|
Contractor |
DOE Office |
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Contract No.: DE-AC03-76SF00515 |
IMD Name: Walter Cyganowski |
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Point of Contact:
Clarice
Rinard |
Telephone No.:
(510) 637-1737 |
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Telephone No.: (650) 926-2906 |
CO Name: Tyndal
Lindler |
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FAX No.: (650)
926-5360 |
Telephone No.: (650) 926-4963(SLAC) |
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E-mail: clarice@slac.stanford.edu |
(510) 637-1885 (OAK) |
The Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) is dedicated to experimental and theoretical research in elementary particle physics and in those fields that make use of its synchrotron radiation facilities, including biology, chemistry, geology, material science and electrical engineering. This includes the development of new techniques in particle acceleration and detection, and of synchrotron radiation sources and associated instrumentation. The Center is operated as a national user facility for the Department of Energy by Stanford University.
Organizational Mission
The Business Application Support (BAS) functional area at
SLAC provides computing services to the Business Services Division and Human
Resources Department. We are responsible for software development and
maintenance of the PeopleSoft® applications and consultation to customers with
their computer-related tasks. Our areas of support include Human
Resources, Payroll, Affirmative Action, Travel, Property Control, Stores
Inventory, Purchasing, Financial Reporting, General Ledger, Accounts Payable,
Accounts Receivable, Budgets, and Labor Distribution. During this review
period, BAS consisted of 8 Software Developers, 2 PeopleSoft® System
Administrators and a Manager.
Names, titles, affiliations
of participants
Clarice Rinard, Manager, Business Application Support of SLAC Computing Services (SCS)
Douglas
P. Kreitz, Assistant Director for Business Services (BSD)
Discussion of Individual
Objectives
To provide outstanding service to our customers that is timely, efficient, accurate, and courteous. Measured by customer survey and customer comments and interviews.
To lead and participate in the successful implementation and ongoing maintenance of SLAC’s Business Information System (integrated business software is by PeopleSoftâ). Measured by adherence to schedule and successful planned upgrades and enhancements.
Assumptions:
Ongoing (Automated) Monitoring of BIS Usage
Data are automatically collected to determine trends in BIS usage. Through this automated data gathering, we are able to better understand the growth in use and contact our users for information on how we can better serve their needs. Beginning in March 2000, SLAC acquired a more sophisticated software to accurately measure website activity. We continue to see an upward trend in use of the BIS website.
Findings:
Using our automated data gathering system, we continue to have valuable
information on the number of requests for information as well – this is an
indicator of frequency of usage on each visit. We then use this
information along with how our customers respond to questions on the usefulness
of the information being sought.
When we combine these data, we have a more complete picture of how well the BIS is serving the SLAC community. The following chart summarizes the BIS request activity.
Findings:
Overall user traffic at the BIS
web site is averaging 1,098 visits per day with a daily average of 4,994
requests for information. Reports
from users indicate that the system is being used more widely and has been
accepted as a rapid means of obtaining information.
We will continue to sample user
activity and refine our sampling protocols over time.
Deliver accurate, on-line cost information as early in
the month as possible.
As FY2000 progressed, accurate
financial data routinely became available to users by the 5th working
day (or sooner) of each month. This
ability to regularly deliver accurate financial data to our customers so quickly
is a highlight of our customer service efforts.
We can credit improved internal processes and daily validation of the
financial data throughout the month for this consistent performance throughout
this rating period.
Discussion: As the data demonstrate, our efforts at providing a system that is timely, reliable, and accurate are paying off. We are pleased to report that we are now able to deliver the required information in a most economical manner. Given the majority of customer comments received to date, we are encouraged with our progress and continue striving to meet their needs.
Electronic Time and Effort Entry:
Our efforts at implementing a new Electronic (On-line) Time
and Effort Entry system was put on temporary “hold” during this past year.
We lost key programming staff to hiring outside of SLAC. This led us to
focus on a search for commercial vendors who might offer us a useful turnkey
system. The SLAC Electronic Time & Effort Entry System (SETEES) was
being designed to provide a simple way for all employees to enter and review
time and effort sheets via one or more web-based forms.
Recent developments in the web-based PeopleSoft® Release
8.0 open it to possible consideration since we are using PeopleSoft® in other
areas. Now that we have the necessary information on commercial systems,
we are in the process of a make-or-buy analysis to see which approach is most
efficient and cost-effective.
Our goal now is to have the system in use by the fourth
quarter of FY 2001.
Upgrade to Release 7.5 in PeopleSoft Financials
We began FY2000 by launching a massive move to upgrade to
Release 7.5 in PeopleSoft® Financials. This was a complex upgrade of all
modules and required planning and testing throughout the year. Our goal
was to go “live” with Version 7.5 by the end of the fiscal year. Due
to unavoidable delays, our implementation date had to be moved 1.5 months
forward to mid-November.
Key reasons for moving our go-live date were: (1) The
PeopleSoft® upgrade application was not properly written (many “bugs”) and
therefore, numerous complications were introduced by the vendor software itself.
(2) The “PeopleSoft® Upgrade Lab” we hired to assist with the initial steps
did a faulty “install” of the system, which cost us ~2 months delay.
(3) The loss of one key programmer just before the test move to production
caused a break in continuity and some additional delay.
Notable Accomplishments in FY 2000
The overall BIS/BAS system continues to be refined and
improved. The following are a few
examples of accomplishments in FY 2000:
Implementation
of the Training Administration module of PeopleSoft® Human Resources
Implementation
of Citrix (WTS) for the Financial Release 7.5 applications. We have been
using Citrix for financials all year in development associated with the upgrade.
On-line Cost Reports – we
successfully launched the capability for managers to see costs in the format
used in our legacy system (printout format) in late FY 1999 and that function is
now more refined and useful.
Many more links to various
services and useful forms – Security, Property Management, Travel, Accounting
Forms, Personnel Forms. All of these are easier to find and more useful
according to recent customer feedback.
The forms on the Property Control
web pages are now greatly improved and much easier to fill out.
We are pleased to report that the following initiatives
are well under way to address customer needs as well. Full implementation
is planned for FY2001.
We have launched several
initiatives to help Division Planners manipulate their financial data – one
application that is being used successfully is BRIO. Even more
importantly, we are “cleaning” and organizing the sets of data elements in
the financials database – this will go a long way to improve the usability of
our data. Once we have completed that critical step, we will provide
additional web-based (and printable) report formats for all managers to use.
Although we have streamlined a
lot of the search capabilities for Stores, our “to do” list has a more
complete search tool and use of acronyms to aid users.
Overall Performance
Customer satisfaction:
Overall customer satisfaction
continues to be high based on feedback we receive from our customers and from
the reduction of “trouble calls” received. We are continuing to give
attention to the improvement in delivery systems and better reporting formats.
Many of the “could be improved” customer comments have been acted upon and
improvements have been made.
We will sponsor ongoing user
surveys in the FY 2001 period to monitor customer satisfaction and determine
needs for enhancements.
Cost/Efficiency:
The BIS project continues to be
conducted with mostly SLAC staff, selecting people with skills and knowledge
appropriate for their role and distributing the workload to allow people to
concentrate on their areas of specialty. The advantage of having
well-trained in-house staff means we are less dependent on outside consultants
and programmers as we move into the future.
Documentation
1)
Documentation is available on request
Root-Cause Analysis
We continue to grow in our
expertise in using the PeopleSoft system and in understanding the complexities
of delivering data over the web. With two exceptions, we have been able to
maintain our current staff in spite of the lure of the “dot.com” companies
just outside our door. Our staff’s dedication has enhanced our
productivity and ability to continue to deliver an excellent, and
easy-to-access, Business Information System to the SLAC community.
Barrier(s) to Improvement
With the high demand for skilled programmers and other technical staff in the Bay Area, a major barrier has been the recruitment of needed talent. Fortunately, we have been able to link into the market and successfully filled most vacant positions and retained our current staff during this year. The loss of two key individuals to outside employers did take some toll in our upgrade efforts and production enhancements to the on-line time and effort reporting system.
Recognized areas of improvement
The BAS staff, in excellent
coordination with the financial staff of BSD, continues to successfully deliver
accurate and timely information to our users. This success continues to be
achieved through much hard work of many in the Accounting area of BSD.
Whenever possible, we have added
enhancements to the BIS website in response to user feedback. The BIS
website continues to be a model for using web technology to get the information
into the hands of the research and business administration community quickly and
accurately. To our knowledge, no other DOE laboratory has such a complete
system in full operation.
Goals for FY2001
Complete the implementation of PeopleSoft Financials Version 7.5 in the first Quarter of FY 2001.
Implement on-line time and effort reporting at the earliest possible date.
Upgrade PeopleSoft® Human Resources to Release 8.0.
Implement the “Recruit Workforce” module of PeopleSoft® Human Resources.
Continue to use customer feedback and other indicators to improve customer service.
Continue to deliver accurate, on-line cost information as early in the month as possible.