Project FRESH group puts the ‘team’ in teamwork

By Lori Wright, Media Relations

One of the first signs to most faculty and staff that UNH was implementing new human resources and finance systems was when paychecks took on a different look earlier this year.

For those who have been part of Project FRESH — USNH’s project to replace the aging finance and human resources administrative computing applications — the new look of paychecks was just one moment in years of work on new integrated, systemwide Banner finance and human resources systems.

The implementation is expected to provide all USNH institutions with a secure and well-supported system that employs contemporary technology. The system is underpinned by a single integrated database, has an extensive reporting environment with helpful capabilities, and provides a feature-rich applications capable of evolving to accommodate future growth and requirements.

“There are a number of people, both USNH and campus staff, who have been working extraordinarily long hours for literally years on this project. There are also end users, such as those in the BSCs, who have had enormous expectations placed upon them to continue their excellent service to faculty and staff while dealing with the newness and intricacies of the new system, and attending many hours of training,” said Candace Corvey, vice president for finance and administration. “As is always the case with such large system implementations, there have been many bumps in the road. I am proud of everyone who has worked so hard to navigate and flatten the bumps.”

Nearly 200 people have worked since March 1999 on Banner’s implementation.

On Jan. 1, 2002, Banner Finance went live. It replaced the CUFS system, an outdated system implemented in July 1986 that was last updated by the vendor a decade ago and ran on discontinued VAX hardware. Eighteen months later, Banner HR went live on July 1, 2003, replacing the legacy application named HUM. While the Project FRESH team has been working on several post go-live issues with Banner HR, the module was implemented on time and with relatively very few payroll errors.

Delays are common with such wide-scale software implementations, and among the new features UNH has had to delay is the ability of the system to account for state tax withholding for employees who live outside of New Hampshire. “Most recently, we made the difficult decision that we could not implement it for Jan. 1, 2004, which had been our most recent goal,” Corvey said.

And she understands the desire by out-of-state employees to have those state taxes withheld automatically from paychecks.
“I live in Maine and I have been among those out-of-staters who have anxiously looked forward to this new feature. But, knowing what I know about the challenges facing the FRESH team, and the type of work that remains to be done to fully stabilize and complete the system, I am in total agreement with the decision to defer the state tax withholding implementation. As soon as I know what the achievable implementation date will be, I will spread the word,” she said.

Moving forward, approximately 40 projects have been approved as the next initiatives for Banner HR. These include refining the compensation module, completing various tasks associated with year-end federal tax processing, converting retirement data from the legacy system HUM to Banner, processing increases associated with the AAUP increases, and addressing problems associated with sorting mail.

Banner is a Web-enabled application, which means those users with appropriately controlled permissions can securely access the system and work from any Windows-based computer with an Internet connection. This is a significant step toward the 1999 USNH Long Range Technology Plan vision “to provide affordable access, appropriate to the data and informational needs of any USNH user, that will be available at anytime from anyplace.” The system is designed to evolve in step with the needs of the university and furthers the common goal of all campuses to have effective, standardized and integrated administrative systems that provide the most value for the least cost. The system is a combination of a basic modular system developed by SCT (the provider of the Banner product), plus specialized modules and features SCT custom designed with USNH, and the management reporting system called Web Intelligence.

For example, Banner Finance was customized to support P-Cards, said Ken Cody, associate vice chancellor for finance and corporate controller. The P-Card system handles nearly 11,000 transactions a month and more than $30 million in business annually. With the Banner modification, P-Card charges register automatically in USNH’s financial accounts.