ERP Project Overview

The ERP project has the support from the highest levels of the University of Toledo administration, beginning with the President. The University Computing Committee supports the project and an ERP Sponsor Committee serves as the top-level support and monitoring group for the project.

The University had a need to migrate from it's aging Finance Records System (FRS), Human Resource System (HRS), Student Information System (SIS) and Student Aid Management (SAM). The University performed an analysis of the current state of it’s administrative computing systems, including current satisfaction levels and desired features. The results of this analysis was “fed” into the University’s strategic planning process for it’s administrative computing needs. Also, the strategic planning analysis was then merged into an overall statewide analysis to determine the feasibility and potential target application components for shared services among participating institutions.

The University of Toledo collaborated with several other state institutions in the comprehensive analysis of it’s administrative computing systems. The universities contracted with Advantiv, a third-party software provider/consulting firm to facilitate the collaborative study. Advantiv’s web-based survey and analysis tool called DecisionDirector allowed institutions to enter their responses to a series of questions relating to ERP’s. Many University constituents participated in this study, and the data was analyzed and consolidated by Advantiv for presentation to both the University and to the statewide consortium. The information provided by this analysis was used by the University to assist in formulating a long-term plan for administrative computing applications.

The University of Toledo has selected Sungard SCT’s Banner software suite for it's new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. This software suite is an integrated information system that will;

• improve reporting across all areas

• improve system access to real time 24/7

• align and integrate common processes and data

• meet the future needs of The University of Toledo for strategic decision making

• eliminate the risk of staying with obsolete technology with diminishing support by the vendor and workforce skill set

We have outlined a four year implementation plan to gradually convert from our existing systems to the new Banner suite. To perform this task we have established a project team, implementation process teams, and work teams to establish a plan and carry out the implementation. Each of the teams will be comprised of staff from the affected functional areas as well as staff from EIT who provide technical leadership and support. Ongoing communication with each member’s home department and the general university community are key to the successful implementation of our ERP system.