Launching Into the Semester and the ERP

Dear Faculty and Staff,

I hope that your semester is off to a good start.

Many new faces are on campus this spring. In particular, I would like to welcome Dr. Taniecea Arceneaux Mallery, our director of equity, diversity and community engagement, who is the newest member of the University Council.

Last week we officially kicked off the ERP, or the University’s Enterprise Resource Planning project. The ERP is going to revolutionize the way we do business. Over the next few years, it is going to make our enrollment management, financial services and personnel operations more efficient by helping us attain a modern workflow.

So, it will require us to make some changes. Since change can bring about fear, I’d like to share with you a bit of levity that I presented to the folks who attended our kickoff event. I call it a 12-step program for workflow change:

1.     We admit we had become powerless over our past processes.
2.     Come to believe that a web-based, real-time system could restore us to sanity.
3.     Make a decision to turn over our workflow to the best practices established in the ERP.
4.     Make a searching and fearless data inventory.
5.     Admit the exact nature of our redundancies and bottlenecks.
6.     We’re entirely ready to remove the delays of multiple signatures.
7.     Humbly ask IT to remove our outdated systems.
8.     Make a list of all computer terminals we had harmed.
9.     Integrate our document management to greatly speed up response times by interdepartmental data sharing and improving self-service capabilities for our tech-savvy students.
10.     Take advantage of data analysis to make better-informed decisions.
11.     Seek through the efficiency of the ERP to reduce our costs.
12.     Carry this message to technophobes and those fearful of changing their workflow, including ourselves when we have temporary lapses.

In all seriousness, we’ve always found a way to get the job done. This time, we’ll have the help of technology, as well as the principles of best practices that have been established to support our efforts. When this process is over, we’ll be proud of this major transformation for our University.

A few weeks ago, the Student Union, or “The U,” opened with success. I hope that you’ve had a chance to visit the new University Club, which is a dining room for faculty and staff members. More than the good food and service, it is a place that offers the opportunity for collegial conversation.

Sincerely,

E. Joseph Savoie
President
president@louisiana.edu