In fall 2023, we kicked off a project to assess the VSC’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, Ellucian Colleague, and create a roadmap to future sustainability. The ERP software system supports our core business processes and helps us run our operations. The scope of the assessment included Colleague, UKG, and other software systems connected to Colleague. The objective of the assessment was to determine the best path to the future sustainability of our ERP. No decision is currently being made about specific software.
Who Was Involved?
The governance structure outlined here was used for decision-making related to the ERP Assessment.
Project Sponsors
Board of Trustees
Stakeholders
David Bergh, Joyce Judy, Elizabeth Mauch, Sharron Scott, Kellie Campbell
Executive Steering Committee
CCV: Mary Brodsky, Ryan Dulude, Nicole Mace, JP Rees, Megan Tucker, Adam Warrington
VTSU: Kelley Beckwith, Gina Kelley, Sara Kinerson, Teresa McCormack, Heather Morrison, Sarah Truckle
The Recommendation
The Executive Steering Committee wrote a recommendation to the Stakeholders, who presented it to the Board. The recommendation was to move forward first with pre-planning work to lay the groundwork for our success and then issue a request for proposals for an ERP replacement in late summer.
Assumptions
The recommendation was based on some assumptions that help explain why moving forward with ERP replacement is important and why it is necessary for us to start this work now:
- The existing software infrastructure is not sustainable in a future state as identified in the consultant reports and given the industry’s migration to cloud software as a service.
- Colleague does not meet VSC business needs because it was not designed to accommodate multiple institutions.
- The current ERP solution does not meet the needs of either the system or the institutions within the VSC, including workflow management, the necessity for significant overrides and customizations, and numerous manual entry requirements.
Getting Ready
Understanding that this will be a large and disruptive multi-year project undertaken by the whole Vermont State Colleges system, the groups discussed many concerns related to our ability to do this work at this time, including staffing levels and change fatigue. Even though this project will not directly impact daily operations for at least a year, we want to be sure we have resource capacity in place when needed. We do not have answers to all the questions yet, but we will share them with you when we do. Transparency is a priority throughout this project. The following pre-planning work was completed in summer 2024 ahead of issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP) at the end of August 2024.
- Clearly documented objectives and goals
- Architecture Assessment/Requirements – making sure we are being clear about the scope and functional needs of our institutions
- Preliminary Resource Plan – how we put additional people with capacity and expertise in place to support this work
- Governance Structure – how we make decisions as a system
- Change Planning – how we support faculty, staff, and students through this change
- Project Timeline