Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University Improves Constituent Services with a Comprehensive Enterprise Resource Planning System
 
 

Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University Improves Constituent Services with a Comprehensive Enterprise Resource Planning System

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Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) is an 1890 land-grant institution dedicated to the advancement of knowledge, resolution of complex issues, and the empowerment of citizens and communities. A four-year, public, co-educational institution, FAMU is fully accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. FAMU offers 52 bachelor’s degrees, 27 master’s degrees, and one specialist degree program.  The university has 13 schools and colleges, and one institute.  FAMU has 11 doctoral degree programs including 10 Ph.D. degrees. The university also offers a juris doctor at its College of Law in Orlando.  FAMU has more than 13,000 students and 2,000 faculty and staff.

When the State of Florida required its state universities to form their own boards of trustees and migrate off of the state reporting system, FAMU formed a consortium with Florida State University and the University of Florida and developed a request for proposal (RFP) to select a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Ultimately, FAMU selected Oracle’s PeopleSoft Financials, PeopleSoft Human Capital Management, PeopleSoft Student Administration, and PeopleSoft Applications Portal to meet its unique needs.

With the implementation, FAMU gave constituents 24x7 access to data, enabling students to access class schedules and grades online and eliminating the need to print and mail 12,000 grades in addition to information on 20,000 scheduled classes. The university also enabled students to apply for financial aid and manage their academic records online. In addition, FAMU  provided employees with self-service through PeopleSoft Human Capital Management, offering direct deposit capabilities and eliminating the need to print paychecks.

 
 

 
 

Challenges

A word from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University

  • “Oracle provides enterprise-class solutions and end-to-end support to meet our business needs. We can now provide our constituents with a wealth of information online; automate many manual, paper-based processes; and enhance the service we provide to our students, faculty, and staff.” – Michael A. James, interim chief information officer, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University

  • Move off the state’s reporting system, per the State of Florida’s requirement, and deploy an ERP system to meet FAMU’s unique needs
  • Manage financial data more efficiently
  • Provide constituents—including students, faculty, staff, and alumni—with real-time access to data while improving business process efficiency for enhanced service

Solutions

Oracle Product and Services

  • Worked with CedarCrestone to implement Oracle’s PeopleSoft Student Administration and PeopleSoft Financials, to provide students with enhanced online services and improve financial data management
  • Worked with CedarCrestone and Oracle Consulting to deploy PeopleSoft Human Capital Management to provide faculty and staff with self-service access to human resources information
  • Gave constituents 24x7 access to data, enabling students to access class schedules and grades online, eliminating the need to print and mail 12,000 grades and information on 20,000 scheduled classes
  • Enabled faculty to conduct Web-based grading, saving time and paper by eliminating “bubble sheets”
  • Provided employees with self-service through PeopleSoft Human Capital Management, offering direct deposit capabilities and eliminating the need to print paychecks
  • Enabled students to register and pay for classes, as well as apply for financial aid online, reducing the line times for registration from four to six hours to almost non-existent
  • Enabled students to manage their academic records—access transcripts, process admissions applications, and more—without having to physically come to campus
  • Used PeopleSoft Financials to more effectively track budgets and money spent, as well as to track federal grants
  • Reduced the time needed to pay vendors via electronic processes
  • Provided procurement punch-out capabilities, enabling faculty and staff to select approved products for purchase and automatically generate a requisition and purchase order—saving significant time by not requiring them to submit paperwork and wait for an extensive approval process
  • Enabled staff to submit their travel requests and expenses online, reducing paperwork and the time needed to reimburse employees for travel expenses from four weeks to approximately one week
  • Enabled FAMU to deposit financial aid directly into students’ bank accounts, significantly reducing the number of checks needed to be mailed
  • Worked with Information Concepts, LLC to develop a text book integration—linking the system directly to the campus bookstore to associate books with specific classes and automatically generate online “shopping carts” for students
  • Relied on Oracle Support’s extensive resources to ensure the university leverages its Oracle investment to the fullest possible extent and to troubleshoot any issues for rapid resolution
  • Worked with Information Concepts, LLC on the upgrade to PeopleSoft Campus Solutions 9.0 and to deliver several new enhancements and additional functionality to the application, improving the FAMU staff and student online experience

Why Oracle

When the State of Florida required its state universities to form their own boards of trustees and migrate off of the state reporting system, FAMU formed a consortium with Florida State University and the University of Florida and developed an RFP to select a new ERP system. FAMU needed a solution that was comprehensive and would meet all its business needs.

“Oracle’s PeopleSoft solutions are very robust. We looked at other companies’ offerings as well; all systems were highly scrutinized and vetted. PeopleSoft offered the most comprehensive solution for students, faculty, staff and alumni,” Said Michael A. James, interim chief information officer, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University.

Implementation Process

In 2004, FAMU implemented PeopleSoft Student Administration, PeopleSoft Financials, and PeopleSoft Applications Portal. In 2007, the university implemented PeopleSoft Human Capital Management.

Partner

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