Welcome to the March WolfieONE eNewsletter! Each month, the Office of Change Management will be sending a digital update to the Stony Brook Community about major happenings, project-related information, shout-outs and more! In case you missed our February eNewsletter, you can catch up anytime on the WolfieONE website. As always, we welcome your feedback and ideas for future newsletters.
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Stony Brook’s Neeru Ailawadi: Neeru is the technical lead for Stony Brook University's HCM system and serves as the Data Conversion and Integration Lead for the HR Workstream of the WolfieONE implementation project. In that capacity, Neeru has been a key resource in the HCM strategy by helping to identify and document key data points that will need to be connected in our future state. Additionally, she has been collaborating closely with our HRS functional partners to provide her team's subject matter expertise as input to their discussions as needed, bridging the gap between technical details and functional requirements. Thank you Neeru, for your contributions to the WolfieONE project! - Jim Gonzales, Assistant Vice President for Enterprise Applications and Integrations, Stony Brook University and Tech Workstream Team Lead
Neeru’s Response: I am extremely thrilled to be a part of the significant HR systems transformational implementation, the WolfieONE project. The meticulous identification and visual representation of all boundary systems, directly or indirectly reliant on PeopleSoft HCM data, underscore its critical nature, significance, and far-reaching impact. This extends beyond the systems of Stony Brook University and SB Medicine, indirectly touching OSC, SUNY, and Research Foundation data. The RICEW Tracker document serves as the cornerstone upon which the four pillars of Integration, Data Conversion, Extensions, and Reports are built on for the WolfieONE project. The team's unwavering focus on accurately documenting the intricate details of over 1,600 PeopleSoft HCM customizations, encompassing programs, batch processes, and reports, has been paramount. With the embrace of Oracle Cloud technologies and the introduction of a new integration platform, the horizon for continuous learning and growth within the IT team expands infinitely. It presents an exhilarating prospect for utilizing cloud-based technologies to deliver future integrations and development solutions.
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Project Updates
This month, we continued with our Design sessions, in which we reviewed the Key Design Decision (KDD) options available for the various workstreams. This enables and empowers the project team to discover and leverage Oracle Cloud functionality to address any current inefficiencies, design better workflows, and consider change impacts.
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Workstream Update: Design Phase
The WolfieONE project team has conducted over 75 Design Sessions and work group discussions since the beginning of the “Imagine” Phase, which is ongoing. The output of these sessions will also influence the integration ecosystem between WolfieONE and other Stony Brook systems that will remain in use, which are called “boundary systems”. In partnership with Change Management, the Technical team has begun validating and engaging the boundary systems' solution owners. For data conversions, we have begun mapping the Foundation Tables from current state PeopleSoft to the future state in Oracle Cloud.
On March 8th, we held a workshop to explore the Organization segment in our new Chart of Accounts by evaluating definitions and parameters that will be foundational to detailed design (ERP Finance and organizational design) and alignment for SBU. This interactive session was attended by Deloitte and Stony Brook leaders (30 in total), representing Academic and non-Academic departments, Institutional Effectiveness, and the Student Experiential Learning Program (SELP).
On the Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) front, we have achieved a consensus on moving forward with a "hybrid" workforce planning and budgeting model that will provide Stony Brook the flexibility to budget and plan personnel service expenses using both employee and position, which will help the university better manage our existing line budget.
As we progress towards the next phase of the project, Deloitte is bringing subject matter experts to lend their specialized knowledge. The Human Capital Management (HCM) team has welcomed two new functional leads to the team, Lisa Parson and Abhishek Gupta, both bringing years of experience in their respective modules. Lisa Parson is leading the Oracle Recruiting Cloud and the Performance Management work areas for Stony Brook. She brings her expertise and experience building onboarding/offboarding journeys, and other journeys (personalized guidance to support employees through professional and personal workflows). Abhishek Gupta is leading the Workforce Compensation and HR Helpdesk work areas. He will be providing guidance to support SBU’s unique compensation requirements. We’re excited about these two resource additions as their collective knowledge will help strengthen SBU’s HCM solution.
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Timeline: Summary of Activities
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*This is a tentative timeline subject to change depending on actual project task completions. Visit the WolfieONE website periodically for updates and the latest version.
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OCM Updates
Stakeholder Engagement: Stakeholder Education | Foundation Sessions
As we plan and design our new ERP system, several fundamental concepts will either change or become obsolete, giving birth to many new concepts. To enable our stakeholders on this journey from awareness to adoption, OCM, in partnership with the functional workstream leaders, will conduct educational sessions on such topics as they are identified and solidified.
The Chart of Accounts Foundations Session was delivered on March 18, in which 217 participants joined us to learn more about the new chart structure and ask questions (which are now on the WolfieONE website). The new CoA segments, terminology, attributes and hierarchies impact financial reporting and organizational design. The future CoA will be used to classify all financial transactions in WolfieONE (Oracle Cloud). For accounting and operational purposes, it does not impact the hospital, since the General Ledger for the Stony Brook Hospital will remain in the current system (Lawson).
WolfieONE Town Hall
The first WolfieONE Town Hall will be held in person and via Zoom on April 30th, and will be open to anyone willing to learn more. This session will be relevant to all staff and faculty, and provide you with an opportunity to get updates on the transformation and ask questions. Registration will be required to attend. Register today!
Your Guide to a Seamless Transition with WolfieONE Training
We are working diligently through the design of WolfieONE and preparing for our new ERP system to revolutionize the way we work at Stony Brook! While a full training schedule will be announced this Fall, there are many opportunities for learning our new system, many of which are quick and easy to engage in. Here is how we are getting ready for training and ensuring you’ll be set up for Go-Live.
- Free training from Oracle University (OU) is open to anyone and provides short videos explaining how a modern ERP system transforms an institution. Come discover the power of Software as a Service (SaaS), Oracle Cloud Applications, Human Capital Management and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) to develop a foundational understanding.
- Subscription-based training within Oracle University is reserved for the core members of the functional teams to learn and configure this transformative system — the way we want to use it. This highly regarded training will allow our teams to stay ahead of the curve with Oracle credentials while providing hands-on experience.
- A superpower of the system is the way it will be designed to make end users immediate performers. Contextual Journeys guide us towards fulfilling goals by breaking them down into chronological tasks with workflows and approvals built in, making us less reliant on email approvals.
Student Experiential Learning Program (SELP) Update
The students have been actively engaged with their workstream leaders on the WolfieONE project. They have been participating in various activities such as the planning and design sessions, preparing for Road Shows, helping facilitate workshops (including the Organization Design discussion with senior leadership), representing WolfieONE at the HR Now’s Stony Road Show, and developing materials about new concepts for upcoming sessions that will introduce those concepts to the broader project team.
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Student Feedback: It's probably not surprising what sitting in design sessions has made me appreciate more: the implementation's design. My major is Computer Science, and a lot of the time we're focused on the lowest level of implementation, working on the level of individual bits. The sessions I've sat in on have been enlightening as to how SMEs come up with the requirements that SWEs implement. I've even been able to apply some of what I've learned in my research and my assignments, keeping track of needs, writing small user stories, and hashing out details with all the stakeholders in the same room. – Clark Fischer, Class of 2025
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Stakeholder Readiness: Review / Update Employee Information (We Need Your Help)
WolfieONE is expected to bring greater efficiency to our work processes through automation and reliable data. In preparation for the transition from SOLAR to WolfieONE, it is a best practice to review and update your data in the current PeopleSoft (SOLAR) system. Kindly take a moment to review the following data for accuracy:
- Home Address
- Office Address
- Phone number
- Emergency Contacts and their Phone Numbers (only home and cell phone numbers will be converted to WolfieONE)
You may need to revisit this information periodically (if there are changes) between now and before we go live with WolfieONE. Access SOLAR to take a moment to do this now.
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