TRUSTEES: ARMS to Complete Computer System Design

A.R.M.S. PROJECT TO COMPLETE COMPUTER SYSTEM DESIGN

COLUMBUS -- The Ohio State University Board of Trustees 
on Friday (2/2) authorized spending of up to $9 million to 
complete design of the university's computerized financial 
and human resource management systems and to do the initial 
software installation.

University officials told the Board that the 
Administrative Resource Management System (A.R.M.S.) 
project, when fully implemented next year, will generate a 
savings in staff time and labor of $10 million to $15 
million per year.  The savings will help Ohio State recover 
the cost of the project within three to four years.

Much of the savings will be in percentages of staff 
members' time rather than whole positions, said William J. 
Shkurti, vice president for finance.

"Those kinds of savings are difficult to recapture 
centrally, so we're leaving a lot of the decisions up to the 
individual colleges, departments and support units as to how 
to restructure," he said.  "We will use the next several 
months to engage the University community in a comprehensive 
planning effort to address these issues."

Although job losses due to the streamlining processes 
will be minimal, most employees working with human resources 
and financial systems will face significant changes in what 
they do and how they do it, said Linda Tom, vice president 
for human resources.

The Office of Human Resources will assist managers 
during the two- to three-year A.R.M.S. implementation.  Job 
losses will be minimized by giving careful attention to 
handling any reduction in positions through attrition and 
reassignments.  In addition, human resources will encourage 
units to consider opportunities for development, such as 
examine job sharing and cross training, that will help staff 
develop more broad-based skills that are transferable from 
one position or unit to another.

Upgraded human resources and financial technology will 
be accompanied by a retooling of administrative processing, 
which will result in other benefits to faculty, staff and 
students, including:

-- Less bureaucracy:  Processing and administrative 
time will be cut in half for more than 100,000 annual 
personnel-related transactions for faculty, staff and 
student employees.

-- More timely decisions:  Financial data will be 
available the next day instead of four to six weeks later.

-- Less paper:  Documentation will be electronic, which 
will eliminate more than 250,000 pages per year of paper 
financial reports.

-- Less duplication:  There will be greatly reduced 
need to enter the same data two and three times as is done 
now in reconciling information across different systems.

-- Easier access to information:  Every unit will have 
access to central records through a desktop computer.

-- Improved abilities: Deans and chairs will be able to 
more easily develop budgets, track expenditures and adapt to 
policy changes.

Once A.R.M.S. is on-line, better academic support 
systems could be added.  An accounts payable system, for 
example, could provide faster reimbursement for travel 
expenses, while a new student information system could 
provide more rapid enrollment and class roster information.

"This project is a significant challenge and 
opportunity," said Shkurti.  "The goal is not just to save 
money, but to help the University better achieve its 
academic mission.  The second goal is to do this in the most 
cost-effective manner possible."

Had the university done nothing to upgrade its systems, 
it would have incurred significant costs because the 
existing systems are out of date and increasingly expensive 
to maintain.  Even modifications such as reprogramming 
current databases to accept the year "2000," would have 
joined with adverse audit findings, systems failures and 
wasted time to cost Ohio State millions of dollars.

In the spring, university leaders will propose a plan 
to fund the $20-million to $24-million implementation costs, 
which include training and equipment.  These costs will be 
recovered through a charge-back to the colleges, the 
University Medical Center and other general fund and 
earnings units. 

Details are still being worked out, Shkurti said, but 
charges will be limited to no more than three years and no 
more than 1 percent of unit budgets on average in any one 
year.

Continuing costs for hardware, software and training 
will be between $1.5 million and $2.2 million but "the 
overall goal is to keep those costs fundable through 
continuing savings," Shkurti said, so there will be no 
ongoing cost to colleges and academic support units for 
central maintenance of the new system.

The funding request on Friday marked the fourth time 
A.R.M.S. project administrators have appeared before the 
board.  The first request provided for a needs assessment, 
where more than 2,000 faculty and staff helped to identify 
such inefficiencies as a three-week average processing time 
for most financial and human resource forms, up to 14 
different forms used for a single type of transaction and up 
to six approval signatures required on many of these forms.  
Later requests provided for selection of the technology to 
be used to implement the system and to begin the design 
work.

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Contact:  William J. Shkurti, 292-9232; Linda Tom, 292-4164; 
Edward Ray, senior vice provost and chief information 
officer, 292-5881; or John Ellinger, A.R.M.S. project 
director, 688-3315.
Written by David Bhaerman.


[Submitted by: Von Reid-Vargas (ereid@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu)
               
Mon, 5 Feb 1996 08:34:31 -0500]
All documents are the responsibility of their originator.