Board of Governors, June 24, 1999 - APPENDIX III, Annex 2
Status of Implementation
Human Resources System (HRIS)
The HR system has continued to function well and improvements in the operation of the system and and production processes has continued. Work has also begun on planning the upgrade from the current version (6.01 Commercial) to a newer version (7.5 Public Sector).
Financial System
The Financial System has become more stable in the past few months and many of the minor problems have been resolved. The focus of the past few months has been on ensuring that the system and processes could handle the fiscal year end. Year end processes for PeopleSoft have been defined and tested. The year end will be concluded using the mainframe financial system and the PeopleSoft systems. This will be the final year end processing from the mainframe.
Discussions regarding the timing and process for the upgrade to version 7 (or higher) for the PeopleSoft Financial System are underway.
Student Administration System (HE)
The first phase of the HE system went live in December: this included Admissions for all students, Financials, Records and Financial Aid for graduate students. Early admissions to the University were successfully processed in March and admission letters generated. The applications for admission came from the Ontario University Application Centre (OUAC) and were transferred electronically successfully.
Full roll out of the complete system will take place during June and July, 1999. Conversion of student records from the old system to the new has begun and final conversion of student records from the mainframe will be done over the summer of 1999.
Advancement Systems (AS)
The Advancement System delayed conversion of data from the old system to the new until after year end. This was done to complete year-end processing on the old mainframe. Conversion of data from the old mainframe to the new Advancement System began in early May. A full cutover is expected by the end of May 1999.
As mentioned in the January report, the University has also acquired PeopleSoft's Advancement System. This system encompasses many of the features in the version currently developed by UWO and will provide enhanced functionality when fully implemented. Implementation of PeopleSoft's Advancement System will not take place until after the year 2000.
Production Environment
A PeopleSoft Resource Group consisting of ITS staff and functional staff has been formed with Gerry Growden as the Coordinator. This group will assume responsibility for ongoing upgrades and fixes to the PeopleSoft applications, complete the implementation of the Higher Education system and the Advancement System, and begin work on improving the operation and use of the applications. They will also function as a focal point for reviewing and re-engineering operational processes to take advantage of the PeopleSoft technology.
An Advisory Team consisting of R. Harris (Registrar), E. Del Maestro (Finance), K. Gee (Human Resources), R. Chelladurai (IPB) and M. Bauer (ITS) has been formed to work with G. Growden on the priorities of the Resource Group.
Legacy Mainframe Environment
The mainframe will continue to be needed at least through the summer of 1999. There were no major problems with the mainframe during the winter term as the system continued to function reasonably. No further Year 2000 problems were encountered.
Current plans see the mainframe decomissioned August 31, 1999.
Security and Disaster Recovery
A firewall around the PeopleSoft applications and systems has been implemented. This will help restrict access to these systems from unauthorized computers.
Network upgrades are underway to replace networking equipment which is old, not Year 2000 compliant or may lack security features. The result of the upgrade will be improved network reliability, performance and security.