©STFC/Keith G JefferyRCUK SSC Grants System 20080807 1 RCUK (Research Councils UK) SSC (Shared Services Centre) Grants System Keith G Jeffery Science and

©STFC/Keith G Jeffery RCUK SSC Grants System 20080807 1

RCUK (Research Councils UK)

SSC (Shared Services Centre)

Grants System Keith G Jeffery

Science and Technology Facilities CouncilRutherford Appleton Laboratory, OX11 0QX UK

e-mail: [email protected]


STRUCTURE

UK Research Councils Grants SystemsSSC ProjectGrants Design ProcessCurrent State and Future


UK Research Councils

RCUK is umbrella organisation.7 research councils

fund ~£2.5b p.a. R&D; ~9k new grants/studentships awarded p.a. from ~28k

proposals, ~ 21k grants live at any time

Also decide research strategy & policy.Academic community used extensively on committees and as reviewers.


RCUK Grants Systems

Each RC developed own, some starting from 1960s evolving through batch, to online2003-2006 developed unified front-end to all RC grants systems – JeS (Joint electronic submission) – still in production useEach RC has some sort of general read-only access GOW ‘grants on the web’Attempts to unify grants systems, currently 5 among 7 RCs

Similarly RCs have independent systems for Finance, HR, payroll, procurement (with some sharing)


As-Is Systems Map - AHRC

Finance &

Procurement

CODA

Grants only

AHEAD

HR

PeopleSoft

(NERC)

Payroll

Northgate

(STFC)

EDRMS

SharePoint, Viewdirect

Other Local Systems

(Incl. AHEAD non-grants)

BACS

Albacs

Task Centre

ORBISJe-S

Custom

Email

Exchange, Mail Relay

AHRC Website

CDR

To Be Clarified

Within Scope SSC

Retained Common

Retained Local

External

External

Systems

1, Payment Requests

2, ApplicantDetails

5,Award Information

3, GrantProgress

Data

9, Record Archiving

Mail Request

15, Payment Requests

7, Grant Proposals etc.

13, Payroll Payment

6, Mail MergeData

4, Contact Changes

17, Payment Data

16, Task Requests

?

10, Archive Requests

8, ContactInformation

14, Payroll Changes


As-Is Systems Map - BBSRC HR

Delphi & Perwest

3 x Payroll

2 x Paysolve & 1 x Midland Delphi (S.O.)

EDRMS

SharePoint & Meridio

Other Local & Institute Systems

BACS

AlbacsContract Management

ProTrak

8 x Finance & Procurement

Great Plains

Note: A more comprehensive suite of diagrams exists in a separate presentationAn example from the John Innes Centre is attached

Many

Many

To Be Clarified

Within Scope SSC

Retained Common

Retained Local

External

External

Systems

Je-S & CDR

Custom

GrantProgress Data

GrantProposals etc.

GOTW

Custom

GrantData

Employee Data

Employee Data

Pay Data

Payment Data

Payment Data

Payment Data

Employee Data

Employee, CostCentre, Project Data

Employee, Cost Centre, Project Phone Recharge, Planon Orders & Vehicle

Usage Data

Foreign Payments

ManyLocal Business

Warehouses /MIS


As-Is Systems Map - ESRC

Finance &

Procurement

Sun Accounts

Grant Proposals

RAPUP

Studentship Applications

ASPA

HR

As EPSRC Flexi Web, TMS etc

Payroll

As EPSRC Ceridian Centrefile

EDRMS

Objective

Other Local Systems

BACS

Albacs

Grant Awards

RALI

Je-S & CDR

Custom

Post Grad Award Payments

PAPA

Electronic Application Recording Syst

EARS

To Be Clarified

Within Scope SSC

Retained Common

Retained Local

External

External

Systems


As-Is Systems Map - EPSRC

Finance & Procurement

SmartStream

Grants

NEXUS

Purchasing RCPO

HR

Flexi Web, TMS etc

Payroll

Ceridian Centrefile

EDRMS

SharePoint

Other Local Systems

BACS

Masterline

Time Recording

MyTime

Je-S & CDR

Custom

Finance Info Syst (FIS)

Custom

Performance & Risk Mgt

MIS

To Be Clarified

Within Scope SSC

Retained Common

Retained Local

External

External

Systems


As-Is Systems Map – CCLRC (STFC)


ORACLE

Activity Tracking

StoP

HR

Empower

Payroll

Northgate

EDRMS

SharePoint

Other Local Systems

BACS

Albacs

Workflow

Corp Data Repository

ORACLE

To Be Clarified

Within Scope SSC

Retained Common

Retained Local

External

External

Systems


As-Is Systems Map – NERC

Finance, Procurement etc.

Oracle

Grants

Mantra (GMG), CDR

HR

PeopleSoft

Payroll

Delphi

EDRMS

Objective

Other Local Systems

With multiple interfaces

BACS

Incl Foreign Payments

Resource/Time & Project Mgt

ChangepointRMS/ TARS/PMS

Je-S & CDR

Custom

MIS

Oracle Discoverer

Internet Reporting

Custom

E Directory

Novell (Multiple

Interfaces)

Mail/Database Groupwise

(Multiple Interfaces)

1, GrantData

9, Time Records

29, Starters/Leavers

6, GrantProgress Data

5, GrantProposals etc.

2, FinanceData

8, Payment Req

3, Payment Ack11, Master Data

.

12, Project Data

14, Personnel 15, Payments

16, Payments

17, Personnel

GOTW

Custom

18, Personnel19, Payments 20, Personnel

22 & 23, Client

24, User ID

25, User ID

25, User ID

27, Print Data2

6 L

ett

er

Re

que

sts

28, ChangeConf

,

External

Systems

To Be Clarified

Within Scope SSC

Retained Common

Retained Local

External

40 & 41 Payments

46 GrantData

34, Starters& Leavers


As-Is Systems Map – MRC v1.5


SAP (FAMIS)

BIW Data Warehouse

SAP BIW

HR

Oracle (SAP after July 2007)

Payroll

Rebus (SAP after July 2007)

EDRMS

Objective

BACS

?

SAP Portal

SAP

Portal

Plumtree

EBP Procurement

SAP

EAA Grants Portal

Grants

Inform

BO Universes

Business Objects

After July 2007

RDW (Research Data

Warehouse)

RACS (Research Activities

Categorisation System)

To Be Clarified

Within Scope SSC

Retained Common

Retained Local

External

External

Systems


As-Is Systems Map PPARC (STFC)


SUN, Earnie

Grants

Mantra (GMG)

HR

HR Classic

Payroll

Northgate

EDRMS

Objective

Other Local Systems, Includes Web Servic’s & Intranet

BACS

Albacs

Project Costing

Plantime

Je-S & CDR

Custom

Reporting

Vision

Payment of Peer Reviewers

Earnie

Personnel Support

HR Workforce

Finance Overseas (ING & JAC)

SUN

Grants MIS

MS Reporting

To Be Clarified

Within Scope SSC

Retained Common

Retained Local

External

External

Systems

People

GMG

GOTW

Custom


STRUCTURE



SSC Project

Project Team

Research Councils SSC Ltd

requirements

in scope staff

system


Project Team

Streams working on Finance, HR (and payroll), Procurement, Grants

RC expert users, project team manager

Also Personnel transfer RCs to SSC LtdAlso IS/IT infrastructure and supportAlso migration and change


SSC Project Software

Decided through competitive dialogue on Oracle EBS (e-Business suite) for Finance, HR (including payroll) and ProcurementDecided on Siebel CRM (Customer Relationship Management) for GrantsDecided on Fujitsu as System Integrator


SSC Project Design

Used Oracle AIM method with refining of processes in 3 stages (CRP 1-3) before user acceptance and operational acceptance

CRP1: 200709-200712 CRP2: 200712-200802 CRP3: 200802-200803

Design Authority set up November 2007 with user representatives and project team representatives to control design by approving any changes (configuration, customisation)


SSC Project Design: Finance,HR,Procurement

DAG set up as CRP1 ending, CRP2 starting and identified problems in areas:

non-functional requirements (performance, security) cross-functional (eg management information) user provisioning (eg security, authority) overall document management data migration (as is to be) many gaps (between requirement and solution) outstanding

CRP2: 2180 gaps identified, resolution agreed for > 98% of them by 20080707CRP3 now scheduled 200809-200811


Lessons Learnt

Design takes longer then plannedEspecially if harmonising data and processes of 7 organisationsCRP1 not well-controlled at exitCRP2 well-controlled – but took 6 months instead of 2CRP3 now well-planned


STRUCTURE



Agreed Overall Service Architecture


SSC Project Design: GrantsPrototype built using Siebel CRM

Aided harmonisation of processes Popular with RC staff managing front-end grants process (pre-award) However, finance staff involved in back-end grants (post-award: payments,

deliverables) not consulted fullyDAG suggested could prototype also Oracle EBS for Grants

This was not done but Oracle Consulting agreed best to use Oracle EBS as well as Siebel CRM

Eventual decision to use both Siebel CRM (front) and Oracle EBS (back) The use of Siebel CRM supports good customer (supplier) relations Siebel CRM has great flexibility The use of EBS ensures Grants financial information is integrated with other RC

financial information EBS Opens possibility of B2B communication with research institutions


STRUCTURE



SSC Project Schedule

•First ‘go-live’ 200902•Then migrate Finance, HR (&payroll), Procurement in groups of RCs until end-2009•Overlap with Grants migration end-2009-end 2010


Migration•Migration is ‘as is’ to ‘to be’ data structures

– Finance: migrate monthly balances and live transactions– HR: migrate current employees and history for past years (assignment

data, absence data)– Payroll: migrate current and hold history of pay advices, tax, pensions etc– Procurement: suppliers used in last 2 years plus live transactions– Grants: all grants at application and live states; all history for limited set of

attributes (discussion on using CERIF)•Considerations

– What is required legally– What is required for MI (especially longitudinal and horizontal queries)– What is feasible


End-StateNetwork services

Portal services

Security services

Application & Integration services

Business Logic services

Database services

Infrastructure services

Pj Pr F H G


Final Thoughts

•From RC point of view Grants is procurement – like supply chain management•From research institute point of view Grants is like a project•From innovator point of view Grants output is a knowledge base

Documents

©STFC/Keith G JefferyRCUK SSC Grants System 20080807 1 RCUK (Research Councils UK) SSC (Shared Services Centre) Grants System Keith G Jeffery Science and