Student Information Systems Project

The purpose of Fit/Gap is to finalize the scope of the implementation process and to identify all the technical requirements for the project such as, conversion approach, the number and complexity of the interfaces, the number and complexity of reports (reporting strategy), and the number and complexity of customizations needed to fit the university needs. Fit/gap also enables us to finalize and detail the implementation timeline.

The SIS Project is a campus-wide Enterprise System Replacement Project that entails replacing the bulk of WSU's aging administrative systems.

WSU will be implementing the following functions:

Academic Advising

Gives students, advisors, and faculty timely access to academic records, reports, Portal and Business Intelligence.

Campus Community

Provides a common source of campus data; coordinating all forms of communication to help manage administrative services. It captures all prospect, applicant, student, alumni, and organizational data, then secures it, tracks it, and delivers information upon request.

Campus Self Service

Extends the user functionality of the Campus Solutions modules by allowing users to engage in self-service activities, thus reducing or eliminating the need for administrative resources. Campus Self Service allows users to pull content, transactions, and other applications into a pre-integrated, personalized interface configured to meet institutional requirements.

Financial Aid

Automates federal and institutional financial aid processing to ensure more efficient operations. Department of Education regulations are built into the software to help ensure institutional compliance.

Admissions

Admissions helps plan, manage, and track admissions activities.

Student Financials

Student Financials is a tool for managing student and external organization accounts. Student Financials will manage and calculate all student financial information, including tuition, fees, receivables, billing, payment plans, and refunds.

Student Records

Student Records helps manage all aspects of enrollment, including catalog and class schedule maintenance, transfer credits, prerequisite restrictions, class start and end dates, wait lists, academic programs, transcripts, and analysis.

In a traditional Compass Methodology Fit/Gap analysis the objective is to evaluate and document the fits and gaps between the functionality in the PeopleSoft Student Administration delivered application versus the WSU’s business needs.

The key work products of this activity are:

• Formal Fit/Gap Summary document that describes at a high level the fits, gaps, and alternative solutions for our specific project.
• A list of all possible gaps, associated business needs, alternatives discussed throughout the process, and recommended solutions wherever possible.
• A validated list of potential customizations that will enhance the system toward our needs.
• Documented alternatives and initial functional specifications for customizations, conversions, interfaces, reporting, security, and workflow.
• An initial configuration for the system and a setup document.

During the Fit/Gap analysis all major business processes will be reviewed.

ACTIVITIES

Using PeopleSoft Student Administration business processes, Fit/Gap scenarios will be outlined to validate that WSU’s business processes and rules can be supported by the software.

The following steps will be completed in the process:

Understand current WSU business processes and requirements by:

• The review of written documentations of WSU business operations and business processes. Review of other relevant materials provided by WSU.
• Meetings with WSU selected executives focused on capturing WSU’s vision, areas targeted for improvement, as well as project objectives.
• The observation of WSU campus operations. WSU will select a representative school and appropriate business operations for observation during the analysis.
• Meeting with functional managers. Targeted meetings between lead Oracle consultants and the directors or managers of the student services functions.

Create a preliminary list of business process for inclusion in the Fit/Gap analysis:

• List the business processes in logical order
• Identify scenarios for each business process
• Identify base tables and transactional data for each scenario
• Identify expected results for each scenario
• Configure and set up base tables
• Enter data for transactions required for scenarios

ACTIVITIES

A walkthrough of the PeopleSoft Student Administration business process reviewing set up tables used to configure the process and/or business rules.

Review of all the related application components ex: pages, fields, self service features, off-line processes, and reports.

Identification of what works and what does not work.

Identification and exploration of possible alternatives which may include:

• Configuration changes: A configuration change is made if the gap will be resolved by changing the setup data or configuration of the application.
• A workaround: A workaround is a solution where an object that is already part of the delivered application can be configured and used to meet the requirements.
• For example: an unused field can be used to capture information.
• Business process change: A business process change is a solution in which the CU agrees to change its method of doing business to match the best practices reflected in the delivered PeopleSoft application.
• A customization: In some cases, a customization to the delivered software must be made. It is recommended that all other alternatives be exhausted before selecting customization because customizations can be difficult to support and maintain and can make upgrading difficult.

ACTIVITIES

Documentation of Fit/Gap session results following each session.

Compilation of Fit/Gap results info a Fit/Gap report.