Project Charter Template

Project Charter

A. General Information

Provide basic information about the project including: Project Title – The proper name used to identify this project; Project Working Title – The working name or acronym that will be used for the project; Proponent Secretariat – The Secretariat to whom the proponent agency is assigned or the Secretariat that is sponsoring an enterprise project; Proponent Agency – The agency that will be responsible for the management of the project; Prepared by – The person(s) preparing this document.

Project Title: / Administration Information System / Project Working Title: / AIS
Proponent Secretariat: / Education / Proponent Agency: / Virginia Community College System
Prepared by: / Jo Jo Martin, Director Project Management and Administrative Services, ITS / Date Prepared: / May, 2006

Points of Contact

List the principal individuals who may be contacted for information regarding the project.

Position / Title/Name/Organization / Phone / E-mail
Project Sponsor / Karen Petersen, Administrative Service, Executive Vice Chancellor / (804) 819 -4910 /
Program Manager / Jo Jo Martin, Director of Project Management and Administrative Services, ITS / (804) 819-4680 /
Project Manager / Bob Swab, Project Manager, BearingPoint / (336) 416-7922 /
Proponent Cabinet Secretariat / Dietra Trent,
Deputy Secretary of Education, Virginia / (804) 786-1151 /
Proponent Agency Head / Glenn Dubois, Chancellor
Virginia Community College System / (804) 819-4903 /
Customer (User) Representative(s) / Dave Mair, Fiscal Services
Controller / (804) 819-4929 /
Other / Neil Matkin, Vice Chancellor of Information Technology Services / (804) 819 - 4990 /

B. Executive Summary

An Executive Summary is required when Sections C thru G of the charter are excessively long. In two or three paragraphs, provide a brief overview of this project and the contents of this document.

The Virginia Community College System (VCCS) is approaching a critical point in its business
life. Its current financial systems are functional, but do not provide adequate integration to essential internal and external systems or the robust reporting capabilities necessary to produce useful analytics in today’s higher education environment. The Financial Resource System (FRS) currently employed by the VCCS is being sunset by the vendor, SunGuard SCT, due to technology obsolescence of the system architecture. The need to replace the FRS with a progressive, supported technical infrastructure and application initiated a review of the enterprise resource planning software provided by two vendors, SunGuard SCT and Oracle. SunGuard’s Banner product suite was reviewed as it is the follow-on product line to FRS. Oracle’s PeopleSoft suite of products was also considered because the VCCS has the PeopleSoft Student Administration system in production and owns perpetual licenses for both the PeopleSoft Financials and Human Resources modules.
A comprehensive requirements gathering session for administrative support software was conducted by the VCCS and its 23 colleges. These documented requirements were used as the basis of an evaluation of the SunGuard and Oracle products, along with eight other evaluation factors. The Oracle PeopleSoft suite was selected as the product line which could best meet the needs of the VCCS. The Administrative Information System (AIS) project will consist of the implementation of Oracle’s PeopleSoft financial management software in two phases beginning in May, 2006 and ending in January, 2008.
This document describes the implementation of the Financial modules. It includes the project mission, objectives, scope, assumptions and constraints, risks, milestones, methodology, and project team organization. This document will evolve over the life of the implementation to include more information about subsequent phases.

C. Project Purpose

Explain the business reason(s) for doing this project. The Project Purpose (the Business Problem and Project Business Objectives) is in the Project Proposal, Section B.

1. Business Problem

The Business Problem is a question, issue, or situation, pertaining to the business, which needs to be answered or resolved. State in specific terms the problem or issue this project will resolve. Often, the Business Problem is reflected as a critical business issue or initiative in the Agency’s Strategic Plan or IT Strategic Plan.

The current financial management system utilized by the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) employs obsolete technology which limits the expansion of functionality necessary to remain competitive in the higher education market and to meet VCCS educational and public service missions. VCCS uses a fixed asset inventory system which is not integrated with the financial management system. The fixed asset system requires extensive manual processing, reconciliation activities, and additional reporting. To address these problems, VCCS plans to implement commercial software for financial management. The proposed system will provide self-service access and business process support to students, faculty, and staff and improve workflow for major financial functions performed throughout the VCCS colleges and Central Office. Enhanced interoperability with other VCCS internal and external application systems will provide additional benefits from information sharing, elimination of redundant data entry, and business process improvement.
The capabilities of the PeopleSoft financial module will support reengineering efforts and business process improvements. The reduction in manual reconciliations and processing will result in a significant cost savings for the 23 colleges represented in this project.
Five critical business processes* were researched and benchmarked during the requirements definition and are listed below.
Finance, Accounts Payable, Online Query/Reporting
1. Weekly manually keying data into Excel Spreadsheets from the FRS system
General Ledger Interface
2. Daily transferring the data from the ATV report (SIS to accounting system)
3. Daily reconciling the ATV transactions from the SIS/FRS GL interface
Asset Management
4. Account payable to fixed asset coordination
Travel and Expenses
5. Completing, copying and getting signatures on your travel and expense vouchers
In addition to these, 28 other business processes will be re-engineered to improve administrative efficiency and effectiveness.
* Spreadsheet of results available on request. Details of the saving summarized in CBA tangible benefits section.

2. Project Goals and Objectives

List the specific goals and objectives of the project.

The following list represents the team’s goals and objectives in implementing PeopleSoft Finance Module at VCCS:

• Facilitate communication

• Establish and improve analytics

• Increase the efficiency of business operations

• Promote data-driven decision-making

• Targeted automation/integration

• Improve Change Management capabilities of the organization

• Facilitate access to business data and reporting

• Enhance access to the business systems

3. Critical Success Factors

List the factors that are critical to the success of this project.

The AIS project is designed to address the critical success factors listed below.

• Well-Defined Business Objectives

• Engaged, Visible Leadership at Sponsor and Executive Level

• Excellent Communication to all Stakeholders

• Proven Project Methodology consistent with the VITA PM Standard

• Strong Change Management approach to deal with “institutional inertia”

• Adequate Training

• Department Ownership of Business Processes

• Complete and Detailed Project Planning documents

Implementation method is proven and continuous

Project expectations are realistic and sustained

• Well-defined requirements

• A periodic quality review process

The following sections of this document will define how these factors will be approached logistically, tactically and strategically.

D. Assumptions

Assumptions are statements taken for granted or accepted as true without proof. Assumptions are made in the absence of fact. List and describe the assumptions made in the decision to charter this project.

This project assumes that:
• VCCS (VCCS System Office and the 23 colleges of the VCCS) are willing to implement the best practices built into the software
• Legacy enhancements or changes to existing systems will be frozen
• The scope will be managed through a formal change control process
• Project accomplishments will be acknowledged by all levels of the VCCS
• Executive support will continue throughout the life of the project
• There will be sufficient availability of skilled VCCS resources
• The project sponsors and project management will commit to making timely
decisions
• Project participants are knowledgeable of their roles and responsibilities
• The project team is empowered to make business process decisions
Key Assumptions / · Start date 5/29/06
· Go Live 7/1/07
· 13 month phase duration ending 8/31/07
· 60 days post-implementation support
· VCCS will provide (2) developers full time to the project beginning 11/1/06 through phase end date
· VCCS will be responsible for providing training delivery resources
· VCCS will provide functional resources to assist with the design and testing of the system as needed
· VCCS will provide files for conversions as needed
· Scope and preliminary design for Phase III purchasing use is defined in this phase / · Start date 9/1/07
· Go Live 12/1/07
· 5 month phase duration ending 1/31/08
· 60 days post-implementation support
· VCCS will provide (2) developers full time to the project for the duration
· VCCS will be responsible for providing training delivery resources
· VCCS will provide functional resources to assist with the design and testing of the system as needed

E. Project Description, Scope and Management Milestones

1. Project Description

Describe the project approach, specific solution, customer(s), and benefits. The Project Description is located in the Project Proposal, Section C.

The Virginia Community College System (VCCS) is contracting implementation services to replace mainframe-based financial and asset management systems with PeopleSoft Financials (Version 8.9). In addition to the replacement of legacy software, the implementation of an Administrative Information System (AIS) for finance will include re-engineering of business processes (both automated and manual) and development and implementation of interfaces to VCCS and Commonwealth of Virginia systems with the objective of improving service delivery to our customers—the VCCS students, faculty and staff.
The Statement of Work (SOW) defines the scope of the Implementation Services to be performed, and the Deliverables to be produced by Vendor in Phases I and II of the AIS Project. Implementation Services include software implementation of specified PeopleSoft modules and sub modules and redesign and documentation of selected VCCS business processes. The scope of work incorporates by reference the findings of the six-week assessment jointly conducted by VCCS and Vendor during the Requirements Phase of the Project, as documented in the reports, VCCS ERP Requirements Validation Results for Finance, Portal, and Technical.
The scope of work and requirements set forth in this SOW are based on the information developed by the VCCS during the Requirements Phase, as further qualified and supplemented by Vendor's higher education experience and knowledge. Vendor will direct the implementation of the PeopleSoft Finance module and shall provide the Services and the Deliverables described in this SOW in accordance with the detailed VITA Project Management Standard pertaining to Project documentation for a high complexity project, Appendix A – IT Project Documentation Summary Table (sections Project Planning and Project Execution and Control).

PROJECT SCOPE

The Project Scope defines all of the products and services provided by a project, and identifies the limits of the project. In other words, the Project Scope establishes the boundaries of a project. The Project Scope addresses the who, what, where, when, and why of a project.

Preliminary Scope and Consultant Staffing by Phase

Phase

/ Phase I / Phase II

Go Live Date

/ 7/1/07 / 12/1/07

Modules

/ · General Ledger
· Accounts Payable (Payments)
· Purchasing (Vendor, PO)
· Portal for AIS only
· Finance Portal Pak / · Asset Management
· Travel & Expense
Additional Features & Functions / · CARS interface/reconciliation
· CIPPS interface
· Budget Load
· SIS interface
· Local check production
· Reporting
· History conversions (balances forward plus one year of details where possible) / · Workflow JE approvals (one level)
· Reporting
· History conversions
· Portal integration extended
· Workflow T&E approval (one level)

Preliminary Scope and Supported Business Processes by Phase

General Ledger

Business Processes Supported – Phase I

Chart of Accounts

· Initial design

· Population of values

· Maintenance processes

· Mapping between CARS/CIPPS and AIS

Actuals Ledgers

· Journal Entry (initial, correcting, reversing, allocation, templates)

· Record expense (accounts payable interface)

· Record revenue (cash receipts journals and interface from SIS financials)

· Asset, liability and fund balances and journal entry adjustments

· Fiscal year closing

· Interface to CARS including automated reconciliation and reports

· Interface from CIPPS for wage and salary costs and employer fringe benefit cost

· Actuals detail transactions

· History conversion (one year of detailed transactions where possible and balances forward)

Budget

· Budget load

· Budget execution and management

· Budget adjustment through journal entry

· Commitment Control – encumbrances via journal, encumbrances via purchase order, liquidation of encumbrances through journal entry or payment

Reporting

· Replacement of necessary existing financial reports in production

· Query – strategy for deployment, training

· nVision – tree development and management, strategy for deployment, training

Security

· Initial setup

· Maintenance process

Integration

· Portal/finance portal pack

Business Processes Supported – Phase II

Journal Entries

· Automate approval of journal entries through on-line workflow

Preliminary Scope and Supported Business Processes by Phase (continued)

Accounts Payable

Business Processes Supported – Phase I

Payment Processing

· Generate payments

· Record expenses process (no central check production)

· Liquidate encumbrances through payment

· General ledger interface

· Integration with purchasing (vendor)

· Interface to/from CARS for payment information

· Produce local checks

· Support two way matching for payment approval