Transform Purdue project: Where are we now?

The Transform Purdue project is a three-phased approach to do business better by streamlining, simplifying, organizing and automating business processes University-wide. President Mitch Daniels has noted that the University has "antique processes ripe for modernization and automation." With that in mind, as the project evolves over the two-year time frame, each phase will modernize and automate Purdue's business processes.

Phase one (Enterprise Asset Management) launch

The first phase of the transformation -- Enterprise Asset Management -- rolled out its first portion on Oct. 2 as the capital projects segment of EAM went live. The new SAP functionality, combined with redesigned processes, will streamline and automate today’s paper-driven capital request process. From the initial submission of a project request to the development of reports on financial performance, the system will serve as the single source of truth for comprehensive project data. Improved system integration will ensure the integrity and reliability of data, and access to real-time information and status updates will strengthen transparency throughout a project’s duration.

The maintenance portion of the EAM transformation -- which affects only the West Lafayette campus -- is set to go live on Oct. 30, completing the implementation of phase one of the overall transformation project. As with the capital projects portion of EAM, streamlining and automating are themes for the maintenance segment. With the additional SAP functionality that will be seen, maintenance will be able to view work order progress from submission through completion and eliminate current paper processes. Maintenance technicians will move from using paper for all aspects of their work orders and processes to iPads.

Phase two (Human Capital Management) status report 

Phase two -- Human Capital Management (HCM) transformation -- continues to move forward through its testing phase. The guiding principle of the Transform Purdue initiative has always been and will continue to be implementing high-quality processes and systems. With that principle in mind, the go-live date of the HCM project has been extended to April 1, 2018. This will allow for additional time to work through the technical aspect as well as provide stakeholders with a workable training timeline to prepare them for a successful implementation. Bill Sullivan, treasurer and chief financial officer, recently shared an eList 39 memo with leadership announcing the extended timeline for the HCM project.

While testing is underway, the HCM transformation is building the support network via the change network, which was extended to incorporate go-to's in an effort to accompany the number of process changes associated with HCM and the implementation of SuccessFactors.

As the University moves from SAP to SAP SuccessFactors, several processes are being transformed. They are:

* Foundation and position management.
* Recruitment.
* Onboarding and offboarding.
* Time and payroll.
* Compensation.
* Performance management goals.

Phase three (Finance) update

The Finance (General Ledger) transformation is on schedule for implementation in July 2018. We are using a pilot (a sample of departments from each campus) to test the new financial structure. In addition, the finance team has been educating business, central and other financial offices in the new structure.

SAP 101 sessions were created and facilitated across all three Purdue campuses by the transformation team and business process analysts. The sessions were designed to establish a starting point for understanding some of the core components of the future state SAP Finance system, providing a foundation for future trainings and exercises.

The next step for the Finance transformation project is building reporting prototypes based on the pilot data. The team looks forward to creating and sharing the reporting prototypes as the project moves forward.

Communications continue

The Transformation team kicked off the projects less than a year ago with Roadshow presentations to various departmental and leadership meetings across the three campuses, and the team continues to go through round two of presentations. This time, the team is partnering with the director of financial affairs of each area with the presentation. With their knowledge of their units and the upcoming changes that will affect them, the DFAs will help discuss upcoming changes and how their units can best prepare for the future.

Additional information

Information on the Transform Purdue project is always available via the Transform Purdue website. The Transform@Purdue Newsletter also provides up-to-date information on all aspects of the project. All sources of communication for the project are readily available via the Transformation News section of the website, which provides access to the Transform@Purdue Newsletter along with Monthly Key Messages and various other articles throughout the life span of the project. Any questions on the Transform Purdue project can be directed to bpr@purdue.edu.