October 2006

GL / Budget User Work Team Sessions

During the three-day user work team sessions (October 17 – 19) and the additional follow-up session (November 17), campus end-users collaborated and helped design a data entry page, an approval page, and an inquiry page for the budget transfer process.

Currently, the procedure for completing a budget transfer request is a manual process.  Implementing CMS has provided CSUF an opportunity to design a system that will make this procedure more efficient, harnessing the power of this new application. Staff members were invited to a number of user work team sessions to discuss designing an online page where end users can input their own budget transfer and then process the request electronically, obtaining approval from appropriate department levels and the Budget Office.

Based upon feedback from campus end-users during these sessions, Lynn Cayas (Finance Business Analyst) has written the functional specifications and the technical staff is working of the development of these enhancements to the system.   The plan is to test this new functionality with the user work team during the February/March timeframe.

We want to thank all who participated and contributed to these sessions:

PO User Work Team Fit Gap Sessions

The CMS Project management team would like to thank the following individuals for their participation in the PO User Work Team fit gap sessions conducted October 3rd – 5th:

The first day’s session started with an overview of the proposed purchasing flow for CMS, including an on-line demonstration of the current baseline functionality.  This was followed with a look at the process maps where campus departments had a touch point with purchasing.  Divisional issues and concerns that were updated in the Module Work Team Fit Gap sessions were discussed.  Many thanks to Don Green, Director of Contracts and Procurement, and Carmen Peak, Procurement Operations Manager, for joining the user work team session during this review.  The first day concluded with a review of the issues logged and the decisions made during our Module Work Team Fit Gap sessions.

The next two days were dedicated to the requisition design sessions.  The sessions began by looking at the current FRS web and CMS baseline functionality.  Custom CMS prototypes were next on the agenda for the on-line requisition entry, approval, and inquiry pages.  The sessions were very interactive and productive.  All the constructive feedback and suggestions discussed during the design sessions are greatly appreciated. 

Upon completion of the sessions, the user work team was asked to give comments to questions regarding these sessions, for example, “What part of the sessions was most beneficial to you and why?” Their responses included:  "Interaction and feedback,”  “The opportunity to share concerns” and "Very interesting to see how combined inputs help to make a better product."  The user work team was also asked to share any other comments about the sessions.  Their responses included:  "The presenters were all knowledgeable”, "These sessions were very beneficial”, and “Commend the facilitators on trying to capture all of our ideas." 

October 2006

• Procurement Module Work Team Fit/Gap sessions were conducted in September.
• Design sessions for the Purchase Requisition Entry and Budget Transfers will begin in October.
• The CMS Steering Committee approved the CMS Finance Management Team’s recommendations of a custom front-end for Requisition Entry, Pre-Encumbrance Tracking and Reporting, and Budget Transfers.

Page last updated:
May 18, 2007