Kuali Financials
Stevens Institute of Technology: Cloud Experience Kuali Financials Marcin Ceglinski, Director of Finance Operations Mary Wheeler, Assistant Vice President for Finance
Stevens: Institution Overview ❖ Independent research university founded in 1870 ❖ Located in Hoboken, NJ across the Hudson from New York City ❖ ~6,800 students ❖ ~350 faculty ❖ $210 million annual operating budget
❖ ~450 Kuali Financials users 2
Stevens: Modules/Features Used ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖
Chart of Accounts Financial transactions Purchasing and Accounts Payable Labor and Effort Certification Accounts Receivable Contracts & Grants Capital Asset Management Budget Construction Sufficient Funds Checking
3
Financials Timeline at Stevens December 2007 January 2008
November 2009 Spring 2010
Kuali Financials Version 2 is released Significant positive reviews in the higher education community
Stevens sends contingent to Kuali Days Signed contract with rSmart
July 2010
Implementation of version 3.1.1 begins
July 2011
Stevens is live on 3.1.1 - hosted in “the cloud” by rSmart
January 2014 November 2014 March 2016
Upgrade to 4.1.1 with Unbundled Rice Stevens environment transitions to Kuali, Inc. Live on official cloud codebase with continuous delivery
4
Benefits of Hosting ❖ Minimal front-loaded deployment costs for hardware ❖ Near universal accessibility via the internet
❖ Institutional cost savings
Zoned, MultiLocation Backups
Automated Instance Creation
Business Continuity
5
Multiple Varieties of “Clouds” ❖ Disposition of data and information (security, location...) ❖ Security of intellectual property ❖ Stability / viability of provider ❖ Backup and business continuity structure
❖ Ability to extract data for import to data warehouse ❖ Options for migration to new provider if necessary 6
Kuali Financials Cloud Features ❖Data - Secure and accessible
❖Continuous Delivery - Fast and lower risk ❖Feature Flags - Choose to enable
❖Disaster Recovery ❖Collaboration with other Customers 7
Kuali and Stevens-Working Together Tier 1
2
3
Type of Issue End User questions log ins, institutional policies, people and role setups and changes, “How do I…?” Process trouble-shooting and system anomalies: e.g. something isn’t working as expected, transactions didn’t post, Sufficient Funds Checking is not working properly, Workflow not as expected, or Access/Security not as expected System problems – assigned a severity level: Urgent – dedicated phone line Non-Urgent – dedicated email
“First Responder” Stevens Finance Campus Support
Stevens Finance Operations Kuali Financial System Administrators for research and resolution Escalated to Kuali Support as needed
Kuali Support
8
Value Proposition for Stevens ❖ Features are tailored to higher education ❖ Users share best practices / policies tailored to the software ❖ Continuous delivery eliminates the need for major upgrades ❖ No institution-specific modifications ❖ Enhancements and patches benefit everyone ❖ Presence of Kuali Commercial Affiliates provides competition for implementation partners and support services
9
Contact Information Marcin Ceglinski Director of Finance Operations [email protected] 201-216-5600 Mary Wheeler
AVP for Finance [email protected] 201-216-5287
10
Stevens: Institution Overview ❖ Independent research university founded in 1870 ❖ Located in Hoboken, NJ across the Hudson from New York City ❖ ~6,800 students ❖ ~350 faculty ❖ $210 million annual operating budget
❖ ~450 Kuali Financials users 2
Stevens: Modules/Features Used ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖
Chart of Accounts Financial transactions Purchasing and Accounts Payable Labor and Effort Certification Accounts Receivable Contracts & Grants Capital Asset Management Budget Construction Sufficient Funds Checking
3
Financials Timeline at Stevens December 2007 January 2008
November 2009 Spring 2010
Kuali Financials Version 2 is released Significant positive reviews in the higher education community
Stevens sends contingent to Kuali Days Signed contract with rSmart
July 2010
Implementation of version 3.1.1 begins
July 2011
Stevens is live on 3.1.1 - hosted in “the cloud” by rSmart
January 2014 November 2014 March 2016
Upgrade to 4.1.1 with Unbundled Rice Stevens environment transitions to Kuali, Inc. Live on official cloud codebase with continuous delivery
4
Benefits of Hosting ❖ Minimal front-loaded deployment costs for hardware ❖ Near universal accessibility via the internet
❖ Institutional cost savings
Zoned, MultiLocation Backups
Automated Instance Creation
Business Continuity
5
Multiple Varieties of “Clouds” ❖ Disposition of data and information (security, location...) ❖ Security of intellectual property ❖ Stability / viability of provider ❖ Backup and business continuity structure
❖ Ability to extract data for import to data warehouse ❖ Options for migration to new provider if necessary 6
Kuali Financials Cloud Features ❖Data - Secure and accessible
❖Continuous Delivery - Fast and lower risk ❖Feature Flags - Choose to enable
❖Disaster Recovery ❖Collaboration with other Customers 7
Kuali and Stevens-Working Together Tier 1
2
3
Type of Issue End User questions log ins, institutional policies, people and role setups and changes, “How do I…?” Process trouble-shooting and system anomalies: e.g. something isn’t working as expected, transactions didn’t post, Sufficient Funds Checking is not working properly, Workflow not as expected, or Access/Security not as expected System problems – assigned a severity level: Urgent – dedicated phone line Non-Urgent – dedicated email
“First Responder” Stevens Finance Campus Support
Stevens Finance Operations Kuali Financial System Administrators for research and resolution Escalated to Kuali Support as needed
Kuali Support
8
Value Proposition for Stevens ❖ Features are tailored to higher education ❖ Users share best practices / policies tailored to the software ❖ Continuous delivery eliminates the need for major upgrades ❖ No institution-specific modifications ❖ Enhancements and patches benefit everyone ❖ Presence of Kuali Commercial Affiliates provides competition for implementation partners and support services
9
Contact Information Marcin Ceglinski Director of Finance Operations [email protected] 201-216-5600 Mary Wheeler
AVP for Finance [email protected] 201-216-5287
10
