February 13, 2023

The Financial Management Modernization (FMM) implementation team completed the design phase of the program in January 2023, working with over 25 departments to document the requirements for the new financial system. Over the coming months, team members will configure over 1,200 user stories (which define the user experience and corresponding system functionalities) in the Oracle Financials Cloud (OFC) environment as part of the project’s ongoing “Configure & Prototype” phase. Departmental involvement will increase between now and the summer months as several FMM workstreams begin coordinating with departments to clean up and modify existing financial data and systems. 

FMM TimelineLearn more about our progress since the last program update in October:

Deliverables completed

  • In November, the technical team finalized the integration strategy, a plan to connect the new OFC system to existing UCSB systems and processes, as well as the reporting strategy, which outlines how we scope, build, and deploy reports in OFC.
  • The team completed business process workbooks for each of the four primary OFC modules (Record to Report, Projects & Grants Management, Invoice to Cash, and Procure to Pay) at the end of 2022. These workbooks include flowcharts showing the steps required to complete a given task or achieve an outcome in the new system.
  • In December, the implementation team completed the solution gap summary to articulate which UCSB user stories are identified as gaps not met by the OFC system and need to be resolved through manual activities or custom reports, conversions, or integrations.
  • We developed and completed configuration workbooks that document the data and requirements needed when configuring the OFC environment to reflect UCSB design decisions. These support ongoing configuration efforts by outlining which Oracle functionalities will be enabled within each module to best fit UCSB business processes. 
  • The risks & controls team completed the segregation of duties matrix in January, which tracks and defines agreed-upon system access rules for the Oracle Financials Cloud environment. These rules prevent incompatible duties and associated access risks.
  • Last week, the FMM change, communications, and training (CCT) team submitted part one of the change impact assessment, a document that identifies how various campus stakeholder groups will be impacted by changes to business processes, technology, organizational roles and structure, and policies due to the implementation of OFC. Internal project stakeholders have approved this document and the various divisional CFOs have begun their review.

Milestones Completed

  • FMM team members completed project plans for two subprojects coinciding with the implementation of Oracle Financials Cloud: 
    • As part of the CCOA for Campus Systems Remediation project, existing UCSB technical systems that contain current COA chartfields and account strings must prepare to adopt the Common Chart of Accounts (CCOA) by July 2024.
    • Simultaneously, because UCOP is implementing the CCOA in July 2023, the UCOP CCOA Transition project ensures that the existing UCSB systems interacting with UCOP systems are able to map the current UCSB COA to the CCOA by this date. 

Completed events  

  • The FMM technical team hosted a virtual CCOA Technical Impact Overview on January 5, which provided campus IT administrators with information needed to scope and plan remediation for the current COA in their systems. Click here to watch the recording.
  • The CCT team held a CCOA Design Workshop for Assistant Deans and business officers on January 24, examining key changes that departments will experience when using some of the future chartfield segments. Click here to watch the recording.

Upcoming events

  • The project team is hosting a virtual Oracle Financials Cloud (OFC) Introductory Town Hall for all campus financial system users on Wednesday, February 15 at 10 a.m. (PT). This presentation will provide a high-level overview of the new OFC system and start introducing the various modules that system users will work with in the future state. Click here to register.
  • 77 departments will participate in data clean-up activities and attend conversion workshops over the coming months to support the Oracle Projects & Grants Management (PGM) conversion. Due to the number of departments participating, this process has been segmented into waves with the following workshop kickoff dates: 

Staying engaged

  • If your department is listed as a participant in wave 2 of the PGM conversion, your control point will select someone to attend the workshop and partake in data clean-up activities. If your department is in conversion wave 3 or 4, the PGM team will coordinate with your control point at a later date.
  • Share the OFC town hall registration link with anyone in your department who works with the current financial system.

Thank you for your continued support in modernizing our campus financial system.