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ICYMI: WolfieONE is a strategic transformation initiative that entails implementing an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Human Capital Management (HCM), and Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) ecosystem at SBU, supported by Oracle Cloud, to power our financial, budget, HR, technology, and business operations. The key drivers for implementing Oracle Cloud through WolfieONE are not just system upgrades. It is a comprehensive phased transformation grounded in campus-wide collaboration, data-informed recommendations, and strategic planning. Backed by the work of the Strategic Budget Initiative, and the end of life for PeopleSoft, this move positions Stony Brook to better serve its academic, research, and healthcare missions. WolfieONE will reduce paper-driven processes through online workflow approvals, informational dashboards, and electronic time and attendance systems. This will lessen the administrative burden on faculty, staff, researchers, and clinical teams, allowing more time to be dedicated to advancing Stony Brook's mission.
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1. WolfieONE Important Update
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The following message is shared from Jed M. Shivers, Senior Vice President of Finance & Administration highlighting recent milestones and key updates.
Prioritizing Quality for Our Future
As we continue the vital work of modernizing Stony Brook’s infrastructure through the WolfieONE project, I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the dedication this campus has shown. For the past two years, our functional and technical teams, subject matter experts, and staff have logged countless hours to build a foundation for Stony Brook’s future. Your resilience is the engine behind this project, and it has not gone unnoticed.
A Foundation of Success
While a project of this scale is a long journey, it is important to celebrate how far we have already come since kicking off in September of 2023. Our teams have been working tirelessly to translate our complex university needs into the new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. To date, we have achieved many significant milestones, including:
- Completion of the Design and Process Mapping Phase: We have successfully mapped the vast majority of our business processes, designing a future state that removes administrative friction and manual workarounds.
- Completion of the New Chart of Accounts (CoA): We have finalized the "financial brains" of WolfieONE, creating a streamlined model that will ensure our continued All Funds reporting view across the university and the Research Foundation (RF).
- User Story Progress: We have identified over 3,000 unique user stories to date (the specific requirements for how the system must work for you) across the project’s four major workstreams. We are in the process of finalizing configuration for these user stories.
- Testing Momentum: This past February, we closed out our third round of System Integration Testing (SIT 3), executing nearly 2,800 testing scenarios. Testing results are used to inform further refinement of the configurations.
Strategic Recalibration for Quality
Our project leadership team recently conducted a rigorous assessment of our remaining configurations and integration requirements including those for SUNY, RF and Stony Brook University Hospital (SBUH). Based on this review, we have made the strategic decision to spend additional time closing any open design and build items, which may result in a change to our projected go-live date. If this occurs, a formal announcement will be sent. We are choosing to focus our time now to ensure:
- Designing and Building with Confidence: By taking the next few months to finalize the remaining portion of our design and build items, we ensure that our subsequent formal testing phases are more productive and meaningful.
- Integration and Data Validation: We are moving beyond simply "testing the pipes" to ensuring the actual data moving between the various systems and entities such as Stony Brook University Hospital, Campus Solutions, SUNY, the Office of the State Comptroller, the Stony Brook Foundation, and the Research Foundation is 100% accurate.
- A "User-First" Launch: We want to ensure that when selected individuals are asked to participate in testing and training, you are interacting with reliable data and streamlined business processes.
Protecting Our Momentum
This additional time allows our functional and technical teams to focus entirely on finishing the build, refining the user experience, and ensuring all external requirements with SUNY, RF, etc. are met. We remain fully confident that WolfieONE will be a transformative experience for Stony Brook. Thank you for your continued patience, your expertise, and your unwavering commitment to excellence.
Sincerely,
Jed M. Shivers
Senior Vice President
Finance & Administration
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2. Spotlight and Shoutout
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3. Tax Engine for Stony Brook Foundation
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The Stony Brook Foundation (SBF) is transitioning from Avid Invoicing to WolfMart alongside the WolfieONE implementation. WolfMart will automatically transmit procurement transactions and Accounts Payable (AP) invoices to WolfieONE.
Today, vendor withholding data for SBF, the Alumni Association, and SB Foundation Realty is maintained in PeopleSoft Finance, which will be retired when WolfieONE goes live. PeopleSoft supports 1099 reporting for only SBF. The 1099 file is uploaded to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Filing Information Returns Electronically (FIRE) system, and printed reports are distributed by SBF. For the Alumni Association and SB Foundation Realty, SBF currently relies on a separate platform to process reporting and e-file taxes. In the future state, these entity-specific processes will be consolidated through a new tax engine implemented as part of WolfieONE, enabling a single, standardized approach to 1099 reporting, and e-filing.
Withholding calculations for 1042 suppliers are currently performed outside of Avid, and Accounts Payable manually enters withholding lines in Avid. Although 1042-related data is stored in PeopleSoft, reporting and e-filing are handled in a separate platform. The new tax engine will automate withholding calculations, reduce manual entry, and streamline tax reporting and e-filing for the Stony Brook Foundation and related entities.
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4. Organizational Change Management (OCM) Updates
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WolfieONE is entering a critical readiness phase across Stony Brook. Organizational Change Management (OCM) continues to strengthen stakeholder alignment, maintaining a strong focus on proactive communication, and advancing role-based learning to prepare impacted areas for successful adoption.
Stakeholder Engagement: OCM continues engaging stakeholders to surface insights, reinforce accountability, and support campus-wide readiness.
- In 2025, the Change Champion Network generated 364 total feedback entries, including 104 submissions during Champion sessions, demonstrating strong engagement and proactive issue identification. Additionally, recent Change Champion survey findings indicated a positive trend in awareness, with the majority of respondents expressing optimism about the initiative’s long-term value. This ongoing feedback cycle helps identify risks early, clarify impacts, and strengthen overall preparedness.
- Change Impact Assessments are underway across key functional areas, including Human Capital Management (HCM), Enterprise Performance Management (EPM), Technology, and Analytics. In partnership with functional leaders and subject matter experts, these assessments identify how WolfieONE will affect specific roles, processes, and systems. By defining role-based impacts early, OCM can tailor communications, align training to actual responsibilities, clarify expectations, and reduce disruption at go-live, supporting a smoother and more confident transition across departments.
- During the February 5 Change Champion meeting, executive and project leadership provided updates on timeline progress and system readiness.
- Lyle Gomes, Vice President for Finance, reinforced executive sponsorship and highlighted completion of major design and build milestones, noting the project’s progression into the testing phase. He emphasized the deliberate, enterprise-focused approach taken to navigate institutional complexity and expressed confidence as the program advances toward go-live and post-implementation stabilization.
- Nick Candela, Senior Director of Business Transformation, shared progress within System Integration Testing, including completion of a major testing cycle with an 81% pass rate across an estimated 2,800 scenarios. He emphasized ongoing stabilization efforts, refinement of integrations and data conversion, and preparation for the next testing cycle to support sustained system performance post–go-live.
- In our March Champion meeting, we introduced the enhanced Champion Toolkit, now expanded with additional resources to better support Change Champions in their roles. One of the key additions is a companion guide (resource repository) designed to help Champions identify the most relevant resources for specific audiences, ensuring the right information is delivered at the right time.
Communications: Clear, consistent communication is a priority, reinforcing transparency, aligning messaging with project milestones, and keeping the Stony Brook community informed and prepared.
- Champion enablement remains central to this approach. Each month, Champions receive focused highlights and clear guidance to support effective message cascading within their departments. Required actions are clearly identified, ensuring expectations are intentional and manageable while reinforcing shared accountability for adoption and sustained utilization.
Training: The WolfieONE training program continues to make strong progress as we move from planning into execution. The Deloitte training team is actively developing and refining training outlines, with multiple outlines completed across HCM, ERP, and overview courses. These outlines serve as foundational guides for building detailed training materials and are being iterated using an agile approach.
Preparation for the Train-the-Trainer (TTT) program is underway, including identifying trainers. The kickoff orientation event took place on February 23. Additionally, Champion Training has been rolled out via Brightspace, with completed modules covering the Chart of Accounts (CoA) and Enterprise Data Management (EDM), helping build early awareness and readiness across the campus community.
Looking Ahead: As WolfieONE progresses toward key implementation milestones, OCM will continue leveraging engagement insights, strengthening leader enablement, and reinforcing consistent messaging to support successful adoption and long-term behavioral integration. Through structured stakeholder alignment and proactive communication, Stony Brook is building the foundation necessary for successful and sustainable enterprise transformation.
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If you have questions about any of the newsletter content or the WolfieONE project, please contact the Office of Change Management (OCM) team at our WolfieONE OCM Mailbox.
Our team is available to provide guidance, clarification, and support.
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WolfieONE Links (NetID may be needed)
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