Washington State University Modernization Initiative - ISG Prepared by: OCIO Dashboard
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Washington State University
Modernization Initiative
Quality Assurance Assessment –
December 16, 2020 – January 15, 2021
Prepared by:
ISG
January 25, 2021
Copyright © 2021 Information Services Group, Inc. All Rights ReservedJanuary 25, 2021
Stacy Pearson
Project Executive Sponsor and Vice President, Finance and Administration
Washington State University
Finance and Administration
PO Box 641046
Pullman, WA 99164-1045
Sue Langen
Deputy Director for Strategy & Management
Office of the Chief Information Officer
1500 Jefferson St SE
Olympia, WA 98504
Nicole Simpkinson
Assistant Director
Office of the Chief Information Officer
1500 Jefferson St SE
Olympia, WA 98504
Dear Ms. Pearson, Ms. Langen, and Ms. Simpkinson:
ISG has completed its Quality Assurance Assessment (the Assessment) of the Washington State
University (WSU) Modernization Initiative (the Project) for the period December 16, 2020
through January 15, 2021. This month the Modernization Initiative Steering Committee will
convene on Wednesday, January 28. The timing of this assessment provides timely reporting to
the Steering Committee. The Assessment was completed in accordance with the requirements
of WSU and the State of Washington Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO).
WSU Successfully Goes Live
During the assessment period, the Project team took WSU live with the Workday Human
Capital Management software on December 16, 2020 and the Workday Financial Management
software beginning on January 4, 2021. Workday Financial processes began running on January
1, 2021.
The implementation has proceeded relatively smoothly since that time.
The Project Management Office (PMO) meets daily to remain in close communication, assess
Project status and address critical topics (of which there have been few). Similarly, Project
team members participating in cutover have been meeting daily to assess progress in terms of
data loads, integrations, and reporting, and to methodically proceed through the detailed
Project cutover plan.
Copyright © 2021 Information Services Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Page iISG observed these meetings to be professionally managed and well attended by PMO
members and the Project team even during holidays and on the weekends. Typically, more
than fifty Project team members participate in the cut-over meetings.
The PMO reviews service desk statistics daily. These statistics include:
• Service tickets created and resolved;
• Time to resolution;
• Source group (e.g., Bursar, General Accounting, HR Services, Payroll, Purchasing);
• Workload assignments by Project team member; and
• Service tickets by priority (e.g., critical, high).
During the January 19 PMO when the PMO Status Report of January 15 was reviewed, key
service desk statistics reported the following:
• 4,346 service requests submitted (since January 6)
• 3,814 service requests resolved (since January 6) – 88% of the total requests submitted
• Resolution averaged .84 days for resolved requests
• Satisfaction reported at 4.9 on a 5-point scale although only 1.8% of requested
registered satisfaction ratings.
Members of the WSU user community have accessed knowledge base articles, which are
available through the Project website, on approximately 23,000 occasions. We assess this
significant use of knowledge base articles as highly positive. It is indicative of an effective
Project communications process that informed the user community of this resource as well as a
user community that is self-motivated to learn Workday-supported processes. Additionally,
Project leadership has encouraged the Project team members responding to service requests to
direct requestors to the knowledge base articles rather than answering each question in a “one
off” manner. In so doing, the Project team is educating the requestors about both the Project
resource – the knowledge base articles – and the Workday solution. This approach tends to
provide the requestors with answers and at the same time reduce the burden on the service
desk.
Critical and high priority service tickets numbered less than ten. Several of these will require
configuration changes. Most are being addressed timely. Tickets regarding (1) principal
investigator and grant manager access to payroll data and (2) contracts with no worktags, were
among those with broad impact and requiring multi-day periods to resolve.
An assessment of the service requests indicate that leave balances and leave accruals have
required the greatest attention. Leave balances provided by some organizational units required
significant update. Processing of the initial payroll proceeded smoothly with a limited number
of exceptions. Document image conversion proved problematic, so the Project team loaded
documents manually. Other items (e.g., invoice payment types other than by check, affiliate
access, mail stops) were or are being addressed.
ISG has observed that service desk requests to-date have not been as significant as anticipated
given the issue with lower than expected enrollments in Workday training courses. The Project
Copyright © 2021 Information Services Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Page iiteam’s extensive work to prepare the user community, the ready availability of knowledge base
articles and the holiday break, which provided for a somewhat more gradual uptake of
Workday processing, contributed to this lower volume.
Inception-to-date conversions moved forward relatively problem-free with the exception of
debt and loans which remained outstanding at the conclusion of the assessment period. The
Project team made unit financial managers aware that balances would not be available until
mid-January to allow for conversion of December balances. However, budget, revenue, and
expenditure balances were loaded month-by-month for last fiscal year and unit fiscal managers
were notified on January 20 (subsequent to the conclusion of the assessment period) that
balances were available to validate conversions. The Project team provided instructions to step
through the validation process. Grant inception-to-date balance conversions neared
completion but were not yet complete.
The Project team continues to meet with the Controller’s Office to update the Workday –
Agency Financial Reporting System (AFRS) crosswalk and with the State Office of Financial
Management (OFM). Payroll transactions related to payments to third parties (e.g., benefit
providers) will be recognized manually for the first AFRS file transmitted to OFM. Progress
related to completion of the gift calculator integration continues. Report development
continues.
The Project team has provided timely information to the University community as each of the
major applications has gone live. Project leadership updated the President’s Cabinet and Dean
on the initial go live status on December 22. The update included encouragement to express
appreciation to campus, college and departmental administrators for their contribution to
Project success, particularly given the COVID19-related complications they are also addressing.
Project leadership also:
• Updated the Steering Committee on January 4 in connection with the Financial System
go live and
• Held an interim Steering Committee meeting on January 13 to highlight status and elicit
feedback.
Project leadership continues to meet with campus groups and members of the campus
community. Early feedback from one of the University’s largest colleges indicated that financial
managers were effectively working together to share information and cross train, and to
identify opportunities for potential changes in organization and cost hierarchies to improve
transaction process flow.
Subsequent to the January 15 cut-off for this assessment period, the Project team discovered
several items that we believe deserve timely recognition. First, the Project team discovered
during the week of January 18 that budget credits were not rolled forward from legacy to
Workday. This is reported to be a known Workday issue. The Project team has developed an
alternative plan to load the balances and revise reporting to recognize the credits. In addition,
the Project team plans to issue a knowledge base article addressing this issue. As of this report,
the number of budgets impacted by this issue was not known. Late recognition of these credits
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Page iiiwill require additional effort to reconcile balances but is not expected to have a significant
impact on transaction processing. Second, the backlog of invoices awaiting payment in
Accounts Payable has grown to a level requiring WSU management attention. Invoices are
arriving for payment faster than they can be processed. The elapsed time associated with
manual processing of invoices against legacy purchase orders and contracts is problematic and
is the primary reason for the backlog. WSU management is aware of this situation and is taking
steps to address the backlog which include (1) revising the business processes, (2) revising the
Workday configuration and (3) temporarily increasing staffing. Although currently a risk to the
Project, continuation of this trend has the potential to become an issue that can impact the
Project’s success.
Sustainment
In previous reports, ISG has suggested labs to allow unit members to convene (most likely
virtually) so they could develop, confirm, and practice local procedures. These labs would be
supported by Project team members, most likely Business Analysts. Labs remain in the queue
of potential Project activities and will be available if Project resources are sufficient.
We also suggest that Project management provide additional consideration to the post-go live
organization structure and related roles and responsibilities. We plan to address this further in
future QA reports.
Project Status
The PMO Status Report for the week ending January 15 was reviewed during the January 19
PMO meeting. The report classifies the overall Project status rating and all components as
“green.” ISG agrees with the PMO and classifies overall Project status as “green” although the
Accounts Payable throughput issue (identified subsequent to the January 15 cut-off for this
report) has the potential to change this status.
Project Activity
Project activities during the current assessment period have focused on:
• Resolving outstanding action items;
• Moving remaining financial integrations toward completion;
• Completing training delivery in preparation for the go lives;
• Activating the Service Desk and addressing requests;
• Finalizing and executing the detailed cutover plan;
• Issuing the Project monthly newsletter, and preparing other communications to WSU
leadership and the WSU community;
• Engaging with WSU institutional, academic, and administrative leadership to set
expectations regarding cut-over and the stabilization period that follows;
• Updating the Project website; and
• Updating and elaborating the Project Workplan.
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Page ivAssessment Structure
This document is structured as follows:
1. Executive Summary
We summarize significant data points, progress toward the achievement of important
project activities or milestones, and our observations, findings, and recommendations
in this section. We also present a high-level dashboard overview.
2. Project Progress and Detailed Assessment by Project Management Area
As required by the OCIO and consistent with best practice, we present our initial
observations, findings, and recommendations organized by the ten practice areas of
project management as promulgated by the Project Management Institute. These ten
areas encompass the critical activities of a successful project.
3. Summary of Findings
We summarize findings from our assessment with corresponding recommendations.
This section will include new findings, as well as open and completed findings.
Thank you for this opportunity to serve WSU and the State of Washington.
I attest that ISG has prepared this report independently. Please contact me with any questions
or comments.
Sincerely,
David Hemingson, Partner
ISG Public Sector
Email: isg_usa.highered@isg-one.com
Phone: (512) 231-9212
Copyright © 2021 Information Services Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Page vTable of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................................... 1
Overview................................................................................................................................................ 1
Dashboard ............................................................................................................................................. 2
ASSESSMENT OF PROJECT PROGRESS ............................................................................................................ 4
Schedule ................................................................................................................................................ 5
Budget ................................................................................................................................................... 6
QUALITY ASSURANCE ASSESSMENT................................................................................................................ 7
PMBOK Practice Area 1: Integration Management .............................................................................. 8
PMBOK Practice Area 2: Scope Management ...................................................................................... 9
PMBOK Practice Area 3: Schedule Management ................................................................................. 9
PMBOK Practice Area 4: Cost Management....................................................................................... 10
PMBOK Practice Area 5: Quality Management .................................................................................. 10
PMBOK Practice Area 6: Resource Management ............................................................................... 11
PMBOK Practice Area 7: Communication Management .................................................................... 13
PMBOK Practice Area 8: Risk Management ....................................................................................... 13
PMBOK Practice Area 9: Procurement Management ........................................................................ 14
PMBOK Practice Area 10: Stakeholder Management ........................................................................ 14
ASSESSMENT OF THE ACCURACY OF THE PROJECT’S TRACKING OF PROGRESS ......................... 17
RISK ASSESSMENT .............................................................................................................................................. 18
SUMMARY OF OBSERVATIONS ....................................................................................................................... 20
SUMMARY OF OPEN FINDINGS ....................................................................................................................... 21
ISG QUALITY ASSURANCE METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................... 22
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Page viQA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
January 15, 2021
Executive Summary
ISG Public Sector (ISG) presents this Quality Assurance (QA) Assessment Report for the
Washington State University (WSU or the University) Modernization Initiative for the period
December 16, 2020 through January 15, 2021 (the assessment period).
Overview
This is the twenty-ninth monthly QA Assessment Report presented by ISG in its role as QA
consultant for the WSU Modernization Initiative (the Project).
With respect to earlier QA Assessment Reports, we conclude that Project leadership continues
to consider the recommendations presented in the reports and is acting to address them.
Human Capital Management (including payroll) went live on December 16, 2020. Financials
and Procurement processes were activated on January 1, 2021.
ISG classifies Project status as “green” although the Accounts Payable throughput issue
described in Integration Management practice area (identified subsequent to the January 15
cut-off for this report) has the potential to impact this status.
ISG reports no issue that we classify as a finding.1 We make several observations, noting several
risks that will be monitored as the Project progresses.2 We will continue to monitor these risks.
1
An issue is “a situation that is certain and that could affect Project success in a positive or negative manner.”
2
A risk is “an uncertain situation, the likelihood of the situation, and the impacts (which can be positive or
negative) that the occurrence of the situation would have on Project success.”
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Page 1QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
January 15, 2021
Dashboard
This dashboard presents an overview of our assessment of the Project and the ten Project
Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK) practice areas as of January 15, 2021.
Project Status 1
Change since Last Findings &
Project Management Area Area Status
Assessment Observations
1. Integration Management Operational Risk Noted
2. Scope Management --
3. Schedule Management Risks Reduced
4. Cost Management --
5. Quality Management --
6. Resource Management Risks Reduced
7. Communication Management --
8. Risk Management --
9. Procurement Management --
10. Stakeholder Management Risks Reduced
1Following the assessment period cut-off date, an Accounts Payable processing risk was identified that has the
potential to change this status.
Findings &
Traditionally High-Risk Areas* Area Status
Observations
1. Change Management
2. Integrations/System Remediations
3. Reporting**
* Areas that have proven to be high-risk during the implementations of enterprise systems at research universities
like WSU.
** Generation of dashboards, analytics, queries, and reports needed for decision-making at all levels of the
University and for compliance with regulatory and other third-party reporting. This includes reporting that is
impacted by the replacement by Workday of current HCM and Financial data sources.
ISG Monitored Areas* Rationale
1. PMO Troika Variance from best practice
2. Inter-agency Agreements Criticality to project success
3. Lack of Critical Path Variance from best practice
* Areas monitored by ISG but not rising to a level that requires Project leadership’s attention at this time.
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Page 2QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
January 15, 2021
Legend
Assessment Status Change
Risks/issues being addressed
Neutral; risks/issues partially being addressed or newly listed
Risks/issues increasing
Area Status
Major finding likely to adversely impact project progress or outcome
Finding/issue requiring attention or observation/risk being addressed and monitored
No finding or observation requiring action at this time
Findings & Observations
Finding(s)/issue(s) noted
Finding(s)/issue(s) and observation(s)/risk(s) noted
Observation(s)/risk(s) noted
No finding or observation at this time
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Page 3QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
January 15, 2021
Assessment of Project Progress
The Project continues to operate in a work-from-home environment. This will continue for the
foreseeable future.
ISG assigns the Project a “green” status as the go-live is moving forward smoothly. (See the
post-assessment period observation regarding Accounts Payable processing in the Integration
Management practice area.)
The Project team continues to:
• Develop deliverables corresponding to tasks in the Project Workplan;
• Execute Support Phase tasks; and
• Elaborate the Project Workplan.
Project Staffing
The WSU Core Finance and Budget Lead role remains open. Other Project team members have
filled this role in the interim but as the Project moves past the initial Support phase this position
may need to be filled.
The WSU Change Management Lead is on maternity leave.
Deloitte Staffing Commitment
Deloitte’s original contract was fixed cost. Current services as part of the timeline extension
provided by Deloitte under the recently modified SOW are now paid on a time and materials
basis.
Deloitte’s commitment cumulatively throughout the Project substantially exceeds the
anticipated hours presented in the SOW. With respect to the additional services that Deloitte is
providing on a time and materials basis, WSU Project management has indicated that Deloitte is
meeting WSU expectations.
Project Deliverables Status
The Deliverables Log indicates that all Deploy and Support Phase Deliverable Expectation
Documents (DEDs) have been submitted to WSU and all have been accepted. WSU formal
acknowledgement of Cutover is being reviewed by WSU. The following Support Phase
deliverables remain outstanding:
• Support – Mid-phase Status Report;
• Lessons Learned;
• Final Engagement Report; and
• System Acceptance Checklist.
All Project deliverables are due for completion by March 12, 2021.
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Page 4QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
January 15, 2021
Most deliverables reviewed by ISG have been of quality. In those instances when ISG has not
found the deliverables to be of quality, ISG has presented WSU with recommendations to bring
the deliverables to a leading practice standard.
Project deliverables are being classified consistent with guidelines in the Project Charter and
are being posted on a Deliverables Log accessible through the internal Project web site
maintained by Deloitte.
Project Workplan
Project leadership routinely updates the Project Workplan.
Project leadership should continue to review and elaborate tasks in the Project Workplan.
Based on our assessment of the Project Workplan this period, we conclude that it accurately
reflects the status of the Project at this time.
Schedule
During the assessment period, the Project team:
• Resolved outstanding action items;
• Moved remaining financial integrations toward completion;
• Completed training delivery in preparation for the go lives;
• Activated the Service Desk and addressed service requests;
• Finalized and executed the detailed cutover plan;
• Issued the Project monthly newsletter, and prepared other communications to WSU
leadership and the WSU community;
• Engaged with WSU institutional, academic, and administrative leadership to set
expectations regarding cut-over and the stabilization period that follows; and
• Updated the Project website.
The PMO:
• Updated the Project Workplan for current activity;
• Encouraged documentation of project decisions in the Risks, Actions, Issues and
Decisions (RAID) log; and
• Actively addressed risks including those identified in earlier QA reports.
We find that the Project Workplan is being updated on a timely basis. We will continue to
monitor the Project Workplan as the Project moves forward.
The Project Workplan presents a high-level timeline for the Project with estimated completion
dates. Workday HCM went live, as planned, on December 16, 2020. Workday Financial
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Page 5QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
January 15, 2021
Management processes were activated, as planned, on January 1, 2021. The final phase (i.e.
the Support Phase) is estimated for completion in mid-March 2021.
Budget
The Project is operating with sufficient budget.
Project Management has provided ISG with a monthly project spend plan for the current fiscal
year and an updated report of actual expenses through December 2020. The report indicates
that budget tracking is reasonably current, that WSU had allocated a contingency that we
consider reasonable and prudent for the Project timeline, and that the Project was running an
overall positive variance, before consideration of the contingency.
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Page 6QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
January 15, 2021
Quality Assurance Assessment
ISG presents below its Quality Assurance Assessment for the time period December 16, 2020
through January 15, 2021 (the assessment period). We report our assessment of Project
performance for each of the ten Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK) practice
areas:
1. Integration Management 6. Resource Management
2. Scope Management 7. Communication Management
3. Schedule Management 8. Risk Management
4. Cost Management 9. Procurement Management
5. Quality Management 10. Stakeholder Management
Each section below begins with a definition of the respective practice area.
Please refer to the final section of this report, ISG Quality Assurance Methodology, for a
description of the ISG Quality Assurance methodology that serves as the basis for this
Assessment.
On the following pages, ISG discusses the status of each of the ten Practice Management Book
of Knowledge (PMBOK) practice areas. As appropriate, we identify observations, findings, risks,
and issues and, for each observation or finding, we describe the impact, present our
recommendation and report status.
Risks and issues are defined consistent with PMBOK standards. A risk is “an uncertain situation,
the likelihood of the situation, and the impacts (which can be positive or negative) that the
occurrence of the situation would have on Project success.” An issue is “a situation that is
certain and that could affect Project success in a positive or negative manner.”
The OCIO requires WSU responses to issues raised in QA reports. We commend WSU for its
timely attention to both risks and issues, and for its transparency in presenting written
responses.
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Page 7QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
January 15, 2021
PMBOK Practice Area 1: Integration Management
Integration management includes the processes and activities needed to identify, define,
combine, unify, and coordinate the various processes and project management activities within
the project management process groups.
Discussion
Coordination with Resources Outside the Project
Timely completion of operational tasks is dependent upon successful integration with resources
not within the direct control of Project leadership.
Subsequent to the January 15 cut-off for this report, WSU management concluded that the
backlog of invoices awaiting payment in Accounts Payable has grown to a level requiring
attention. Invoices are arriving for payment faster than they can be processed. The elapsed
time associated with manual processing of invoices against legacy purchase orders and
contracts is problematic and is the primary reason for the backlog.
Risk
Delay in payments for an extended period has the potential to impact the University’s
reputation with the supplier and university community, impact the University’s credit
standing, and result in suppliers refusing to partner with the University.
Recommendation
We recommend that WSU and Project management continue to identify ways of
reducing the elapsed time required to process invoices against legacy purchase orders
and contracts, and monitor progress in reducing the time.
Status
WSU management is aware of this situation and is taking steps to address the backlog
which include (1) revising the business processes, (2) revising the Workday configuration
and (3) temporarily increasing staffing. Project management believes that the elapsed
time will be reduced as legacy purchase orders are closed. Although currently a risk to
the Project, continuation of this trend has the potential to become an issue that can
impact the Project’s success.
ISG will continue to monitor this risk.
Observations regarding the Project Workplan are presented earlier in the “Project Workplan”
section of “Assessment of Project Progress.” Observations regarding end user community
engagement are presented in the Stakeholder Management section below.
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Page 8QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
January 15, 2021
PMBOK Practice Area 2: Scope Management
Scope management includes the processes required to ensure that the Project includes all the
work required, and only the work required, to complete the Project successfully.
Discussion
University Stores had planned to implement a new inventory system separate from Workday
and the Project team planned accordingly. The new system has not been implemented. ISG
acknowledges that implementation of inventory functionality in Workday was not in Project
scope. Although not a Project risk, this does represent a risk to WSU.
Status
ISG has identified no reportable Project risks or issues in this area at this time.
PMBOK Practice Area 3: Schedule Management
Schedule management includes the processes required to manage the timely completion of the
Project.
Discussion
Resource Bottlenecks
The business analysts on the Project team have the most detailed understanding of the
configuration of the new system. Demands on HCM and Finance team business analysts’ time
and attention are from many sources and, in many cases, Project team resources have been
overcommitted. Prioritizing and coordinating these activities require the careful planning and
the integration of numerous tasks.
Service desk requests are the most unpredictable source of demand on business analyst time at
this point. Requests have remained at moderate levels. In addition, Deloitte resources remain
available to assist the business analysts and other members of the Project team, providing key
WSU resources with backup support.
Accordingly, we close this risk.
Report and Integration Development
Report development efforts have proven to be challenging for the Project team, as they are
traditionally for similar projects. Several integrations including the AFRS integration with the
OFM remain outstanding.
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Page 9QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
January 15, 2021
Risk
Design, build, and unit test of reports and completion of a few integrations are among
the set of tasks past due and/or represent a risk area.
Recommendation
Continue to monitor these. As appropriate, apply additional Project resources in
support of resolution of outstanding operational decisions.
Status
Development of reports classified as “critical” and “high” has been completed.
A set of medium and low reports remained outstanding. Project leadership reports that
these have been prioritized within these overall classifications and will be addressed in
priority sequence.
The Project team continues to work with the Controller’s Office and OFM to complete
the AFRS integration. Payroll transactions related to payments to third parties (e.g.,
benefit providers) will be recognized manually for the first AFRS file transmitted to OFM.
Progress related to completion of the gift calculator integration continues.
PMBOK Practice Area 4: Cost Management
Cost management includes the processes involved in planning, estimating, budgeting, financing,
funding, managing, and controlling costs so that the Project can be completed within the
approved budget.
Discussion
Observations regarding the Modernization Initiative budget and spend plan are presented
earlier in the “Budget” section of “Assessment of Project Progress.”
Status
ISG has identified no reportable risks or issues in this area at this time.
PMBOK Practice Area 5: Quality Management
Quality management includes the processes and activities of the performing organization that
determine quality policies, objectives, and responsibilities so that the project will satisfy the
needs for which it was undertaken.
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Page 10QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
January 15, 2021
Discussion
WSU has incorporated a quality assurance process into its deliverable development process.
This process is documented in the Project Management Plan and has been accepted and put
into practice by the Project team.
We have observed the Project team continuing the cadence for Project deliverable definition
and acceptance for deliverables outlined in the Deloitte SOW and included in the Project
Workplan. In our assessment, the quality of DEDs, which we review following WSU’s review,
and adherence to the definitions has been mixed. With a few exceptions that we have noted in
our assessment reports, we have found the final products to be acceptable.
Status
ISG has identified no reportable risks or issues in this area at this time.
PMBOK Practice Area 6: Resource Management
Resource management includes the processes that organize, manage, and lead the Project
team.
Discussion
ISG continues to find that WSU has staffed the team with a very professional Project team. We
commend Project leadership for the high standards it has established and maintained.
Project Team Position Vacancies
Deloitte is providing interim support for the Core Financials position vacancy. The Change
Management Lead position is temporarily vacant as the lead for this area is out on maternity
leave.
Given that WSU has gone live with both Workday applications, these vacancies no longer
represent a risk to the Project. In the longer term, the Core Financials position may need to be
filled to support on-going operations.
Accordingly, we close this risk.
Departmental Resource Availability
The Project team has analyzed the impact of Workday on departmental operations and
continues to be cognizant of campus, college, and other unit interests.
Steering Committee members have noted that their staff are experiencing high stress levels due
to the complications of COVID-19 and other factors.
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Page 11QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
January 15, 2021
Risk
As Project Management recognizes, the Project is dependent upon resources outside
the Project team to accomplish tasks in a timely manner.
Recommendation
ISG recommends that the Project team:
• Continue providing the WSU community with effective communication of Project
plans, activities, and decisions.
• Continue to develop project plans and communicate anticipated area resource
requirements and the timing of critical project activities. Develop and
communicate support available to campus, college, and departmental units.
• Establish an internal process to identify and resolve key user constraints or other
bottlenecks in the impacted WSU community (i.e., outside the Project team).
Status
WSU is aware of the risk and is acting to mitigate it.
WSU continues to update the WSU community as plans are developed. The Project
Team plans to hold a series of Zoom-facilitated, open Workday Expert Q&A Panels to
address user community questions. Panels will address Accounting, Grants, Payroll,
Time and Absence and Payroll.
ISG will continue to monitor.
COVID-19 Impact
The COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to impact Project team members and other
significant resources necessary for Project success.
Risk
A COVID-19 infection could incapacitate a member or members of the Project team or
other significant resources necessary for Project success.
Recommendation
Continue to monitor the health and safety of Project team members. Develop a
contingency plan in case a Project resource is incapacitated.
Status
During the assessment period, a member of the Project team contracted the COVID-19
virus. The ISG team hopes for his timely and full recovery.
Project Management is aware of this risk. ISG will continue to monitor it.
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Page 12QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
January 15, 2021
PMBOK Practice Area 7: Communication Management
Communications management includes the processes that are required to ensure timely and
appropriate planning, collection, creation, distribution, storage, retrieval, management, control,
monitoring, and the ultimate disposition of project information.
Discussion
The Project team is maintaining project documentation in a reasonably effective and timely
manner. The Project Deliverables Log details planned due dates for Deliverable Expectation
Documents (DEDs) and the deliverables themselves, and review responsibilities for completed
and current Project phases. As documentation reviews are completed, acceptance is noted in a
timely manner.
In addition, the Project team is maintaining the Modernization Initiative web site,
http://modernization.wsu.edu. In our assessment, the web site represents an excellent
orientation to the Project and provides an interested community member with an effective
means of understanding the Project, its future course, and setting expectations regarding the
impact of new business processes and the Workday software based on Project decisions. The
web site communicates events well into the future so that the WSU community can plan to
participate effectively in Project events.
Status
ISG has identified no reportable risks or issues in this area at this time.
PMBOK Practice Area 8: Risk Management
Risk management includes the processes of conducting risk management planning,
identification, analysis, response planning, and controlling risk on a project.
Discussion
Project leadership is conducting risk meetings approximately monthly. Participation is
meaningful and effective. In our assessment, the participants give serious consideration to
Project risks and identification of mitigating actions to address them.
In addition, key risk topics are reviewed with the Steering Committee.
Status
ISG has identified no reportable risks or issues in this area at this time.
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Page 13QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
January 15, 2021
PMBOK Practice Area 9: Procurement Management
Procurement management includes the processes necessary to purchase or acquire products,
services, or results needed from outside the Project team.
Discussion
ISG believes the activities in this practice area are on track.
Status
ISG has identified no reportable risks or issues in this area at this time.
PMBOK Practice Area 10: Stakeholder Management
Stakeholder management includes the processes required to identify all people or
organizations impacted by the project, analyzing stakeholder expectations and impact on the
project, and developing appropriate management strategies for effectively engaging
stakeholders in project decisions and execution.
Discussion
The focus on OCM-specific activities has increased as Workday moves into production. Project
leadership, recognizing resource constraints, has moved local procedure workshops into the
Sustainment period that follows go live. The objective of these workshops is to increase
understanding of Workday business processes and increase user confidence in the ability to
conduct local operations after Workday goes live.
Unit Ability to Adapt to Business Process Changes
Most HCM and Finance business processes will be impacted significantly by the introduction of
Workday.
Risk
In some cases, it is not clear that academic and operating unit personnel understand how
to adopt and accept the change brought about by the Workday implementation.
Recommendation
As these units further refine their procedures, end users are likely to benefit from an
opportunity to test proposed procedures and practice them as a group. Providing the
Change Agents and Super Users the tools (e.g., practice tenant) and support to organize
these practice sessions, allows them to work through points of concern that they may not
encounter previously.
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Page 14QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
January 15, 2021
WSU Project leadership has determined that resource constraints are such that training
labs will not be available until Sustainment. Even with the delay in training lab availability,
WSU Project leadership should consider a transition workshop, held with a broad set of
units, to address key processes that will be critical shortly after go live. These workshops
might be provided to groups of similarly organized units (e.g., central units, academic
units with central school support). The Project team has used Zoom effectively to
accomplish many Project tasks. We suggest that Zoom can be used to create an effective
environment to conduct these labs.
Status
The Project team prepared a user engagement strategy and plan and departmental
impact assessment. These efforts includes tasks to validate business process changes and
impacts. The team had planned to publish business processes and anticipated that
providing access to these will provide the user community with insight that will be helpful
in addressing their interests.
WSU Project leadership, recognizing resource constraints, moved local procedure
workshops into Sustainment. This represents a risk to the Project that leadership should
monitor.
The Project Team is hosted a set of Zoom-based, open Expert Q&A panels to address user
community questions. We noted these earlier in the Departmental Resource Availability
observation.
ISG will continue to monitor it as well.
Faculty Readiness
Overall readiness in the academic units includes engaging the faculty at the appropriate level
for their system use and on a timeline that takes into consideration their academic duties.
Risk
Faculty will not be prepared for performing business processes/tasks in the new system
due to lack of engagement or required training that conflicts with key academic timelines.
Recommendation
Work with change agents in academic units to fully understand faculty use of the system.
Where possible depending upon level of use (core system, self-service), provide training
options with flexibility (i.e. micro-learning).
Status
Training curriculum has been developed with multiple delivery channels. The Change
Network is in place with representation from the academic units. The Project team has
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Page 15QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
January 15, 2021
provided targeted communications to Deans regarding training sessions that are most
applicable to faculty.
Until grant conversion is complete and faculty have the opportunity to review the status
of their grants using Workday reporting, faculty readiness will remain less than fully
tested.
ISG will continue to monitor this risk.
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Page 16QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
January 15, 2021
Assessment of the Accuracy of the Project’s Tracking of
Progress
In ISG’s assessment, the Project Workplan accurately tracks Project progress. Our comments in
the “Project Workplan” and “Schedule” sections of the “Assessment of Project Progress”
present additional observations regarding the accuracy of the Project’s Tracking of Progress.
We note that Status Reports presented at the PMO meeting and to the Steering Committee are
deliverable-based and do not reflect all Project tasks reported in the Project Workplan.
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Page 17QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
January 15, 2021
Risk Assessment
ISG summarizes project risks and issues below which are potential or actual barriers to meeting
project objectives and milestones, the probability of occurring and impact if they occur, and
recommended and observed mitigations.
Shaded entries indicate the observation or issue has been closed.
Practice Area/Risk/Issue Probability Impact Recommended and Observed Mitigations
1: Risk: Coordination with Address slow throughput items in Accounts
Resources Outside the Payable. Track and report invoice backlog
Project Medium High until backlog is reduced.
Monitoring integration completion.
3: Risk: Reports and Communicate to user community that a set
Integrations Medium Low of reports will not be available at go live.
Continue the current course, applying
Deloitte support on an interim basis and
6: Risk: Project Team recruiting a replacement. Provide support
Position Vacancies High Medium from Finance Team leadership.
Continue to communicate departmental
6: Risk: Departmental resource requirements including timing.
Resource Management High Medium Continue to monitor.
6: Risk: COVID 19 Threat to Continue to monitor Project team health
the Project Team Low Medium and safety during COVID 19 pandemic.
Develop detailed unit readiness approach
that identifies change impacts and how the
Project team will work with the unit’s
change agents to ensure a smooth
10: Risk: Unit Ability to transition. Develop a unit readiness
Adapt to Business Process scorecard and report out unit readiness at
Changes High High PMO and Steering Committee meetings.
Leverage change agents to assess faculty
readiness. Provide training
recommendations tailored to faculty
10: Risk: Faculty Readiness Medium Medium interests.
Provide executive leadership with talking
points and recommended delivery timing of
10: Risk: Executive communications addressing Project
Leadership Demonstrated interests (e.g., continuous improvement
Support Medium Medium during Sustainment).
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Page 18QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
January 15, 2021
Practice Area/Risk/Issue Probability Impact Recommended and Observed Mitigations
10: Risk: Change
Management High High Continue to monitor.
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Page 19Summary of Observations
The table below summarizes risks based on observations from ISG’s QA report as of January 15,
2021.
Shaded entries indicate the observation has been closed.
Status as of
Practice Area/Observation January 15,
2021
1: Coordination with Resources Outside Project. Take steps to address delays
in processing invoices related to legacy purchase orders and contracts. Track
Revised
and report backlog. Engage resources outside the Project on an interim basis to
gain timely task completion.
3: Reports and Integrations. Monitor pace of development to confirm pace On-going:
and assess impact of delays on downstream tasks. Monitoring
6: COVID 19. Continue to monitor health and safety of the Project team. On-going:
Develop contingency plan in case a Project team member is incapacitated. General
Monitoring
10: Unit Ability to Adapt to Business Processes Changes. Develop a detailed
unit readiness approach that identifies change impacts to unit business
processes and how the Project team will work with the change network to On-going:
ensure the changes are understood, accepted, and adopted prior to go live. Monitoring
Develop a unit readiness scorecard and report out unit readiness at PMO and
Steering Committee meetings.
10: Faculty Readiness. Engage faculty through change agents in academic On-going:
units. Provide targeted training for faculty. General
Monitoring
10: Change Management. Project success is dependent upon effective change
Closed
management.
Other: Sustainment. Given that a significant number of tasks will be moved to
the Support Phase, plan for an increased Service Desk workload. Continue
Sustainment planning to anticipate this increased workload. Continue Closed
communicating to the University community that the Support Phase will be a
period of process, system, and organizational refinement.
Future reports will reference previous months’ observations that remain open. Open
observations and findings closed during the reporting period will be listed and then deleted
from the list the month following closure.
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Page 20Summary of Open Findings
WSU has addressed all previous open findings as of ISG’s QA report of January 15, 2021.
Shaded entries, if any, indicate the finding has been closed.
Status as of
Practice Area/Finding January 15,
2021
Recommendation
Future reports will reference previous months’ findings that remain open. Open observations
and findings closed during the reporting period will be listed and then deleted from the list the
month following closure.
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Page 21ISG Quality Assurance Methodology
ISG offers the following description of our Quality Assurance (QA) methodology for enterprise
system implementation and organizational transformation projects.
Overview
ISG conducts QA assessments through:
• Periodic review of project progress;
• Participation in selected project activities with the objective of confirming
representative and meaningful WSU participation, evaluating activity and activity
leadership / facilitation (e.g., Deloitte, WSU) effectiveness; and
• Review of project deliverables including review of Deliverable Expectation Documents
for those deliverables.
ISG’s objective is to assess the likelihood that the project activity and the project overall will
achieve the expected outcome. This level of participation is designed to provide insight
through limited participation in representative sessions, workshops, etc. that drives
development of conclusions and recommendations more broadly applicable to the project
activity or activities as a whole.
ISG prepares monthly QA reports to assess project performance across the ten Project
Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK) practice areas:
1. Integration management 6. Resource management
2. Scope management 7. Communication management
3. Schedule management 8. Risk management
4. Cost management 9. Procurement management
5. Quality management 10. Stakeholder management
The focus of the assessment will be forward-looking and phase specific. Development of
transition and operational planning and readiness, including planned governance following
implementation, will receive QA attention throughout the project.
ISG’s QA services are based on significant experience in managing and reviewing numerous,
large-scale systems projects for our higher education, state, and local government clients.
ISG’s intent is to bring to bear our prior project oversight and QA experience and insights in
order to prevent issues rather than reporting on issues after the fact.
Examples of process areas that we will examine and assess during our reviews are shown in the
following table.
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Page 22PMBOK Practice Area Sample topics included
• Integration management - the processes and activities needed to identify, • Governance and sponsorship
define, combine, unify, and coordinate the various processes and project • Managing the PM process
management activities within the project management process groups. • Authority / delegation / decision-making
• Scope management - the processes required to ensure that the project • Scope definition / requirements
includes all the work required, and only the work required, to complete the • Scope change control
project successfully. • Deliverables
• Schedule management - the processes required to manage the timely • Effort reporting / forecasting
completion of the project. • Progress towards milestones / gates
• Cost management - the processes involved in planning, estimating, • Budget monitoring
budgeting, financing, funding, managing, and controlling costs so that the • Estimating tools and processes
project can be completed within the approved budget. • Budget forecasting
• Quality management - the processes and activities of the performing • (Other than this QA report)
organization that determine quality policies, objectives, and responsibilities • Quality planning
so that the project will satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken.
• Resource management - the processes that organize, manage, and lead the • Staffing from Contractor and WSU
Project team. • Knowledge transfer
• Communication management - the processes that are required to ensure • Project documentation / archives
timely and appropriate planning, collection, creation, distribution, storage, • Planning and execution of
retrieval, management, control, monitoring, and the ultimate disposition of communications
project information.
• Risk management - the processes of conducting risk management planning, • Identification and ranking of risks
identification, analysis, response planning, and controlling risk on a project. • Monitoring and mitigation of risks
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Page 23PMBOK Practice Area Sample topics included
• Procurement management - the processes necessary to purchase or acquire • Contract management / SOW
products, services, or results needed from outside the Project team. management
• Software licensing
• Stakeholder management - the processes required to identify all people or • Organizational readiness – planning and
organizations impacted by the project, analyzing stakeholder expectations execution
and impact on the project, and developing appropriate management • Business process redesign, role
strategies for effectively engaging stakeholders in project decisions and definition/transition
execution. • Training including training facilities,
materials, job aids, etc.
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