Transitioning to PeopleSoft Reporting for Higher Education

Transcription

1 Transitioning to PeopleSoft Reporting for Higher Education Debbie Weisensee Senior Manager Financial Systems Support (Acting), McMaster University Sharan Sharma Senior Consultant, Deloitte

2 Agenda Your Speakers Session Objective McMaster & Mosaic Establishing Reporting Requirements Defining Reporting Design Drivers Evaluating Reporting Tools Key Takeaways Questions 1

3 Your Speakers

4 Your Speakers Debbie Weisensee Role: Senior Manager Financial Systems Support (Acting) McMaster: 27 + Experience: 3 Years of PeopleSoft experience (Finance modules) with emphasis on GL & reporting 13 years of Data Warehousing and BI experience Financial Professional for 32 years Sharan Sharma Role: PeopleSoft Financials and Reporting Consultant Deloitte: 5 + Experience: Over 5 years of PeopleSoft implementation and upgrade experience spanning GL and Reporting PMP Certified Oracle PeopleSoft 9 General Ledger Consultant Certified 3

5 Session Objective

6 Objective Provide an overview of McMaster s journey from identifying a Chart of Accounts that supported the eventual organization s various reporting needs Outline the considerations when putting together a reporting strategy for a higher education institution Showcase the tools and options available to report within PeopleSoft 5

7 McMaster & Mosaic

8 McMaster University Our Strengths Include: A medical-doctoral, research-intensive university dedicated to teaching, research and service One of only four Canadian universities ranked among the top 100 in the world The McMaster Model, a student-centred, problem based, interdisciplinary approach to learning, has been adopted worldwide Eighth in Canada s Top 50 Research Universities 2015, bringing in $310.6 million in sponsored research income in 2014 First in the country for total corporate research income ($588.7 million) and total corporate research income as a % of total university income (35.1%) Home to more than 62 research centres and institutes Our Students: 30,117 total student population International students from 79 countries 7

9 Mosaic In 2013, working with Deloitte as our integration partner, McMaster replaced it s 35 year old legacy system with PeopleSoft Financials, HCM and Campus solutions Finance was the first to go live in 2013 with GL and KK, Procure to Pay (Payables, Purchasing, Expenses), Quote to Cash Modules (Bank Reconciliation, Non Student Accounts Receivable, Billing), Project Costing, Grants, Hyperion We implemented the Interaction Hub (Portal) at the same time as FS. It is the common gateway to all PeopleSoft functionality as well as providing external access to applicants and job seeks. HCM went live October 2014 Campus Solutions went live in phases. Phase I was November 2014 and the next phase was March We bought OBIEE and EPM but chose not to implement it until after we finished core PS. In the meanwhile we ve turned on the first stage of the delivered ETL s into our data warehouse and are using it as our Reporting instance. When we are ready for BI this will become our source for loading our multi-dimensional cubes/data marts. 8

10 Establishing Reporting Requirements

11 Reporting Requirements McMaster requires flexible and innovative reporting tools to ensure the transfer & sharing of knowledge to inform & enhance all levels of decision making in the institution Reporting requirements are complex and involve data from many disparate data sources The university s PS chart of account structure was designed to be flexible and allow for comprehensive reporting, both internally and externally A great deal of effort was spent on data cleansing initiatives to ensure the university s data is accurate PS Queries are used monthly to check for coding errors in GL and other modules The university is using Oracle EPM as a staging layer in the data warehouse for operational reporting purposes When using data from the data warehouse, McMaster is able to link queries on the Finance work centers using data from other modules (e.g. Student fee analysis with data from Campus Solutions is a linked query in Finance on the GL work center) Drilling URL s are used in queries so that end users can click on the embedded links and be automatically taken to the underlying screen in PS The university has attempted to limit the number of trees used in order to minimize maintenance 10

12 McMaster Chart of Accounts 11

13 Defining Reporting Design Drivers

14 Reporting Design Drivers Driver Performance Measurement Report Audience Data Privacy Report Distribution Report Execution Access Report Access User Interface Reporting Tools Data Retention & Archival Report Archival Decisions to Consider What value or strategic decision drives creation of specific managerial and operational reports? Who is going to consume this report? Are there data security requirements for the intended audience? How will the report users receive or retrieve the report? Who will run the report? Centralized vs decentralized? If retrieval how will retrieval access controlled through the organization? What user interface does the audience need to consume the report? What reporting tool will provide those capabilities? How long does data need to be retained for reporting purposed? How will reports be saved and stored? 13

15 Evaluating Reporting Tools

16 Overview of PeopleSoft 9.2 Reporting Tools Category PS Query PS/nVision Structured Query Reports (SQR) BI Publisher Pivot Grids Capabilities PeopleSoft Query is a user friendly, intuitive way to quickly generate ad-hoc and scheduled reports from any data stored in PeopleSoft tables. Connected Queries expands use of PS Query and allows connection of two PS Queries in a parent-child relationship PS/nVision is a tool used for creating business reports in Microsoft Excel. Working within MS Excel, create a report layout that defines the data to retrieve and the format of the report. DrillDown features expose the supporting details. Tool extracts data from any relational database based on Structured Query Language (SQL) and print or display it in a prescribed format. Users familiar with SQR can also customize the report to suit specific needs. BI Publisher generates clear and easy-to-read reports, developed using more common desktop applications like Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat Visual representation of PS Query data, through grids and charts Viewable through dashboards to support operational reporting Workcenters are one stop shops for users that allow them to access key components and perform daily tasks. A group of pagelets and links that provide users with quick access and views to what they want to see. They can provide direct access to: Delivered and custom pages and reports Online inquiry views Pivot Grids and PS Query 15

17 Reporting Tool Functionality Comparative PS Query PS/nVision SQR BI Publisher Pivot Grid Common Usage SQL data access for business users To build Connected Queries & Pivot Grids Reports that require rollup/drilldown data (ex: Financial reports) PDF Reports that range from simple to difficult logic/layout complexity Flat file creation Generates clear and easy-to-read reports that contain data from PeopleSoft applications Represent PS Query data visually for operational reporting Drill Down to other reports x x Requires Development Effort x x x Development Functional users Functional users and/or technical developers Technical developers Technical developers Functional users Run Access Online Online or within Excel through Excel Add-In Online Online Online Interactive / Prompts / Filters x x x x x Distribution Channels Ad-hoc through PS Query Viewer or workcenters. Excel, Online, CSV Excel-based output, run adhoc or batch. To web, file or e- mail delivery. Ad-hoc through various delivered PS pages. Ad-hoc through various delivered PS pages. Ad-hoc through PS Pivot Grid Viewer or workcenters. Report Bursting x x Can Include Charts / Graphs x x x Workcenters / Dashboards Distribution x x 16

18 PS Query - Prompts 17

19 PS Query Drilling URLs 18

20 PS/nVision 19

21 SQR (Structured Query Reports) 20

22 BI Publisher 21

23 Pivot Grids 22

24 Workcenters/Dashboards 23

25 Sample Utilization of Workcenters/Dashboards Dashboard Sample analytics / Managerial questions Activities/processes Prospect Enrolled Graduate Alumni Donor Prospect segmentation How can we develop a more robust understanding of our prospective students? Retention analysis What can we do to improve the retention rate in our programs? Personal development How can we ensure the personal development of our students while they are enrolled? Education-employment alignment model How do we make sure that our programs are setting our students up for success in the current employment market? Impact on Society How do we ensure that we are graduating well-rounded individuals who will benefit their communities and society? Alumni engagement model What is the impact that our alumni are making in today s economy and society? At what level are the alumni working in their organizations? Value segmentation How do we identify who are the alumni of the University and engage them in the University events? Analyze existing prospect information Identify current and target student needs and enrollment behavior Define prospect value drivers Identify best channels to interact with prospects Identify channels and/or campaigns effectiveness Which students are going to be moving to the next semester/year? Which students are at risk of dropping out? What are the reasons driving these decisions? Are there certain courses or faculty acting as a bottleneck? How can these be addressed? What are the fixed and variable costs associated per enrollment? What are the operational budget impacts from a faculty s perspective? What are the volunteer and extracurricular activities that students take part in and how much time do they spend on these activities? Building awareness of the potential career opportunities Provide career guidance and planning Introduce and align with prospective employers Conduct surveys/research on political involvement, overall health, extracurricular activities, volunteerism, etc. List the alumni along with the industry in which they work Identify current occupation and level: e.g., analyst, manager, director, spokes person, political activist, etc. Recruitment, knowledge sharing, guidance Identify alumni and non-alumni who are in a position or are willing to donate Segment the individuals based on level at which they work and frequency of their contact with the University Target them with direct mails of donation campaigns 24

26 Key Takeaways

27 Key Takeaways Start Early Ensure Chart of Accounts align with financial reporting needs Take opportunity to rationalize reporting inventory - engage end users outside of project team Be realistic Project team will be engaged with numerous activities Plan for and resource a reporting role What is really required for go-live focus on the 90% Reporting frequency and the need for real-time vs batch Use Design Drivers Evaluate and logically group institution s reporting requirements Create a requirement to design driver matrix Each dashboard/report should drive value and support specific decision making processes Draw visibility to any gaps or potential issues early in the project lifecycle 26

28 Questions?