June 15, 2023

In May, the FMM Executive Committee evaluated the program’s progress and decided to extend the go-live date beyond July 1, 2024. A number of considerations factored into the decision to extend the timeline:

  • The recent decision to retain Gateway for procurement increases the program's timeline. 
  • The Common Chart of Accounts development requires deeper analysis and broader consultation. 
  • Significant planning remains for the Data Warehouse & Analytics project.

As part of the replanning effort, UCSB and Deloitte teams are working to complete key activities, develop a revised project plan to accommodate a new go-live date, and lay the groundwork to ensure success for the reforecasted implementation. Project leaders are reviewing options for a modified project timeline and will share a new go-live date with the campus this summer.

Over the last month, the project team made significant progress mapping current chart segment values to the new Common Chart of Accounts (CCOA) segments, evaluating potential tools for training, and preparing for the upcoming testing phase. In addition, the project team assessed which Oracle Financials Cloud (OFC) system requirements no longer need to be configured based on the retention of Gateway and began engaging with departmental business officers who will use the CCOA to track fiscal activity currently managed in GUS.

Learn more about what we accomplished throughout the past month:

Deliverables Completed

  • The Change, Communications, and Training (CCT) team completed the training needs assessment in early May. This document identifies what employees need to learn in order to work effectively in the new system and how we’ll know if they learned it.

Milestones Completed

  • The CCT team launched the first quarterly change readiness survey in May. As we progress through the project, this survey will be sent out to the FMM mailing list on a quarterly basis to evaluate the campus’ awareness of the upcoming change. The survey revealed that while overall awareness of the FMM program is strong, knowledge of the CCOA is still lacking. Consequently, the CCT team is planning continued training on the CCOA as well as quarterly town halls to provide regular FMM program updates.  
  • The Risks & Controls team configured custom job roles in the Oracle Financials Cloud (OFC) environment and performed testing to check that the functionality is working as intended. By configuring the OFC Advanced Access Controls (AAC) module, the team defined UCSB-specific segregation of duties, which are rules outlined for the access controls associated with assigned roles in OFC. This functionality supports the security of the new system by ensuring that only authorized users can access certain data within the various OFC modules.
  • The Office of Research onboarded two Projects & Grants Management (PGM) Business Process Design Leads, Katherine Tompkins and Lynsey Trueman, in support of the FMM project. These leads will partner with campus experts, consultants, divisional administration, and central offices to assess currently decentralized projects & grants business practices, plan future state operations, and assist the development and execution of campus training.
  • A group of staffing and personnel budgeting experts across various divisions participated in a focus group to evaluate the workforce planning (WFP) component of the OFC system’s Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) module. These group members, many of whom also participated in discussions for the initial design requirements of EPM, were asked to try out and provide feedback on the WFP features and processes.

Completed Events

  • On June 12, project leadership held the second FMM coffee chat. This informal session provided an opportunity for attendees to learn more about the extension of the FMM go-live date and ask project related questions.

Upcoming Events

  • The project team will host an in-person town hall in late July to provide an overview of training preparation efforts. A date, time, location, and more information about this town hall will be announced soon. 
  • If you are participating in PGM conversion activities, please note that the Cost conversion information session will be held on Monday, July 31, time TBD. More information and a Google Calendar invitation will be provided in the coming weeks.

Staying Engaged

  • Please ensure that any recently onboarded financial staff in your departments enroll in the FMM mailing list so they can stay up-to-date on this upcoming transition.

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