Washington State University Modernization Initiative - ISG Prepared by: OCIO ...
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Washington State University
Modernization Initiative
Quality Assurance Assessment –
November 16, 2020 – December 15, 2020
Prepared by:
ISG
December 15, 2020
Copyright © 2020 Information Services Group, Inc. All Rights ReservedDecember 15, 2020
Stacy Pearson
Project Executive Sponsor and Vice President, Finance and Administration
Washington State University
Finance and Administration
PO Box 641046
Pullman, WA 99164-1045
Sue Langen
Deputy Director for Strategy & Management
Office of the Chief Information Officer
1500 Jefferson St SE
Olympia, WA 98504
Nicole Simpkinson
Assistant Director
Office of the Chief Information Officer
1500 Jefferson St SE
Olympia, WA 98504
Dear Ms. Pearson, Ms. Langen, and Ms. Simpkinson:
ISG has completed its Quality Assurance Assessment (the Assessment) of the Washington State
University (WSU) Modernization Initiative (the Project) for the period November 16, 2020
through December 15, 2020. This month the Modernization Initiative Steering Committee will
convene on Wednesday, December 16, a week and a day earlier than usual, due to the
Christmas holiday. This report therefore reflects progress over a four-week period which was
last reported out at the Project Management Office (PMO) meeting of Tuesday, December 8
and reflects progress reported in the Project Workplan through Thursday, December 10. The
timing of this assessment provides timely reporting to the Steering Committee. The
Assessment was completed in accordance with the requirements of WSU and the State of
Washington Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO).
WSU’s Imminent Go Live
During the assessment period, the Project team gained authorization from the Steering
Committee to go live with Workday beginning with Human Capital Management (HCM)
functionality including payroll on December 16, the same day the Steering Committee meets,
and move into the Support or Stabilization Phase of the Project. The Steering Committee
authorized the Executive Sponsor to approve the move to go live during the November 19
meeting and received an additional status update from Project leadership during an interim
Steering Committee meeting held on Friday, December 4. During the November 19 meeting,
Copyright © 2020 Information Services Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Page ieach of the Project team leads and Deloitte expressed the belief that the Project was ready to
go live. ISG stated that, in our assessment, a go live as planned during the December 16 / early
January time frame represents WSU’s least risky go live option.
ISG congratulates WSU, Project leadership, and the Project team on achieving this significant
milestone.
Go Live Readiness
The Project team has focused on the build out of the Gold Tenant, the tenant that will seed the
initial Production Tenant that Workday will accept to support WSU operations. This multi-week
process has reportedly been proceeding well with only a few exceptions that the Project team
considers manageable. Record loads have been successfully loaded at 99.6% to 99.9% levels for
HCM, Financials, security, and payroll, with the latter two having the higher success rates.
Project Business Analysts have been highly responsive in their support of this critical activity.
ISG observes that his process has been very well managed.
After automated conversions have been loaded into the Gold Tenant, a set of additional manual
updates are planned to bring the tenant up-to-date and to reflect transactions due for
recognition as Workday goes live.
Progress continues on integrations. The Project team continues to meet with the Controller’s
Office to update the Workday – Agency Financial Reporting System (AFRS) crosswalk and with
the State Office of Financial Management (OFM) to test the integration. Outstanding
transaction crosswalks are primarily related to less frequently occurring transactions. The
Project team has initiated contingency planning to address transactions that are not fully
mapped when the first integration run is required in January. Progress related to completion of
the gift calculator continues to track well. End-to-end processing has been successfully tested.
The most recently reported defects related to the set-up of three gift income distributions.
Inception-to-date conversions, the one significant item that Project management considered a
potential threat to go live, has moved forward to a point where it is no longer considered a
threat. Transactions have reportedly been validated at the fund and account level. The Project
team is meeting with the Controller’s Office to resolve those items that remain outstanding.
The myWSU Student Receivables integration to Workday continues to receive attention. Per
the Project team report out on December 8, some 300 items types continue to require
attention. These are all financial integrations, although payroll transactions are included in the
scope of the AFRS integration. Financial cutover is scheduled for January 2021.
Report development was suspended until migrations have been completed. Approximately 87
reports classified as “medium” and “low” priority remain outstanding. All of these reports
would not be needed at go live. Project leadership has broadly communicated to the Steering
Committee and the WSU community at large that some reports will not be ready at go live.
Projections indicate that completion is currently anticipated by April 2021.
The Project team has initiated daily meetings to prepare for the Hypercare period immediately
following go live. The Workday Service Desk has been activated and the support team oriented.
Copyright © 2020 Information Services Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Page iiPlans are in place to provide the Team with a guidebook documenting responsibilities and the
resolution process. The Project team has developed reporting to monitor intake, prioritize and
assign/escalate requests, and track response time. Status reporting will be provided to the
Project team and Project leadership to monitor response timing and aging of individual service
requests.
The Project team plans to respond to service requests by referencing Project materials (e.g.,
knowledge base, training videos, reference guides) available through the Modernization
Initiative web site to highlight the availability of the materials on the web site, orient the service
requestor as to the content of the materials, and encourage them to resolve the request using
their own resources.
Mainframe processing time concerns noted in last month’s report were addressed through an
increase in CPU capacity. The Project team indicates that the additional capacity has resolved
the concern.
Project Management and WSU have met with Workday and completed the required Workday
Delivery Assurance (DA) Functional Review checkpoints.
End User Training and Unit Readiness
In this assessment, ISG closes the end user training and unit readiness issue.
In addition to actions noted in previous reports, Project leadership has dedicated significant
effort to eliciting support from WSU institutional leadership to encourage participation in end
user training and unit readiness for go live. This has included correspondence from the Project
Executive Director to institutional leadership via the WSU Executive Summary and Project
leadership discussions and/or presentations with:
• The President’s Cabinet;
• Deans; and
• Administrative Financial Officers (AFOs).
The Project team also leveraged established communication channels such as the monthly
Modernization Newsletter and the bi-weekly communication in the WSU Insider to encourage
members of the WSU community to take advantage of Project training opportunities in
preparation for go live.
Additionally, the Project team made videos of live training sessions available to the WSU
community for those seeking initial training and for those interested in a refresher. These
videos serve to mitigate the risk that users who missed or failed to sign up for earlier in-person
training sessions would be unable to receive training prior to go live.
The Project team also delivered the first Reporting Workshop to approximately 150
participants.
Copyright © 2020 Information Services Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Page iiiSustainment
In previous reports, ISG has suggested labs to allow unit members to convene (most likely
virtually) so they could develop, confirm, and practice local procedures. These labs would be
supported by Project team members, most likely Business Analysts.
During the assessment period, Project leadership approved the extension of a training tenant
for six months. This tenant will be available to units to practice local procedures using
Workday.
Training labs remain in the queue of potential Project activities and will be available if Project
resources are sufficient.
High Service Desk Volume
For the reasons noted above, ISG encourages the Project team to anticipate substantially higher
volume of Service Desk contacts than otherwise and provide for a commensurate level of
Project team and central office availability to address incoming queries.
Project Status
The PMO Status Report for the week ending December 4 was reviewed during the December 8
PMO meeting. It classifies Training and the Project overall in “yellow” status. During the
meeting, Project leadership agreed to move the overall Project status rating to “green,”
indicating a readiness to go live
ISG agrees with the PMO that the Project is ready for go live but we continue to assign it a
“yellow” status due to the status of unit readiness, an area not specifically assigned a status
rating by the PMO.
Project Activity
Project activities during the current assessment period have focused on:
• Loading the Gold tenant in preparation for the transfer of data to the Production tenant
that Workday will support;
• Resolving outstanding action items;
• Moving remaining financial integrations toward completion;
• Completing training materials and materially completing training delivery;
• Preparing the Service Desk environment and Service Desk-assigned staff for post-go live
support including clarification of roles and responsibilities and training;
• Finalizing and executing the detailed cutover plan;
• Reviewing and updating the Workday Deployment Readiness spreadsheet and
completing Workday DA reviews;
• Issuing the Project monthly newsletter, and preparing other communications to WSU
leadership and the WSU community;
• Engaging with WSU institutional, academic, and administrative leadership to set
expectations regarding cut-over and the stabilization period that follows;
Copyright © 2020 Information Services Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Page iv• Updating the Project website; and
• Updating and elaborating the Project Workplan.
Assessment Structure
This document is structured as follows:
1. Executive Summary
We summarize significant data points, progress toward the achievement of important
project activities or milestones, and our observations, findings, and recommendations
in this section. We also present a high-level dashboard overview.
2. Project Progress and Detailed Assessment by Project Management Area
As required by the OCIO and consistent with best practice, we present our initial
observations, findings, and recommendations organized by the ten practice areas of
project management as promulgated by the Project Management Institute. These ten
areas encompass the critical activities of a successful project.
3. Summary of Findings
We summarize findings from our assessment with corresponding recommendations.
This section will include new findings, as well as open and completed findings.
Thank you for this opportunity to serve WSU and the State of Washington.
I attest that ISG has prepared this report independently. Please contact me with any questions
or comments.
Sincerely,
David Hemingson, Partner
ISG Public Sector
Email: isg_usa.highered@isg-one.com
Phone: (512) 231-9212
Copyright © 2020 Information Services Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Page vTable of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................................... 1
Overview................................................................................................................................................ 1
Dashboard ............................................................................................................................................. 2
ASSESSMENT OF PROJECT PROGRESS ............................................................................................................ 4
Schedule ................................................................................................................................................ 5
Budget ................................................................................................................................................... 6
QUALITY ASSURANCE ASSESSMENT................................................................................................................ 7
PMBOK Practice Area 1: Integration Management .............................................................................. 8
PMBOK Practice Area 2: Scope Management ...................................................................................... 9
PMBOK Practice Area 3: Schedule Management ............................................................................... 10
PMBOK Practice Area 4: Cost Management....................................................................................... 11
PMBOK Practice Area 5: Quality Management .................................................................................. 12
PMBOK Practice Area 6: Resource Management ............................................................................... 12
PMBOK Practice Area 7: Communication Management .................................................................... 14
PMBOK Practice Area 8: Risk Management ....................................................................................... 15
PMBOK Practice Area 9: Procurement Management ........................................................................ 15
PMBOK Practice Area 10: Stakeholder Management ........................................................................ 16
ASSESSMENT OF THE ACCURACY OF THE PROJECT’S TRACKING OF PROGRESS ......................... 19
RISK ASSESSMENT .............................................................................................................................................. 20
SUMMARY OF OBSERVATIONS ....................................................................................................................... 22
SUMMARY OF OPEN FINDINGS ....................................................................................................................... 24
ISG QUALITY ASSURANCE METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................... 25
Copyright © 2020 Information Services Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Page viQA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
December 15, 2020
Executive Summary
ISG Public Sector (ISG) presents this Quality Assurance (QA) Assessment Report for the
Washington State University (WSU or the University) Modernization Initiative for the period
November 16, 2020 through December 15, 2020 (the assessment period).
Overview
This is the twenty-eighth monthly QA Assessment Report presented by ISG in its role as QA
consultant for the WSU Modernization Initiative (the Project).
With respect to earlier QA Assessment Reports, we conclude that Project leadership continues
to consider the recommendations presented in the reports and is acting to address them.
Human Capital Management (including payroll) go live is scheduled for tomorrow (December
16). Financials and Procurement processes will be activated on or about January 1, 2021.
Review of the recently updated Project Workplan indicates that the following key activities
deserve close monitoring: post-automated conversion manual updates and Service Desk
operation.
Risks related to unit readiness cause us to conclude that Project status remains “yellow.”
ISG reports no issue that we classify as a finding.1 We make several observations, noting several
risks that will be monitored as the Project progresses.2 We will continue to monitor these risks.
1
An issue is “a situation that is certain and that could affect Project success in a positive or negative manner.”
2
A risk is “an uncertain situation, the likelihood of the situation, and the impacts (which can be positive or
negative) that the occurrence of the situation would have on Project success.”
Copyright © 2020 Information Services Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Page 1QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
December 15, 2020
Dashboard
This dashboard presents an overview of our assessment of the Project and the ten Project
Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK) practice areas as of December 15, 2020.
Project Status -- Focused Attention Required
Change since Last Findings &
Project Management Area Area Status
Assessment Observations
1. Integration Management Risk Reduced
2. Scope Management --
3. Schedule Management Risks Continued
4. Cost Management --
5. Quality Management --
6. Resource Management Risks Reduced
7. Communication Management --
8. Risk Management --
9. Procurement Management --
10. Stakeholder Management Issue Closed; Risks Continued
Findings &
Traditionally High-Risk Areas* Area Status
Observations
1. Change Management
2. Integrations/System Remediations
3. Reporting**
* Areas that have proven to be high-risk during the implementations of enterprise systems at research universities
like WSU.
** Generation of dashboards, analytics, queries, and reports needed for decision-making at all levels of the
University and for compliance with regulatory and other third-party reporting. This includes reporting that is
impacted by the replacement by Workday of current HCM and Financial data sources.
ISG Monitored Areas* Rationale
1. PMO Troika Variance from best practice
2. Inter-agency Agreements Criticality to project success
3. Lack of Critical Path Variance from best practice
* Areas monitored by ISG but not rising to a level that requires Project leadership’s attention at this time.
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Page 2QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
December 15, 2020
Legend
Assessment Status Change
Risks/issues being addressed
Neutral; risks/issues partially being addressed or newly listed
Risks/issues increasing
Area Status
Major finding likely to adversely impact project progress or outcome
Finding/issue requiring attention or observation/risk being addressed and monitored
No finding or observation requiring action at this time
Findings & Observations
Finding(s)/issue(s) noted
Finding(s)/issue(s) and observation(s)/risk(s) noted
Observation(s)/risk(s) noted
No finding or observation at this time
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Page 3QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
December 15, 2020
Assessment of Project Progress
The Project continues to operate in a work-from-home environment. This will continue for the
foreseeable future.
ISG believes that the Project is ready for go live but we continue to assign it a “yellow” status
due to the status of unit readiness. Although not critical enough to halt go live, we believe the
state of unit readiness will result in a higher impact on the Service Desk.
The Project team continues to:
• Develop deliverables corresponding to tasks in the Project Workplan;
• Execute Deploy Phase tasks; and
• Elaborate the Project Workplan.
Project Staffing
Deloitte is providing interim support for the Core Finance and Budget Lead who resigned
several months ago. The absence of a lead in this key role represents a risk to the Project.
The WSU Change Management Lead is on maternity leave. This is a key position in an area that
is traditionally high risk and the vacancy in this position also represents a risk to the Project.
Deloitte Staffing Commitment
Deloitte’s original contract was fixed cost. Current services as part of the timeline extension
provided by Deloitte under the recently modified SOW are now paid on a time and material
basis.
Project leadership confirms that WSU measures Deloitte’s progress based on timely delivery of
quality deliverables. A comparison of the effort committed by Deloitte in its Statement of Work
(SOW) against actual hours applied was for monitoring purposes only and was provided in
response to a request from Project leadership. An unanticipated shortage of actual hours
applied, if it were to occur, may be cause for concern.
Deloitte’s commitment cumulatively throughout the Project substantially exceeds the
anticipated hours presented in the SOW.
Project Deliverables Status
The Deliverable Log was updated during the assessment period. The Deliverables Log indicates
that all Test, Deploy, and Support Phase Deliverable Expectation Documents (DEDs) have been
submitted to WSU and all have been accepted. As the Deploy Phase draws to a close, the
following deliverables remain outstanding:
• Knowledge transfer acknowledgement;
• Training Completion and Sustainment Plan;
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Page 4QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
December 15, 2020
• Site Readiness and Deployment deliverable; and
• Cutover confirmation (due following cutover).
Most deliverables reviewed by ISG have been of quality. In those instances when ISG has not
found the deliverables to be of quality, ISG has presented WSU with recommendations to bring
the deliverables to a leading practice standard.
Project deliverables are being classified consistent with guidelines in the Project Charter and
are being posted on a Deliverables Log accessible through the internal Project web site
maintained by Deloitte.
Project Workplan
Project leadership routinely updates the Project Workplan.
Project leadership should continue to review and elaborate tasks in the Project Workplan.
Based on our assessment of the Project Workplan this period, we conclude that it accurately
reflects the status of the Project at this time.
Schedule
During the assessment period, the Project team:
• Loaded the Gold tenant in preparation for the transfer of data to the Production tenant
that Workday will support;
• Resolved outstanding action items;
• Moved remaining financial integrations toward completion;
• Completed training materials and materially completed training delivery;
• Prepared the Service Desk environment and Service Desk-assigned staff for post-go live
support including clarification of roles and responsibilities and training;
• Finalized and is executing the detailed cutover plan;
• Reviewed and updated the Workday Deployment Readiness spreadsheet and
completed the required Workday DA reviews;
• Issued the Project monthly newsletter, and prepared other communications to WSU
leadership and the WSU community;
• Engaged with WSU institutional, academic, and administrative leadership to set
expectations regarding cut-over and the stabilization period that follows; and
• Updated the Project website.
The PMO:
• Updated the Project Workplan for current activity;
• Encouraged documentation of project decisions in the Risks, Actions, Issues and
Decisions (RAID) log; and
Copyright © 2020 Information Services Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Page 5QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
December 15, 2020
• Actively addressed risks including those identified in earlier QA reports.
We find that the Project Workplan is being updated on a timely basis. We will continue to
monitor the Project Workplan as the Project moves forward.
The Project Workplan presents a high-level timeline for the Project with estimated completion
dates. The HCM is planned for 8 a.m. PST tomorrow. Workday Financial Management
processes will be activated on January 1, 2021. The final phase (i.e. the Support Phase) is
estimated for completion in mid-March 2021.
Budget
The Project is operating with sufficient budget.
Project Management has provided ISG with a monthly project spend plan for the current fiscal
year and an updated report of actual expenses through November 2020. The report indicates
that budget tracking is current, that WSU had allocated a contingency that we consider
reasonable and prudent for the Project timeline, and that the Project was running an overall
positive variance, before consideration of the contingency.
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Page 6QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
December 15, 2020
Quality Assurance Assessment
ISG presents below its Quality Assurance Assessment for the time period November 16, 2020
through December 15, 2020 (the assessment period). We report our assessment of Project
performance for each of the ten Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK) practice
areas:
1. Integration Management 6. Resource Management
2. Scope Management 7. Communication Management
3. Schedule Management 8. Risk Management
4. Cost Management 9. Procurement Management
5. Quality Management 10. Stakeholder Management
Each section below begins with a definition of the respective practice area.
Please refer to the final section of this report, ISG Quality Assurance Methodology, for a
description of the ISG Quality Assurance methodology that serves as the basis for this
Assessment.
On the following pages, ISG discusses the status of each of the ten Practice Management Book
of Knowledge (PMBOK) practice areas. As appropriate, we identify observations, findings, risks,
and issues and, for each observation or finding, we describe the impact, present our
recommendation and report status.
Risks and issues are defined consistent with PMBOK standards. A risk is “an uncertain situation,
the likelihood of the situation, and the impacts (which can be positive or negative) that the
occurrence of the situation would have on Project success.” An issue is “a situation that is
certain and that could affect Project success in a positive or negative manner.”
The OCIO requires WSU responses to issues raised in QA reports. We commend WSU for its
timely attention to both risks and issues, and for its transparency in presenting written
responses.
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Page 7QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
December 15, 2020
PMBOK Practice Area 1: Integration Management
Integration management includes the processes and activities needed to identify, define,
combine, unify, and coordinate the various processes and project management activities within
the project management process groups.
Discussion
Coordination with Resources Outside the Project
Timely completion of operational tasks is dependent upon successful integration with resources
not within the direct control of Project leadership. Examples include:
• University partners that report to Project leadership but are not Project team
members (e.g., Controller’s Office, Human Resources);
• University partners that do not report to Project leadership (e.g., Information
Technology Services, Sponsored Projects);
• WSU’s commercial partners (e.g., financial institutions); and
• WSU’s State agency partners.
Risk
Actions resulting from the COVID 19 pandemic have impacted these partners just as
they have the Project team but, in some cases, to a much more significant degree, which
further increases this risk.
Recommendation
We recommend that Project Management continue to monitor these relationships, as
they have been, and be prepared to engage the Executive Sponsor, the Steering
Committee, and University leadership, as necessary, in encouraging timely completion
of tasks necessary and in some cases critical for Project success.
Status
Project Management is aware of this risk. The Project Executive Sponsor has indicated
her willingness to act as necessary. Project leadership has communicated the status of
these various open items to the Board of Regents, the President’s Cabinet, the Steering
Committee, and various other WSU leadership groups, and highlighted the need for
close coordination to complete them in a timely manner.
ISG will continue to monitor this risk.
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Page 8QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
December 15, 2020
University Operations Funding Reductions resulting from COVID-19 Impacts
WSU has reduced funding for University operations, in part due to the impact of the COVID-19
pandemic. Although Project funding is intact, WSU Project participants have been impacted.
The impacts take various forms but perhaps the most pervasive impact is on campus, college,
and central administrators. These administrators are among those most impacted by the
Project (e.g., transition to new Workday-driven processes). They are also most likely to be
involved in assessing, planning for, and implementing changes resulting from COVID-19-related
wellness and safety protocols and reductions in University funding. These are competing
commitments.
Status
The Project has successfully moved to go live and will move into the Support Phase
shortly. Accordingly, we close this risk.
Critical Path
Throughout the Project, ISG has observed that the identification and maintenance of a critical
path through the Project Workplan will provide Project leadership with insight that informs
scope and resource decisions. It will also allow Project leadership to monitor key, critical path
tasks and recognize the implication to completion slippage. Importantly, the critical path will
provide the Project Steering Committee and Project leadership with confidence that the
activities necessary to support Project go live can be completed by planned go live dates.
Review of the critical path document delivered by Deloitte indicates that it identifies important
tasks. However, it does not incorporate resource availability and does not provide Project
leadership and the PMO with information regarding slack time (if any) available to the Project,
which is the primary purpose of critical path analysis. Awareness of the slack time available is
important for the reasons noted above.
Status
The Project has successfully moved to go live and will move into the Support Phase
shortly. Accordingly, we close this risk.
Observations regarding the Project Workplan are presented earlier in the “Project Workplan”
section of “Assessment of Project Progress.” Observations regarding end user community
engagement are presented in the Stakeholder Management section below.
PMBOK Practice Area 2: Scope Management
Scope management includes the processes required to ensure that the Project includes all the
work required, and only the work required, to complete the Project successfully.
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Page 9QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
December 15, 2020
Discussion
University Stores had planned to implement a new inventory system separate from Workday.
The Project team, having demonstrated Workday capabilities to University Stores
representatives and learned of the organization’s decision to move forward with a separate
system, scoped the Project and configured the Workday software based on this operating
assumption. Since that decision was made, a number of factors have impacted University
Stores operations. University Stores has not implemented a new inventory system and has very
recently determined that its best option at this time is to re-platform its mainframe-based
system. ISG acknowledges that implementation of inventory functionality in Workday was not
in Project scope. Although not a Project risk, this does represent a risk to WSU.
Status
ISG has identified no reportable Project risks or issues in this area at this time.
PMBOK Practice Area 3: Schedule Management
Schedule management includes the processes required to manage the timely completion of the
Project.
Discussion
Resource Bottlenecks
The business analysts on the Project team have the most detailed understanding of the
configuration of the new system. Demands on HCM and Finance team business analysts’ time
and attention are from many sources and, in many cases, Project team resources have been
overcommitted. Prioritizing and coordinating these activities require the careful planning and
the integration of numerous tasks. Any project delay causes the business analyst activities to
stack on top of each other against a deadline and easily overcommit the time available.
Risk
Without prioritization and careful planning, business analyst effort can be applied
ineffectively, resulting in bottlenecks and delays in the completion of Project tasks.
Recommendation
As noted earlier, we recommend that the PMO estimate the effort associated with tasks
in the Project Workplan for all Project team members (including Deloitte resources),
load resource availability, identify gaps in resource availability, and establish a critical
path through the duration of the project. We recommend that the PMO monitor team
member utilization to anticipate bottlenecks and take other actions necessary to avoid
recurrence of the same problems with resource utilization.
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Page 10QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
December 15, 2020
Status
Project leadership has developed and monitors “resource plans” for WSU project team
members over a rolling multi-week period. The Finance Team Lead and the HCM Team
Lead routinely estimate the effort required of Project resources and adjust assignments
to level effort, in recognition of resource constraints.
ISG will continue to monitor.
Report and Integration Development
Report development efforts have proven to be challenging for the Project team, as they are
traditionally for similar projects. A few integrations remain outstanding.
Risk
Design, build, and unit test of reports and completion of a few integrations are among
the set of tasks past due and/or represent a risk area.
Recommendation
Continue to monitor the pace of development. Assign priority to development of
reports required for go live. As appropriate, apply additional Project resources in
support of resolution of outstanding operational decisions.
Status
Development of reports classified as “critical” and “high” has been completed.
Eighty-seven medium and low reports remained outstanding at the conclusion of the
assessment period. Project leadership reports that these have been prioritized within
these overall classifications and will be addressed in priority sequence. The Steering
Committee and the University community have been informed that some reports will
not be available at go live.
PMBOK Practice Area 4: Cost Management
Cost management includes the processes involved in planning, estimating, budgeting, financing,
funding, managing, and controlling costs so that the Project can be completed within the
approved budget.
Discussion
Observations regarding the Modernization Initiative budget and spend plan are presented
earlier in the “Budget” section of “Assessment of Project Progress.”
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Page 11QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
December 15, 2020
Status
ISG has identified no reportable risks or issues in this area at this time.
PMBOK Practice Area 5: Quality Management
Quality management includes the processes and activities of the performing organization that
determine quality policies, objectives, and responsibilities so that the project will satisfy the
needs for which it was undertaken.
Discussion
WSU has incorporated a quality assurance process into its deliverable development process.
This process is documented in the Project Management Plan and has been accepted and put
into practice by the Project team.
We have observed the Project team continuing the cadence for Project deliverable definition
and acceptance for deliverables outlined in the Deloitte SOW and included in the Project
Workplan. In our assessment, the quality of DEDs, which we review following WSU’s review,
and adherence to the definitions has been mixed. With a few exceptions that we have noted in
our assessment reports, we have found the final products to be acceptable.
Status
ISG has identified no reportable risks or issues in this area at this time.
PMBOK Practice Area 6: Resource Management
Resource management includes the processes that organize, manage, and lead the Project
team.
Discussion
ISG continues to find that WSU has staffed the team with a very professional Project team. We
commend Project leadership for the high standards it has established and maintained.
Project Team Position Vacancies
Deloitte is providing interim support for the Core Financials position vacancy. The Change
Management Lead position is temporarily vacant as the lead for this area is out on maternity
leave.
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Page 12QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
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December 15, 2020
Risk
Vacancies filled with Deloitte staff exposes WSU to considerable loss of knowledge when
the Deloitte consultants leave.
Recommendation
Continue to pursue the current approach.
Status
ISG will continue to monitor this risk.
Departmental Resource Availability
The Project team has analyzed the impact of Workday on departmental operations and
continues to be cognizant of campus, college, and other unit interests.
Risk
As Project Management recognizes, the Project is dependent upon resources outside
the Project team to accomplish tasks in a timely manner and necessary to maintain the
Project schedule.
Recommendation
ISG recommends that the Project team:
• Continue providing the WSU community with effective communication of Project
plans, activities, and decisions.
• Continue to develop project plans and communicate anticipated area resource
requirements and the timing of critical project activities. Develop and
communicate support available to campus, college, and departmental units.
• Establish an internal process to identify and resolve key user constraints or other
bottlenecks in the impacted WSU community (i.e., outside the Project team). As
appropriate, engage institutional and departmental leadership and remind them
of their commitments to Project objectives and the benefits that achieving those
objectives will provide their departments. Monitor key user participation and, as
appropriate, identify alternative participants to spread the opportunity to
contribute to the Project more evenly across the user community.
Status
WSU has activated the Change Network and has provided the change agents with
monthly checklists of activities to prepare for the implementation. WSU continues to
update the WSU community as plans are developed. WSU is aware of the risk and is
acting to mitigate it.
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Page 13QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
December 15, 2020
Project leadership has taken actions to address this risk as outline earlier in this report.
ISG will continue to monitor.
COVID-19 Impact
The COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to impact Project team members and other
significant resources necessary for Project success.
Risk
A COVID-19 infection could incapacitate a member or members of the Project team or
other significant resources necessary for Project success.
Recommendation
Continue to monitor the health and safety of Project team members. Develop a
contingency plan in case a Project resource is incapacitated.
Status
During the assessment period, a member of the Project team contracted the COVID-19
virus. The ISG team hopes for his timely and full recovery.
Project Management is aware of this risk. ISG will continue to monitor it.
Slow Processing by Mainframe Computer
During Dress Rehearsals for cutover, the Project team experienced processing times that were
notably longer than during previous rehearsal cycles. Team members report that this results
from a reduction in CPU throughput capacity recently implemented to reduce operating costs.
Status
WSU acquired additional CPU capacity which eliminated the extended processing times.
This risk is therefore closed.
PMBOK Practice Area 7: Communication Management
Communications management includes the processes that are required to ensure timely and
appropriate planning, collection, creation, distribution, storage, retrieval, management, control,
monitoring, and the ultimate disposition of project information.
Discussion
The Project team is maintaining project documentation in a reasonably effective and timely
manner. The Project Deliverables Log details planned due dates for Deliverable Expectation
Documents (DEDs) and the deliverables themselves, and review responsibilities for completed
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Page 14QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
December 15, 2020
and current Project phases. As documentation reviews are completed, acceptance is noted in a
timely manner.
In addition, the Project team is maintaining the Modernization Initiative web site,
http://modernization.wsu.edu. In our assessment, the web site represents an excellent
orientation to the Project and provides an interested community member with an effective
means of understanding the Project, its future course, and setting expectations regarding the
impact of new business processes and the Workday software based on Project decisions. The
web site communicates events well into the future so that the WSU community can plan to
participate effectively in Project events.
Status
ISG has identified no reportable risks or issues in this area at this time.
PMBOK Practice Area 8: Risk Management
Risk management includes the processes of conducting risk management planning,
identification, analysis, response planning, and controlling risk on a project.
Discussion
Project leadership is conducting risk meetings approximately monthly. Participation is
meaningful and effective. In our assessment, the participants give serious consideration to
Project risks and identification of mitigating actions to address them.
In addition, key risk topics are reviewed with the Steering Committee.
Status
ISG has identified no reportable risks or issues in this area at this time.
PMBOK Practice Area 9: Procurement Management
Procurement management includes the processes necessary to purchase or acquire products,
services, or results needed from outside the Project team.
Discussion
ISG believes the activities in this practice area are on track.
Status
ISG has identified no reportable risks or issues in this area at this time.
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Page 15QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
December 15, 2020
PMBOK Practice Area 10: Stakeholder Management
Stakeholder management includes the processes required to identify all people or
organizations impacted by the project, analyzing stakeholder expectations and impact on the
project, and developing appropriate management strategies for effectively engaging
stakeholders in project decisions and execution.
Discussion
The focus on OCM-specific activities has increased as the Project moves into its final phases.
The Project team has deployed the Change Network. Members of this group have participated
in activities such as monthly Change Network meetings and facilitating completion of checklist
assignments. Project leadership, recognizing resource constraints, has moved local procedure
workshops into the Sustainment period that follows go live. The objective of these workshops
is to increase understanding of Workday business processes and increase user confidence in the
ability to conduct local operations after Workday goes live.
Training
The lack of participation in Workday training continues to be a point of concern. The Project
team has taken numerous actions to communicate the importance of training and unit
readiness to the University community. The Team has also made available significant training
resources that the University community can access. We consider this a Project risk.
Risk
A well-trained user community is critical to a successful implementation. Without
sufficient knowledge of Workday concepts and processes and confidence in their ability to
conduct operations using the Workday software, WSU users will find themselves
experiencing significant difficulties in providing the level of service they anticipate of
themselves and the University community expects of them.
Recommendation
ISG presented a set of recommended actions in our October report including offering
training labs that assist unit leadership and their reports in effectively transitioning and
conducting unit operations in the Workday environment. Plan for delivery during
Sustainment and clearly communicate these plans to the user community.
Status
Since the Project is going live and has made significant efforts to encourage training
participation and unit readiness, we close this item. It remains as a risk that is addressed
in the following observation. We close this risk.
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Page 16QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
December 15, 2020
Unit Ability to Adapt to Business Process Changes
Most HCM and Finance business processes will be impacted significantly by the introduction of
Workday.
Risk
In some cases, academic and operating unit personnel do not understand how to adopt
and accept the change brought about by the Workday implementation.
Recommendation
Continue to refine a unit readiness approach that identifies change impacts to the unit
business processes and how the Project team will work with the unit’s change agents to
ensure the changes are understood, accepted, and adopted ideally prior to go live to
ensure a smooth transition to production operations.
In addition to training, end users need the opportunity to practice. It is most beneficial for
users to practice with other members of their unit to reinforce not only how to use the
system, but how the business processes will work within their operation. Providing the
Change Agents and Super Users the tools (e.g., practice tenant) and support to organize
these practice sessions, allows them to work through concerns that they may not
encounter until after go live. It can also provide an opportunity to pilot the support
organization.
WSU Project leadership has determined that resource constraints are such that training
labs will not be available until Sustainment. Although not ideal timing, facilitating training
labs in which unit personnel can meet virtually to discuss how their unit will conduct
business and provide services with Workday support during the early weeks of the next
calendar year will coincide with a relative “lull” in other administrative activity,
particularly given the University’s decision to delay Spring semester start-up for a week.
Even with the delay in training labs, WSU Project leadership should consider a transition
workshop, held with a broad set of units, to address key processes that will be critical
shortly after go live. These workshops might be provided to groups of similarly organized
units (e.g., central units, academic units with central school support). Key processes might
include time reporting/absence management and payroll, faculty contract renewal,
student hiring, and purchasing (Pcards processing, in particular).
The Project team has used Zoom effectively to accomplish many Project tasks. We
suggest that Zoom can be used to create an effective environment to conduct these labs.
Status
The Project team prepared a user engagement strategy and plan and departmental
impact assessment. These efforts includes tasks to validate business process changes and
impacts. The team had planned to publish business processes and anticipated that
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Page 17QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
December 15, 2020
providing access to these will provide the user community with insight that will be helpful
in addressing their interests.
WSU Project leadership, recognizing resource constraints, has moved local procedure
workshops into Sustainment. This represents a risk to the Project that leadership should
closely monitor. ISG will continue to monitor it as well.
Faculty Readiness
Overall readiness in the academic units includes engaging the faculty at the appropriate level
for their system use and on a timeline that takes into consideration their academic duties.
Risk
Faculty will not be prepared for performing business processes/tasks in the new system
due to lack of engagement or required training that conflicts with key academic timelines.
Recommendation
Work with change agents in academic units to fully understand faculty use of the system.
Where possible depending upon level of use (core system, self-service), provide training
options with flexibility (i.e. micro-learning).
Status
Training curriculum is developed with multiple delivery channels. The Change Network is
in place with representation from the academic units. The Project team has provided
targeted communications to Deans regarding training sessions that are most applicable to
faculty.
ISG will continue to monitor this risk.
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Page 18QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
December 15, 2020
Assessment of the Accuracy of the Project’s Tracking of
Progress
Our comments in the “Project Workplan” and “Schedule” sections of the “Assessment of
Project Progress” present our assessment of the accuracy of the Project’s Tracking of Progress.
We have presented recommendations in earlier QA reports to increase the accuracy of the
Project’s tracking of progress. Our recommendations include identification of interim project
milestones highlighted on the high-level Project Timeline. We believe adoption of these
recommendations are necessary for the Project Workplan to accurately report project status.
We also note that Status Reports presented at the PMO meeting and to the Steering
Committee are deliverable-based and do not reflect all Project tasks reported in the Project
Workplan.
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Page 19QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
December 15, 2020
Risk Assessment
ISG summarizes project risks and issues below which are potential or actual barriers to meeting
project objectives and milestones, the probability of occurring and impact if they occur, and
recommended and observed mitigations.
Shaded entries indicate the observation or issue has been closed.
Practice Area/Risk/Issue Probability Impact Recommended and Observed Mitigations
Alert leadership of potential need to
engage resources outside the Project to
1: Risk: Coordination with gain timely task completion. Encourage
Resources Outside the and support timely Controller’s Office
Project Medium High participation in Project decision-making.
Anticipate operational changes (e.g.,
1: Risk: Funding Reductions revising budgets) impacting priority and
from COVID-19 Impacts High High pace of Project task execution.
Identify and maintain the critical path in the
Project Workplan. Incorporate resource
planning in the Project Workplan and
critical path analysis. Utilize with resource
planning to assess tasks to move to
1: Risk: Lack of Critical Path High High Sustainment.
In conjunction with re-planning,
incorporate resource estimates, availability,
3: Risk: Resource and dependencies in revised Project
Bottlenecks High High Workplan.
Monitoring integration completion.
3: Risk: Reports and Communicate to user community that a set
Integrations Medium Low of reports will not be available at go live.
Continue the current course, applying
Deloitte support on an interim basis and
6: Risk: Project Team recruiting a replacement. Provide support
Position Vacancies High Medium from Finance Team leadership.
Continue to communicate departmental
6: Risk: Departmental resource requirements including timing.
Resource Management High Medium Continue to monitor.
6: Risk: COVID 19 Threat to Continue to monitor Project team health
the Project Team Low Medium and safety during COVID 19 pandemic.
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Page 20QA Assessment for the WSU Modernization Initiative
Washington State University
December 15, 2020
Practice Area/Risk/Issue Probability Impact Recommended and Observed Mitigations
Investigate the cause of the slow
processing and identify adjustments to
6: Risk: Slow Processing by address or accommodate it during
Mainframe Computer Medium High conversion.
See recommendations in Summary of Open
10: Issue: Training High High Findings below.
Develop detailed unit readiness approach
that identifies change impacts and how the
Project team will work with the unit’s
change agents to ensure a smooth
10: Risk: Unit Ability to transition. Develop a unit readiness
Adapt to Business Process scorecard and report out unit readiness at
Changes High High PMO and Steering Committee meetings.
Leverage change agents to assess faculty
readiness. Provide training
recommendations tailored to faculty
10: Risk: Faculty Readiness Medium Medium interests.
Provide executive leadership with talking
points and recommended delivery timing of
10: Risk: Executive communications addressing Project
Leadership Demonstrated interests (e.g., continuous improvement
Support Medium Medium during Sustainment).
10: Risk: Change
Management High High Continue to monitor.
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Page 21Summary of Observations
The table below summarizes risks based on observations from ISG’s QA report as of December
15, 2020.
Shaded entries indicate the observation has been closed.
Status as of
Practice Area/Observation December
15, 2020
1: Coordination with Resources Outside Project. Alert leadership of potential On-going:
need to engage resources outside the Project to gain timely task completion. Monitoring
1: Funding Reductions from COVID-19 Impacts: Reiterate Project contributions
to streamlining operations. Anticipate operational changes (e.g., revising Closed
budgets) impacting priority and pace of Project task execution.
1: Critical Path. Identify and maintain the critical path in the WSU Project
Workplan. Incorporate resource planning in WSU Project Workplan and critical
path analysis. Refine the draft provided by Deloitte to achieve the purpose of Closed
critical path analysis (i.e., an understanding of the slack time available to the
Project), maintain, and monitor on an on-going basis.
3: Resource Bottlenecks. Incorporate resource estimates, availability, and
Closed
dependencies in revised Project Workplan. Identify and monitor critical path.
3: Reports and Integrations. Monitor pace of development to confirm pace On-going:
and assess impact of delays on downstream tasks. Monitoring
6: Project Team Position Vacancies. Continue current course. Leverage
Deloitte interim support. Continue recruiting effort. Provide support from Closed
Financials leadership.
6: Departmental Resource Availability. Campus and college representative are
anxious to learn how the Project impacts their areas. Develop plans and Closed
communicate departmental resource requirements and timing.
6: COVID 19. Continue to monitor health and safety of the Project team. On-going:
Develop contingency plan in case a Project team member is incapacitated. General
Monitoring
6: Risk: Slow Processing by Mainframe Computer. Investigate the cause of the
slow processing and identify adjustments to address or accommodate it during Closed
conversion.
10: Unit Ability to Adapt to Business Processes Changes. Develop a detailed On-going:
unit readiness approach that identifies change impacts to unit business Monitoring
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