. They also identified the many other computer systems that will interface with HRS, and analyzed all the work that will be necessary to ensure a smooth, integrated workflow. The thorough planning process produced fine-grained plans for addressing each business change, each software modification, and each system interface, including the precise number of work hours required for individual steps.