Lee Nelson opened the Steering Committee meeting with the introduction of Mark Schexsnaildre, SAP’s consulting engagement manager for Higher Education and Research. Lee acknowledged Mark’s support of the IRIS Project and commitment to UK’s success in the SAP implementation.

Diana Sage revisited training cancellation statistics and outlined a plan wherein employees would be required to cancel registration three business days prior to the course offering to avoid charges to the employee’s unit for the cost of the instruction. In the event a registered employee is unable to attend, the department may send a substitute who needs the course and avoid the possibility of charges. The Coordinating Committee has endorsed this plan.

Steering Committee members discussed the proposal and raised some implementation questions. Diana indicated that the policy should cut down on cancellations. Additionally, course offering information is being posted in smaller (weekly) increments now, to encourage early, rather than later, registration for HR/Payroll training.

Following this discussion, the group received an update on current training and issues such as space and low enrollment.

Michelle Bliffen first reported on the parallel testing program and its progress. Plans call for testing to continue through February. Issues with system processing time have surfaced and SAP is now looking at solutions.

Michelle offered kudos to the 100 UK staff members who’ve worked as parallel testers. Their contributions are significant; they have helped the team identify and address problems well in advance of April1. Michelle cited the outstanding effort made by Linda Williams from the College of Medicine in this process. The parallel testing program will result in the early creation of system experts for IRIS HR/Payroll.

Michelle updated everyone on the HR Organizational Structure progress and outlined some other outstanding items. She concluded by alerting the committee members to possible pressure points in this implementation and reviewing key Go Live dates.

Kevin Stevens shared the latest developments with the committee. The MM Team is looking at an advanced purchasing class. Procard now is updated nightly and Kevin expects to turn over processing to Accounts Payable soon. A Phase II enhancement begins this week, with the goal of offering a friendlier, web-based version of procurement card functionality. Work on 1099 reporting is going well.

Kevin delivered good news on the Hospital Inventory project. Integration testing has gone well, as has EDI. The team is planning now for the Material Master load. Kevin noted that the Omnicell interface is on schedule. PICIS remains the greatest challenge for the Hospital Inventory implementation.

Michelle Nordin outlined all of the present Student Administration activities such as data mapping and admissions workflow. An additional consultant will be on board to focus on this workflow. The Visitor Center functionality is scheduled to come up in February.

Michelle and Don Witt are establishing an advisory group to ensure representation and involvement from each college. Michelle also plans to meet with the Executive Committee of the Advising Network.

Work continues in the Student Accounting area of CM, with the first dunning activity scheduled for early February. Team members are engaged in account statement changes and tuition/fees calculation (the remaining task for Phase I).

Following Michelle’s remarks, Lynda George reported on the new financial aid system implementation. She summarized the various activities in the award year cycle and then described tasks that are critical for the March 1 Go Live. Lynda also shared information on work to be done after March 1, including conversions, financial aid presence on the web, and integration with CM next fall.

The FI Team continues to work on issues from October 1 Go Live, including cash reconciliations, remaining interfaces, validity dates for grants, and distribution of financial aid to grants. Dale Austin highlighted current tasks such as the new faculty effort system. Bob Marshall has joined the team to help with the FES effort.   Dale also noted that work continues in the development of reports, including ledgers, quarterly financials, and GASB reports. Along with this work, the team will be moving ahead into Phase II tasks.

Lee Nelson reported on the January 3 Go Live for Kentucky Medical Services Foundation. Thus far few issues have surfaced. The patient refund interface for Signature has been active since January 9. Not yet completed are the interface for bank reconciliation, posting of staff salaries (from UK), and final conversions of G/L balances and budget. Phyllis Nash acknowledged Lee’s efforts in the KMSF effort.

Phyllis concluded the meeting by announcing a change in the ERP2005 upgrade schedule. Testing of ERP2005 has been on the work plan of the IRIS Project for the past two months. Due to knowledge gained through the testing, the decision has been made to reschedule any upgrade of the system until after HR/Payroll, FES, and CM go live. With this plan, the Development Team will be addressing interim functionality to enable CM to come up on 4.72.

The Steering Committee meets next on February 28.