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Managers' Mosaic Update

April 2013

To the members of TMG:

Mosaic, McMaster's program to modernize its business processes and replace its current business systems with an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, is accelerating. In this month's newsletter:

Revised Mosaic Timeline Released

“It is a bad plan that admits of no modification.” Publilius Syrus, maxim 469

Syrus’ often repeated dictum was undoubtedly one of the reasons the ancient Romans were so successful at getting things done. Mosaic is trying to embody the same practical spirit and that flexibility was on display when the project released its revised timeline. You can read the full story on the McMaster Daily News and the Mosaic website but the key points are:

  1. Finance, including budgeting and post-award research finance, launches December 2013
  2. In May 2014 both phase 1 of human resources and pre-award research will launch.
  3. Starting in October 2014 student administration will launch in three stages concluding in March 2015.

The new timeline is an example of how the project team is using the insights uncovered through the Fit-Gap process to better align its work to McMaster’s unique circumstances.

timeline graphic

What is included in Finance and Research Finance?

Not surprisingly there is a lot of interest in the part of the project due to launch first. Finance and research finance means a lot of different things to different people depending on their job role. If you were wondering what specifically will be included in December’s launch, here is the list of currently scheduled modules:

  • General Ledger and Commitment Control
  • Accounts Payable
  • Procurement
  • Billing
  • Accounts Receivable
  • Cash Management
  • Grant Awards
  • Project Costing
  • Project Costing (research)
  • Customer Contracts
  • Accounts Receivable /Billing (research)
  • Travel and Expenses

Student Administration Open House Fills CIBC Hall

The student administration team drew a big crowd to its open house on April 4, filling CIBC Hall both in the morning and afternoon. More than 240 people registered for the event, which featured an introduction to the PeopleSoft Campus Solutions as it will be deployed at McMaster. There was a lively dialogue between presenters and the audience which raised many good questions. If you couldn’t attend, the event slide deck is available on the Mosaic website.

Farewell Fit-Gap

The Mosaic teams are now knee deep in the details of the implementation, working on set-up, configuration and workflow. The project’s success depends on getting these details right, and consequently this work consumes a large part of a Mosaic team’s day. However, a mosaic is more than individual tiles, so it was a refreshing change to step back and consider the big picture at our recent reception to mark the end of the Fit-Gap stage. McMaster's provost, David Wilkinson, spoke briefly and made a point of reminding the audience that Mosaic is more than the sum of its parts, more than T4A slips and purchase order workflows. Mosaic’s ultimate goal is to support the University’s mission to discover, communicate and preserve knowledge. Amid the day-to-day work to get the details right it was a timely reminder.

VP-Administration Roger Couldrey also thanked Fit-Gap participants. He pointed out the connections between Mosaic and Forward with Integrity, in particular the Emerging Landscape report which “recommended dismantling the overly restrictive bureaucratic processes that characterize many University policies, procedures and relationships.” Mosaic is an important opportunity to de-bureaucratize said Couldrey and he encouraged the attendees to “take some risks” as the revamped business process to achieve that goal.

When attendees entered the room, they had been handed a small post-it note. At the end of his talk, Couldrey invited everyone to take their post-it, put their name on it and imagine it as a tile, a tile in a mosaic. He then invited them to place this tile in an outline of the project name.

hands placing names in outline of the word Mosaic

Pass It On

One of our goals is to keep people across the University informed about Mosaic. We encourage you to share the information from this newsletter with your team. Let us know if we can help answer any questions you receive about the project.

Contact

For additional information contact:

Sheldon Smart
Public Relations Manager
McMaster University
905-525-9140 x28643
mosaic@mcmaster.ca