PeopleSoft Training Plans

As thePeopleSoft project prepares to launch new human resources and financial serviceson July 1,

usertraining plans are starting to emerge. For example:

•Currently, the Delta Steering Committee estimates about 400 employees will trainand work with at least one of seven PeopleSoft “touchpoints” related to finance,procurement and human resources. These include:

Finance
- General ledger andfinancial reporting
- Grant proposals

Procurement
- PCard reallocation
- Requisitions

HumanResources
- Timesheets/entry
- Payroll
- New hires

Currently, the Delta Project'sFinance Module Advisory Committee (MAC) is working with divisions to identifywho needs PeopleSoft training. The HR MAC will be conducting a similar survey.

•Because the PeopleSoft implementation is so broad, the Delta Steering Committeeis establishing a divisional model to coordinate end-user training and support.By March 31, each division will appoint a training coordinator who will

o      Help make surethe right people are identified for training;
o      Work within thedivision to provide backup and support, if necessary,  when people are outfor training;
o      Identify peermentors within the division for early training;
o      Work with OIT toreschedule training, if necessary;
o      Keep thedivision head apprised of progress in training people; and
o      Provide feedbackon training back to the Delta Steering Committee

•In addition, each division will identify “peer trainers” who can assist withfollow up support. Once identified, these division peer mentors will be amongthe first cohort to receive PeopleSoft training near the end of April. Thenumber of peer trainers may vary with the size of each division, but each onewill be supported by the Delta team as well as OIT's New Media Learning &Developmentunit. In addition to helping respond to user questions, perhaps on acampus-wide PeopleSoft listserve, peer trainers will also work closely with eachdivision's training coordinator to help identify issues or concerns to the DeltaSteering Committee.

•The Delta Steering Committee has hired Donna Meek, a PeopleSoft trainingconsultant with seven years experience, including one year with the most recentversion (8) that UMBC will be implementing. Her clients have included AirCanada, the US Mint, Bell Atlantic, Honda America, Capital One, and Freddie Mac.After working at her alma mater Penn State as a grants and contract analyst—sheearned a bachelor's degree in accounting in 1983 and her teaching certificationin secondary English in 1990—Meek taught in a local high school on a part-timebasis for five years. She then began her PeopleSoft financials consultingpractice which has included creating documentation and developing courses forPeopleSoft General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Purchasing, nVision, Query, CostManagement, Budgets, Projects, eExpense, and eProcurement. She started at UMBCon March 17 and will be developing an overall training plan as well assupporting documentation and workshops.

•To help get the campus oriented to the new system, “Introduction to PeopleSoft”general orientation sessions will likely begin in mid-April. While these are notformal training sessions on any finance, procurement or HR functions, theyshould help the campus become more familiar with general PeopleSoft featureslike how to login, set personal preferences and navigate to key content. Thiswill be useful for prospective users as well as managers and supervisors. Lookfor an orientation session schedule the first week of April atwww.umbc.edu/peoplesoft andwww.umbc.edu/training.

•Since the ramp-up for training is intense, all OIT training workshops currentlyscheduled after April 1 have been cancelled. OIT's training coordinator, Marie Toomes (x53679 or marie@umbc.edu), will schedule refresher courses on Windows basics, using email or the Web fordepartments who feel this would help them be more efficient with a Web-basedsystem like PeopleSoft. But for the next 4-6 months, most of OIT's trainingefforts will be focused on PeopleSoft.

“Whilethe breadth of PeopleSoft use almost dictates a divisional model of usersupport, I also think this approach reflects UMBC's day-to-day business culturevery well,” says Jack Suess, UMBC's chief information officer and theDelta Project's director.

For moreinformation on PeopleSoft, visitwww.umbc.edu/peoplesoft.