Impact23

About the Program

• What is the Impact23 program?

  Impact23 is UC Riverside’s program dedicated to updating our financial systems as part of our commitment to modernizing systems and processes. This includes implementing Concur Travel & Expense, Kuali, and Oracle Financials as well as redesigning our Full Accounting Unit to a Common Chart of Accounts.

  The goal of the Impact23 program is to ensure UCR has the infrastructure in place to deliver high-value, reliable, and easy-to-access financial services that allow the campus to focus on our mission of teaching, research and public service.

  The program team has completed the planning and initial discovery phase and is conducting design and build sessions for the system(s), which are scheduled to go-live in June 2022 (Concur Travel & Expense) and July 2023 (Kuali, Oracle).

• Why are we replacing our financial systems?

  The implementation of new financial systems including Oracle Cloud is a milestone for UCR's financial management capability that aligns with UC’s Cloud First Strategy. It will modernize our financial systems and processes and lays the foundation for dramatically improving access to financial data. A modern financial system will deliver functionality that is currently distributed on shadow systems, meaning campus will have one reliable, accessible source of truth for financial transactions, business process execution, and reporting. This will reduce the administrative burden associated with conducting basic financial management activities. Finally, we will have the ability to transform how work is done in the future by converting manual processes to automated procedures that save time, increase accuracy, and enhance our reporting ability.

  Reasons for change include:

  • UC Office of the President has mandated adoption of common chart of accounts by July 2023
  • Campus last updated its financial systems in 2005, and the PeopleSoft version (8.8) is no longer supported as of May 2019
  • Many of the business applications (e.g., eBuy, COEUS) are end of life and not feasible to update without impacting financial systems
  • UCR campus departments need more robust reporting and data analytics to best perform fiscal responsibilities
• I heard there are consultants on Impact23. Who are they and what are they doing?

  UC Riverside has partnered with Deloitte and Huron to assist with the implementation of the Concur, Kuali, and Oracle Cloud applications. The companies are providing functional and technical expertise for the implementation and integration of the new system(s), as well as supporting business process mapping and optimization, project management, change management, and training. UC Riverside is responsible for the overall leadership of the program and for staffing each workstream with experts to advise the configuration of the cloud and to design the new business processes.  Learn more about our Consulting Partners.

• What is the timeline and schedule?

  Impact23 is using a Hybrid Agile delivery approach for requirements, design, development, and testing. Beginning in January 2022, there will be multiple functional and technical development cycles (sprints) during which functionality is built for UC Riverside’s system. Each sprint begins with detailed requirements gathering and ends in a demonstration of a completed object or feature during the sprint review. The Impact23 Program Team is working with Deloitte to configure the following Oracle Cloud modules for UC Riverside: General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Cash Management, Grants Management, Contracts, Project Portfolio Management, Purchasing, Fixed Assets, and Planning and Budgeting.

  The project will perform a detailed process design on all modules ahead of entering into sprint cycles. Our approach to detailed process design heavily depends on our Functional Workgroups and their deep understanding of UC Riverside’s mission and unique campus considerations. The team is also responsible for informing the Oracle modules’ functionality and ensuring campus reporting needs are integrated into the design. Within each sprint, the team will validate requirements elicited, complete design, build and test specific elements of functionality. Separate testing activities will be used to execute pre-integration and regression testing cycles (when sprints are complete and functionality and business processes can be tested as a whole).

  

   

• When will I see the new systems?

  We are in the process of defining the sample stakeholder strategy from across campus to help us with User Acceptance Testing before each system goes live. The first opportunity for end-users to see a new system will be Concur Travel & Expense as early as April 2022. More details on the testing nomination process to come!

Impacts to Departmental Accounting

• Why are we updating the Full Accounting Unit?

  In 2012, the UC Office of the President (UCOP) formed a steering committee to design and adopt a high-level, common chart of accounts across the UC system. UCOP has since mandated that this new Common Chart of Accounts (CCOA) be implemented at each campus in an effort to increase UC system-wide financial statement reporting and cross campus comparison/measurement capabilities. To meet this mandate, UC Riverside will implement a revised Chart of Accounts when we launch the Oracle financial system in July 2023.

• How will the FAU translate to the new Chart of Accounts?

  There is no direct cross-walk from the old chart of accounts to the new chart of accounts as the structures are different. Our current FAU has 4 mandatory segments (account-activity-fund-function) plus two optional fields (cost center and project code). The new FAU will have 7 mandatory segments (entity-activity-fund-function-account-program-project) plus two campus defined flex fields (Flex 1 and Flex 2)--all segments will need to be populated when entering an FAU. The project team is attempting to maintain similar values and/or structures where possible (e.g. activity, non-C&G funds, and function to a greater extent; Budget Category/Account to a lesser extent). There will be training on the new Chart of Accounts and how to best utilize within the various applications. In addition, robust business rules, budget checking, combination validation and default values will help to guide user on correctly coding transactions while minimizing key entry.

Data Analytics and Financial Reporting

• How will financial reporting be affected?

  Reporting is a top priority for the Impact23 program team. A Financial Reporting Workgroup with central office and campus representatives has been established to inform the future state of UCR financial reports, requirements, and tools. As our understanding of the new financials system evolves, more information will be shared with the campus.

• Will everyone have access and the ability to generate financial reports as needed?

  Reporting capabilities is a guiding principle of the Impact23 program. It is anticipated that a robust suite of reports and dashboards will be available to campus users. Similar to the current environment, access to some reporting features will be dependent upon the user's role(s) in the systems.

• Will the Principal Investigator Web Reporting System (PIWRS) be replaced?

  Due to the changes in the Chart of Accounts and functionality in the the Oracle environment, PIWRS will not be retrofitted for continued use. Contracts and grants will be managed using the project functionality in the Projects Module (aka PPM). PPM offers flexible reporting and dashboards, and faculty can expect robust reporting capabilities. A faculty workgroup is being formed to engage faculty, identify academic and research-related requirements, and provide on-going support with the transition to the new systems. Additionally, departments will be able to budget by Flex 1 and Flex 2 codes to facilitate budget to actuals reporting for non-C&G type funds; and the Reporting Workgroup will be evaluating faculty portfolio reporting options to best meet the needs of the campus.

Technology and Cutover

• What happens to the financial records/data stored in UCR legacy systems?

  The program team is working on the data archiving strategy for UC Riverside for all financial records housed in current systems to ensure records retention requirements are achieved. For many current enterprise systems, the archiving strategy will include read only access to data for an extended period of time.

• Will current systems/tools be affected by the new COA?

  Retrofitting analyses are in progress. Please note that all systems where FAU is currently used will need to be remediated/retrofitted to meet the requirements of the new COA - e.g. UCPath, Banner, Work Order Systems, etc.

• What are the impacts of cutover?

  The bulk of cutover activities are slated for May - June 2023, but the specific dates and details have not been finalized. System design and retrofitting analyses are in progress and will contribute to the detailed cutover plan that the program team will develop. We will share more information on conversion activities and key cutover deadlines as they are defined.

• If our dept has a system that exports files to the current financial system, will any changes need to be made on our end to maintain compatibility with the new system?

  Yes, files or systems that integrate with UCRFS using the current FAU structure will have to adapt to the new chart of accounts requirements. IT Solutions is working to develop a comprehensive list of the systems on campus that utilize the current FAU structure and to define the plan for the disposition or modification of those applications. If units have any questions or concerns regarding their boundary systems, please contact Impact23@ucr.edu.

• Will there be a time when current systems and the new systems will be used concurrently?

  Aside from the Concur (travel) pilot in May 2022, a single cutover period and roll out of new systems is planned preceded by a series of system integration and user acceptance testing cycles.

Transition, Adoption, and Training

• What are the plans to troubleshoot issues or support users as the new systems are rolled out?

  The Impact23 Program team is developing a multi-tiered support framework designed to help the financial community (including faculty and staff with financial responsibilities) to identify support resources as we transition to the new systems. A comprehensive support strategy will be communicated to the campus as part of our go-live preparations.

• What will training look like?

  The change management team is evaluating change impacts, and will be engaging various stakeholder groups on campus to understand training needs. These engagements will help us build a detailed training plan that will include appropriate amounts of instructor-led training, job aids, online tutorials, short videos, or quick references to prepare end users to operate in the new systems.