History of WolfieONE
As Stony Brook University continues to grow and change, current finance, budget, human
capital, and business operations needs are also evolving across Divisions, Departments,
Schools and Offices. Momentum is being generated by students, researchers, faculty
and staff across our campuses, as the institution collectively aspires to leap forward
and enter Stony Brook’s next chapter; a future of excellence. The University is moving
forward, and perhaps now more than ever, it has become of critical importance that
the systems we use to support our efforts help fuel this momentum, drive enhancements/improvements,
and enable our faculty and staff to continue to reach past the norm, past the status
quo.
Implementing a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system at Stony Brook will be
an enterprise-wide transformational effort, designed to replace many of the outdated
systems we use today, help us better prepare for our strategic planning efforts in
the years ahead, and realign our business practices and procedures to be more streamlined,
easier, and less labor-intensive for our faculty and staff.
History - How We Got Here
Narrative for the image above: During March of 2020, the impact of Covid-19 at the University presented an immediate need for the revision of financial data, and an ability to forecast impacts of enrollment and other changes brought about by the pandemic. While preparing this data, it became evident that the University lacked robust financial reporting systems that could easily, and quickly, prepare data. Ultimately, this created the need for an assessment of our current situation, as well as what needs the University may have moving forward.
The results of this assessment identified that Stony Brook's existing financial operations
were being conducted from platforms that require complex system customizations to
meet our existing practices. Discordant hardware and software platforms often did
not 'speak' to each other, resulting in a lack of data transparency, environments
where sharing data across different areas is often cumbersome, inefficient and requires
the duplication of resources. These legacy systems have become expensive and difficult
to maintain, requiring manual integrations and labor-intensive reconciliation and
maintenance efforts. Above all else, the need for a modern financial management system
was glaringly apparent.
Simultaneously, Oracle announced that support for PeopleSoft and Student Information
Systems (SIS) platforms will conclude in 2034. Currently, PeopleSoft serves as one
of the University's primary financial and HR systems. This announcement prompted leadership
teams to research new systems that will support current financial planning and business
operations, as well as human capital needs now and in the future. After evaluating
several platforms, the leadership team identified and selected Oracle Enterprise Cloud
Service as Stony Brook's next Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software.
More Than Just Software
This process of identifying a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) partner also
revealed the need for an enterprise-wide strategic transformation of many core business
practices and procedures. As such, Stony Brook’s transition to a new and enhanced
ERP will be more than a system implementation project, it will become a strategic business transformation initiative that will modernize the way SBU manages
our finance, budget, HR and business operations. Upon completing the ERP implementation, SBU should realize operational efficiencies,
enhanced processes and more fluid procedures.
The journey to a new ERP system will require our budget, financial planning, human
resources, finance, IT and enterprise risk management teams, among others, to take
a critical eye to existing practices in order to make them better. We will optimize
our use of the ERP by analyzing and realigning processes to be on par with internal
and industry best practices. Ultimately transactions will be more straightforward,
less prone to error and re-work, and thus faster and more reliable. Data will be more
transparent and easier to access. Reporting will be enhanced with real-time data and robust reporting tools inherent in Oracle. Our teams
will spend less time correcting transactions, or doubting the validity of data, and
more time understanding and analyzing information. SBU users at all levels should
be able more accurately forecast and make better decisions.
Additional Needs
As our leadership teams have been diligently working to evaluate our current systems and processes, as we prepare for Oracle's Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), other needs have emerged, which we look forward to addressing with this implementation:
Legacy systems no longer meet current and future needs
....................
- Highly-customized, expensive and difficult to maintain
- Discordant hardware and software platforms do not ‘speak’ to each other
- Sharing data is cumbersome, inefficient and requires duplication of resources and services
Reporting tools and capabilities don't meet user needs effectively
....................
Consistency in accounting and financial structures and practices
....................
- Practices are non-standard, designed to satisfy compliance needs rather than financial analysis
- Reporting is not streamlined and requires manual adjustments
- Desire to create a scalable structure for financial data and better reporting
Simplify and standardize business processes
....................
- Legacy systems and discordant software have resulted in inconsistent and over-complicated business processes
- Routine business transactions require tedious, labor- intensive and time-consuming processes for staff
Transition away from PeopleSoft in a timely manner
....................
- Oracle ending support of PeopleSoft by 2034
- Ensure that SBU has sufficient time to engage in, test, implement and improve a new system before this time
