A Promise Kept: Project ADAPT Gets New Name, Shows New Face

After the rocky launch of Harvard's new financial systems last year, University officials say that all plans for the next phase--the integration of the human resource information systems that administer payroll and other such functions--now remain on hold.

Officials can now input grant budgets, expense reports and other financial management tools using the new online tools. But the human resources functions originally scheduled to be implemented by now will not be up and running for at least a year--and even that schedule is pending approval.

This past spring, staffers across the university expressed concern that what was then called Project ADAPT was not user-friendly--and even more concern at what they thought was a lack of communication between the central administration and the faculty.

They feared that the University would push forward with phase two, saddling staffers with another layer in a system that was already slowing them down and frustrating them.

But University officials say they are turning over a new leaf--symbolized by the decision to rename the project and divide it into separate programs. They say they learned from what had gone wrong during the initial phase, and add that before they give the go-ahead for the second "Human Resources" phase, they will solicit the input of system users.

"A decision has not been made," says Assistant Provost for Information Technology Daniel D. Moriarty.

A Promise Kept

After the restructuring of the project, a large part of it now falls under the management of the central administration's Office for Administrative Systems.

This includes the human resources project--formerly ADAPT part two. The office is testing those systems, with the help of end-users from various schools.

"We learned during the financial implementation that it's not very efficient to have the team building the new systems sit in a different organization than the team supporting the legacy systems--and who will support the new systems once they 'go live,'" Sara E. Oseasohn '74, the head of what was Project ADAPT, writes in an e-mail message.

Oseasohn says that this second phase has "the advantage of many lessons learned." The HR project is utilizing a "Design Working Group" comprised of system users from various parts of Harvard.

"These folks have been spending a half day a week working with us to define Harvard's needs," Oseasohn says.

Lauren Baccus, the HR director at the Graduate School of Design, says the University has kept her office abreast of and involved with the project.

The Final Say

Oseasohn anticipates a recommendation on the feasibility of the HR system early in 2001. The team is putting together a proposal now, but the earliest the new systems could be in place--pending approval--would be January 2002.

When Harvard purchased administrative systems from Oracle, human resources were part of the deal.

Now Moriarty says those products must be tested to learn their limits--before Harvard staffers try to use them.

"Our first obligation is to understand what the Oracle product can do," he says.

To be approved, HR will have to go through several layers of review, including administrative deans from various schools and the administrative systems steering committee. According to Moriarty, interested faculty groups will also be able to review the system.

Grant management is also a part of the revamped structure. Previously, users in many parts of the university had found fault with the design of STAR, a reimbursement system for travel expenses, launched last year.

According to Moriarty, Web Voucher, another part of the system, is being rewritten to incorporate some STAR functions, providing users with an alternative.

Closing the Books

The project is also on the upswing in the financial area. After a rough period initially, the system came through the end of the fiscal year--traditionally a tough time, with extra work--with flying colors.

According to Vice President for Finance Elizabeth C. "Beppie" Huidekoper, the financial systems performed "smoothly" during the year-end close.

The systems were tested before the big moment, to make sure there would be no downtime, Huidekoper says. Things went so well that for the first time ever, the University was able to give the Harvard Corporation a preliminary financial report. And Price-Waterhouse Coopers is here--earlier than last year--for the final audit.

The audited financial statement will be presented to Harvard's governing boards during their first December meeting.