After nearly a year of preparation—building teams, documenting processes, gathering requirements, and envisioning the “big picture” of the Human Resources/Payroll (HR/P) Transformation initiative—it’s time for the next step: launching a series of Configuration-Design Confirmation sessions, which began on March 25 with a target completion of late April.
What is Configuration-Design Confirmation?
Think of the sessions like an automobile chassis, upon which an entire vehicle is built. They both provide structure and support. Configuration-Design Confirmation sessions serve as a foundational element of major projects and initiatives like the HR/P initiative.
Here’s how they work: The project team organizes sessions specific to each functional area within the HR/P initiative and invites relevant subject matter experts to participate in the sessions and provide real-time feedback from a Rutgers-specific perspective.
During each session, representatives from Sierra-Cedar, our implementation partner, will walk attendees through the functionality of each module of the new system Rutgers will implement in 2025. They’ll review configuration values and flows—that is, the specifications that determine how a system will work—based on the 10 months of work in our business process review (BPR) and drafted using the information discussed, captured, and demonstrated in the completed “interactive design and prototype” and sprint sessions.
And the best part? The participants assigned to each session will have the opportunity to validate configurations on the spot.
To set clear expectations, the sessions will not address the following:
- Interfaces
- Data conversion
- Reports
- Testing, test scripts/scenarios
- Training
- Final security
However, the feedback the teams receive will be critical to ensuring the configured system meets Rutgers’ business requirements, signifying development can continue with the goal of having a completed system ready to go “live” on January 2, 2025.