PeopleSoft Online Magazine

At San José State University, students who apply online are notified of their admission status within 24 hours (sometimes within 12 hours). At Sonoma State University, it took less than 15 minutes to make grading changes for 1,500 students. At California State University, Long Beach, 73 percent of the 250 job applications received each week are electronically processed within 20 minutes.

These impressive results are part of a wave of change happening throughout the California State University (CSU) system. CSU is currently in the middle of a system-wide effort to replace its legacy administrative systems with PeopleSoft Enterprise Student Administration, Financial Management and Human Resources systems. Called the Common Management System (CMS), it is the largest ERP implementation in higher education, linking 23 campuses throughout the state.

“PeopleSoft gives us twenty-first-century technology so that we can provide the kind of services that students, faculty, and staff expect from a twenty-first-century university,” states CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed.

Improved Campus Management

Throughout the CSU system, an increasing percentage of the system’s 409,000 students and 44,000 faculty and staff are starting to do more of their business online. At Sonoma State, the new PeopleSoft web-based registration system enables students to register faster and easier. It replaces an antiquated voice registration system that kept students waiting for long periods over the phone. By 2007, all CSU campuses will use PeopleSoft’s web-based student registration.

What do the students think of registering via the web? At Fresno State, an informal survey of students showed that 88 percent reported satisfaction with online class registration. “Anytime you can get 88 percent of the students to say something is good—it’s darn good,” says Reed.

With CMS, students can monitor their admissions and financial aid status, check their grades, and pay their tuition and fees. “The fact that students are able to handle much of their business in a self-service mode now is the biggest advantage to the students and to the university,” says Reed. “Most of the services that previously involved either personal contact or mail are now being replaced with online access.”

“There is competition in higher education, just like there is in business,” adds William Griffith, vice president for Administration and Finance at Cal State Long Beach. “We’re trying to serve a limited market, and students have choices.”

Improved Student Services During a Budget Crisis
With the State of California embroiled in a serious budget crisis, PeopleSoft has delivered some significant advantages. According to Griffith, “The largest issue today is the state budget dilemma. We’ve had difficult economic times the last couple of years, and we are experiencing the largest deficit in the nation this year. We’re taking substantial budget reductions.”

In spite of this disadvantage, Reed expects to provide better service to students, thanks to CMS. “Frankly, we think we can increase our services to students, faculty, and staff,” he says. “With PeopleSoft, we’re going to be able to do more with less. We can serve our students better, faster, and more accurately. And, through the use of best practices, we can reduce and reallocate a lot of our expenditures.”

Because all students register online, Sonoma State dramatically reduced the mailing expenses associated with class registration. At San José State, processing at the close of the fiscal year used to take five days and involved multiple accounting and technology staff. With CMS, it takes the accounting manager one hour to run the processes. The Cal State Long Beach campus recently automated the process of hiring temporary lecturers, reducing the time needed to prepare contracts and upload employment history and enabling the campus to respond quickly to student demand for courses.

“We really do have to manage our ability to supply services and classes to students with the number of students who are applying to us,” explains Griffith. “PeopleSoft gives us a significant advantage in trying to maintain that balance.”

Financial Accountability
“We’re accountable to the state, to taxpayers, the federal government, and the Board of Trustees,” explains Reed. “With PeopleSoft Enterprise Financial Management, we have the most accurate financial accounting, reporting, and tracking system to provide instantaneous information and be able to summarize data.”

At San Jose, users can drill down to the finest transaction detail and roll up budgets and expenditures for summary management reports. At Cal State Northridge, CMS has greatly enhanced users’ ability to access and report on both financial and human resources data. At Cal State Long Beach, Griffith reports, “This year, we had the fastest and the cleanest closing of our books that we have ever managed to achieve. That’s due in very large part to PeopleSoft Enterprise Financial Management.”

“We have more confidence in the accuracy of the information,” says Reed. “PeopleSoft so far has provided that on the campuses that have implemented both financials and human resources. The data is accurate. It’s timely. And it’s available in different ways.”

A Most Modern Information System

Paperless requisitioning recently became a reality at the San José State campus. Previously, 300 users created 4,000 requisitions a year. Now it’s done without paper, intercampus mailings, or lost documents. At the chancellor’s office, electronically accessible payroll and benefits forms have replaced cumbersome paper forms. Department managers view real-time information online to better manage their employees. Managers at Cal State San Marcos use a centralized database to monitor and report skills development for the entire campus.

“This is where we are going to get the efficiencies,” explains Reed. “We’ll get savings that we can reallocate to provide more access to students. There will be collaboration and cooperation. It’s going to be the most modern information system of any college or university in the country.

“PeopleSoft will also help us leverage our suppliers so that we can get the best prices on supplies for our campuses,” he adds. “The procurement process that’s embedded in the software enables us do that.”

At the same time, PeopleSoft is helping campuses make the switch to using a unique identifier rather than a Social Security number for students. The new system has enabled the campuses that are using the software to readily comply w,ith the Patriot Act’s requirements of tracking thousands of international students. “I think PeopleSoft sees their customers as partners,” says Reed. “They see their customers’ needs as their needs.

“With PeopleSoft, we’re going to better serve our students,” summarizes Reed. “PeopleSoft is going to make CSU more effective and efficient. It’s going to help us provide faster information to our students, who now demand information and student services 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They want it immediately. They want it to be accurate. And they want to be able to plan their futures.”