By Mark Hersberger. On July 1, UC San Diego’s Financial Information System (FIS) entered production with the release of Oracle Financials Cloud, a world-class financial system, and Concur, a new travel and expense system. FIS is a signature component of the Enterprise Systems Renewal (ESR) program—the largest technology improvement program ever undertaken at UC San Diego.
“Completing the Finance project was extraordinarily significant for three reasons,” said Vince Kellen, UC San Diego CIO. “First, it unifies the university in one chart of accounts, which simplifies reporting, analysis, and improves the university’s ability to manage its finances. Second, it also unifies the university into one set of business processes related to accounting and finance. This will set the stage for continual process improvement over time that can reap benefits for many units on campus. Third, it helps reduce the risks we had in the old mainframe system. We will be standing that system down later this year after year-end close.”
From the start of ESR, UC San Diego followed a unique, do-it-yourself approach that relied on internal talent to handle functions like change management, process design, project management, and IT architecture. For FIS, less than $1M was spent on outside consultants. These by-the-numbers stats show the breadth of involvement and accomplishment:
- 578 staff members involved
- 2,234 deliverables completed
- 15,197 discrete tasks finished
- 82,269 project hours invested
Additionally, at least four new family members – and likely more – were welcomed into the world over the course of the project!
FIS streamlines and unifies operations for UC San Diego. As CIO Kellen noted, it uses a new, integrated chart of accounts for both the main campus and UC San Diego Health. Additionally, campus, Health, and the UC San Diego Foundation now operate in one accounting system.
Learn more about this project online at https://esr.ucsd.edu/projects/fis/index.html
Mark Hersberger is communications and outreach manager, Information Technology Services, UC San Diego.