GRIP—A Great Group

by Denise Lim

Since our last update in summer, the GRIP Team has been focusing on analyzing the project scope and whether the current implementation date is realistic. In addition, we have begun the technical development process to configure the J.D. Edwards (JDE) system to fit our business requirements. Lastly, we are seeking opportunities to improve our business process to couple with the new receivable system.

Back in April, the GRIP Team worked together with the external consultants to perform a thorough gap analysis of the business requirements versus functionalities offered by JDE. The result of the gap analysis indicated that additional programming hours were necessary to modify JDE to fit the needs of Grant and Contract Accounting (GCA), and that the target implementation date of January 2004 was a bit aggressive. Through the analysis, we found that we needed an additional 6 months to perform all the tasks in our scope. We presented the findings to the Oversight Committee, who approved extending the implementation date to June 2004.

The GRIP Team also began our work of configuring the JDE system. As previously reported, we drafted a business model of the GCA process in JDE, and then tested the model using sample GCA data. From there, our next step was to create conversion programs to transfer data from the current receivable system to the new JDE system according to the business model. Also, we have been working on JDE applications where new budgets will be set up, and the TC30, electronic cash transmittal, application that will record cash received from sponsors on our budgets. Currently, we are investigating the process of creating invoice formats to be sent to our sponsors, and interfaces between JDE and the UW legacy systems, such as FIN, BGT and PAS drivers.

In addition, the GRIP Team collaborated with GCA management to identify any inefficiencies in our current business process that will not be fixed by the new JDE system. This was achieved by having a team of members (Kate Riley – lead, Vincent Lau, Ed Love, and Kiet Tran) who are new to grant management review the billing process. During the review, numerous areas for improvement were identified, which were presented to the GCA management team. We feel confident that focusing on these improvements coupled with the new system will further enhance the billing turnaround time.

Another area that the GRIP Team and GCA have been working on is to join forces with our business process partner, Grant and Contract Services (GCS), to reduce the large number of invoice formats which are costly to create and maintain. The two offices had a meeting in which we brainstormed ways to standardize and limit invoice format variations. Some of the creative ideas that came up during the meeting were targeting and working closely with sponsors that have the most complex formats, and making standard formats available on the web for the sponsors to choose from.

Although there have been a few challenges, the GRIP Team is happy to report that we are making good progress achieving our goal which is to build a flexible and efficient receivable system.