No Gripe with GRIP

by Denise Lim

Another GRIP team update already? This is the fifth in a series of articles documenting the team’s progress. They first started in fall 2002 to replace the current accounts receivable system with a more streamlined, integrated one that will reduce manual data entry and increase cash flow through GCA.

The GRIP (Grants Receivables Implementation Project) Team is entering the last phase before the first major rollout – integrated testing! The team consists of Denise Lim, Hoang Ong, Marisa Honig, and Kris Jaeger, all of whom are GCA employees. They are currently wrapping up the configuration phase, in which we modified and configured the J.D. Edwards (JDE) system to meet our business needs and requirements.

The two major components of integrated testing are: 1) validation of data being converted from the old system to the new system and 2) comprehensive testing of major business processes from the beginning (budget setup and invoicing) through the end (cash applications and/or ageing) for grants and contracts. For this, the GRIP team works with a small but highly knowledgeable group of power users. These users bring a wealth of expertise and experience in various aspects of grants management. It is their job to thoroughly test to make sure the new process is sound.

The next steps are to incorporate the feedback from the power users and to resolve any issues that arise from testing. Once everything is resolved, they will prepare for the final conversions. The target date for the first implementation is mid-July to early August, when they will roll out the billing and receivables modules that will improve and automate invoicing and cash applications.

The second implementation will start in the fall of this year when they will roll out the budget setup module. The focus will be to build an interface from JDE to the University’s Financial Accounting System, which will facilitate the new budget setup process.

There is still a lot of work ahead, but the team’s goal is to improve the billing cycle and ultimately improve the cash flow from grants and contracts.

For more information about where the team has been and how far they have come, please go to the Directions archive at the site below:

http://www.washington.edu/admin/finmgmt/qi/directions/jan04/archives.htm