Transform Purdue: A look into the Reporting project transformation

Reporting team (Purdue staff and consultant members): (From left) Rick Grantham, Tonya Yoder, Ryan Bousman, Melissa Burton, Cheryl Gray, Gary Yates and Katya Giannios. Not pictured: Susie Geswein. (Purdue University photo/Mark Simons) Download image

The plan to transform Purdue continues through the Business Process Reengineering  team. The multilayered approach to the transformation, geared to do business better across the University, is spearheaded by the ongoing projects -- Enterprise Asset Management, Human Capital Management, General Ledger (Finance), Reporting and Technology.

To better understand each project within the transformation, Purdue Today will explore each one.

Here, Aaron Walz, Reporting project team lead, answers questions about the group and its work:

Who is on the technology team?

Ryan Bousman, Melissa Burton, Susie Geswein, Katya Giannios, Cheryl Gray, Gary Yates and Tonya Yoder.

We also meet regularly with project team leads and members for reporting requirements. We partner with various information technology-related areas across campus.

What are the overall goals/mission of your team?

Our goal for Reporting is to make it easier for people at all levels to get the answers they need. Whether that’s summary data for executives and unit leaders, standard reports for staff, or slice-and-dice capability for analysts, it needs to be simpler and more consistent. Underneath that, we need a robust environment for people who build the reports to give them the power and flexibility they need. That underlying environment also needs to bring together data from different locations and systems so that we can provide reports and dashboards that integrate data across different facets of the University.

What has the team been working on so far during the design phase?

The team has been attending workshops where requirements are being gathered for each of the areas -- Enterprise Asset Management, Human Capital Management and General Ledger (Finance). Based on the business processes being reviewed, the team is documenting reporting requirements.

The team has created a plan with tasks for creating the reporting environments for EAM, HCM and Finance. This plan includes interim and long-term reporting environments based on go-live dates. As we learn more in the workshops, the plan is evolving to incorporate any reporting requirements. 

What challenges have you encountered? 

The evolving plan is a challenge, and with the projects running in parallel it is difficult to manage resource time and get answers to questions quickly. However, our team is dedicated to the transformation as a whole and to each respective project; therefore, we are continuously engaged in order to best support the other teams and the University in this transformation.

How many workshops have you held as part of the design phase? Which units have been involved, and what topics have been discussed?

The team has been in attendance for most of the workshops led by other teams in order to gather requirements and represent reporting interests with regard to data quality, auditing and key fields for meeting reporting requirements. So far, the reporting work stream has had six meetings on how to strategically approach the reporting needs associated with each project.

What is coming up next for your group in the next few months?

In the next few months, the design phase will be completed for most of the projects. This will allow us to complete a more detailed plan that incorporates all the reporting environments, historical reporting strategies and integration points. It is a continuous cycle of improvement and transformation.

What do you want faculty and staff to know about your team and efforts?

Our team is working hard to ensure that every aspect of reporting needs University-wide are taken into account as each project moves forward. We want our faculty and staff to feel confident that once implementation begins, their reporting needs will be met.

More on the transformation

* Review the first four article in this series:
- Efforts to Transform Purdue business: A BPR Overview (March 20, 2017)
- Transform Purdue: A look into the Enterprise Asset Management project transformation (March 21, 2017)
- Transform Purdue: A look into the General Ledger / Finance project transformation (March 22, 2017)
- Transform Purdue: A look into the Human Capital Management project transformation (March 23, 2017) 

* Explore our website for an overview of the transformation projects.

* Provide feedback by submitting a pain point, completing a survey or sending an email.

* View previous presentations and publications for more information.