LEAP Overview
History & Development
LEAP stands for "Learning Enabled Administrative Processes." It is a project undertaken by San Diego State University to replace its existing processes for acquisitions, expenditures, employee management, assets, receivables, budgeting, and financial reporting with new processes that take advantage of object-relational and network systems technology that is Year 2000 compliant. San Diego State University (SDSU) has engaged the support of Oracle Corporation in a major effort to revise several existing critical administrative processes through the integration of new computer applications in finance, procurement, and human resources.
Objectives
- Assist SDSU in transferring the systems supporting its administrative processes in the financial, procurement, and human resource areas to a client server, relational technology.
- Provide an integrated administrative system supported by a cohesive set of policies and procedures across the departments that will use the new systems. An integrated set of new administrative processes supported by new computer applications will emerge.
- To have all applications within the scope of this project in production for fiscal year 1999/2000. In order to achieve this goal SDSU committed to provide sufficient resources that will support the transfer of its administrative processes into an Oracle environment, as well as the maintenance of the processes and systems once they are in production.
Benefits to SDSU
- More timely and complete financial and human resources information
- New capabilities, such as on-line Web access to information
- Data-to-desktop capability and user-customized information views
- More flexible reporting and analysis capability
Oracle's Role
Oracle's role for this project is to provide SDSU with the software applications, tools, education, and consulting services. Oracle's consultants will provide advice and assistance in planning and managing the project, and installing, configuring and using the applications.
SDSU's Role
- SDSU's role in this project is to be a full partner in the planning, management, and implementation of the applications. It is anticipated that SDSU will grow in its knowledge and use of the Oracle applications, database, and tools to the point that it will be able to maintain the applications with little, if any, support from Oracle Consulting.
- Teams devoted to specific functional processes will include knowledgeable end users from all campus areas.
- SDSU is equipped to complete this project successfully due to its experience with developing client server relational applications, and Oracle technology in specific. Further, this project is undertaken with the support of the functional departments who will use and maintain processes supported by these applications.
Strategies
The key strategies for implementing the Oracle applications are as follows:
- Foremost, to implement Oracle applications without customizations and extensions as much as possible.
- Redesign of business areas to achieve functional efficiency should occur prior to the start of any Oracle analytical effort. In many cases business process re-engineering has already occurred to the point that only minor effort would complete the process.
- Implementation will be supported with the assistance of SDSU technical staff currently trained in Oracle tools and technology who are assisting other system projects using Oracle technology. The technical strategy builds on the strengths of an existing technical organization familiar with the Oracle database and tools. If additional Oracle skills are required, appropriate knowledge transfer will occur from Oracle to SDSU using Oracle consulting and Oracle education services and products.
Project Scope
The following major process areas are within the functional scope of this project. The list is neither exhaustive nor detailed, but is indicative of the breadth of the processes that will be managed with the new administrative systems.
General Ledger
- Chart of Accounts creation and maintenance
- Journals; adjusting, recurring, reversing, correcting
- Budget upload
- Budget reporting
- Financial reporting
- Encumbrance accounting
- Budgetary control
- Interface with the Campus receivable and cash receipts system (CashNET)
Project Costing
- Capture and reporting of project costs in accordance with a work breakdown structure
- Accumulate capital project costs, including buildings and improvements
- Possibly capture and accumulate costs from the Maintenance Management System
Public Sector Budgeting
- Budget development
- Budget reporting
Accounts Receivable
- Billing of SDSU affiliated organizations of items ordered from Business Services
Accounts Payable
- Invoice tracking and approval
- Matching
- Partial and full payments
- Student refunds
- 1099 tracking
- Invoice aging
- Accounts payable reporting
- Business and travel expense advances and reimbursements
Contract & Procurement Management
- Procurement cards
- Web-based electronic requisitions
- Requisition approval
- Purchase Order auto creation
- Purchase Order approval
- Electronic Commerce
- Commodity Code Tracking
- Contracting
- Blanket purchase orders with releases
- Receipt confirmation
- Shipping and freight charge allocation
- Multi-state tax tracking
- Multiple account distribution
Assets
- Fixed assets inventory
- Fixed assets location
- Fixed assets valuation
- Depreciation
- Tracking of asset-related warranties
Human Resources
- Reporting of employment information
- Reporting of benefit information
- Reporting of compensation information
- Reporting of affirmative action and EEO information
- Capture of State Controller's Office information via an interface
- Distribution and reporting of labor costs
SDSU Site
The applications will be installed at one site, the San Diego State University campus, which will provide support for the main campus, the Imperial Valley Campus, and all remote locations.
Multi-Organization
The implementation will focus on the installation of a single public organization, namely San Diego State University. SDSU auxiliary organizations are not part of this implementation. However, the multi-organization feature of Oracle financial applications will be used in a manner that will accommodate these organizations implementing Oracle at a later time, if any or all of these organizations decide in favor of using these products.
Cohesive Functional Architecture
SDSU plans to develop a cohesive set of functional processes and procedures that span departmental boundaries within the set of Oracle applications. This objective will require some redesign of functional processes, especially where two or more departments share processes.
Process Re-engineering
The implementation will focus on mapping current business processes into the Oracle applications. SDSU's objective is to establish a consistent functional architecture of processes that will map into Oracle.
Implementation of Oracle Workflow
SDSU plans to develop its functional procedures utilizing Oracle Workflow where administratively and economically possible. Work flows that are embedded in Release 11 applications will be assessed for their adaptability to the SDSU organization. The Oracle Workflow Cartridge will be employed where no ready-made workflow template applies and the development of a workflow process is required.
WEB-Enabled Distribution of Oracle Applications
SDSU plans to provide access to the Oracle applications through Oracle WEB forms made available to end users in the schools and departments across campus. Selected forms from Oracle Applications Release 11 will be used.
Technical Architecture
The objective is to have an Application and Technical Architecture consisting of an Oracle RDBMS Version 8.0.4 providing a platform on which Oracle Applications Release 11 will run. The applications reside on a Sun E10000/Solaris platform.
Training and Education
The success of any system implementation project is tied to the preparedness of the organization to use and support the system. A key tool to prepare an organization is training and education. SDSU's training activities will occur in two phases.
Phase One
The first phase consists of Operational Analysis, in which team members in both the functional and technical areas will be trained in functional configuration and use of the applications, as well as the technical architecture integrating the applications. The members will use this knowledge to assume leadership roles in the implementation process to define current business processes on campus and map them into Oracle application functionality. These individuals will also use this knowledge to develop documentation on the administrative procedures supported through Oracle applications, which will provide a basis for the development of end-user training materials.
Phase Two
The second phase concentrates on training end-users in the respective roles that require the use of the applications. Team members will be training additional trainers and end-users. The product Oracle Tutor has been purchased to facilitate the development of training materials and the development of procedure documentation. End-user training, initially in the procurement process, will occur in late 1999.
This page last updated
May 25, 2006
Site Contact BIS Web Support