Overview

Background

The LMP005 project was initiated for to cover project activities aligned to the integration of the Library Management system provided by 3rd party supplier to the University's Finance System e-Financials.

The project covered the development of a one-way feed from Library Management System - Alma to Finance System e-Financials for the update of invoice / purchase order information. The scope included:

• The system must be able to provide integration with the corporate finance system (Advanced Business Solutions eFinancials v4.1). This includes invoices, vendors, fund allocations, chart of accounts.
• The export/import of financial data into eFinancials. The master copy information being retained within the corporate finance system (including supplier information, supplier codes), updates pushed through to the library system to allow purchasing from within the system that automatically updates budget and transaction information within eFinancials.
• Provision of an authorisations solution that is automated, passing tasks for authorisation to the appropriate individuals.
• The system allows for changes to any standing data (e.g. global VAT rates, currency, commitments).

The following requirement was out of scope of the previous LMP005 project. 

• Two way feed between Library Management System - Alma and E-Financials

This means there is currently no sight of Purchase Orders raised in Alma  (with a around (£7.9m) in the eFinancials system) and this requires to be addressed to meet Internal Audit requirements.  This results in the following issues:

• Reconciliation of the systems is challenging and requires manual intervention.  The Internal Audit report from April 2017 identified "reconciliation reports are prepared to highlight variances by cost centre headings.  These reports are reviewed by the Materials Budget Group.  This acts as a partially compensating control in the current absence of an automated reconciliation and utilising current resources.  In order to automate the reconciliation process, it would be necessary to take this forward as a project".  
• Discrepancies arise relating to the lack of commitment figures shown in eFinancials. (Including PO's, annual subscriptions, etc)
• Due to the issues above Committee papers are often left exposed and require resource to manage additional scrutiny.

Scope

It was agreed the structure of this project should be separated into different strands, focusing on areas where development work could be undertaken (i.e. purchase order export and good receipting in Sterling (precedent with SciQuest and EBIS) and others we probably will not (i.e. foreign payments). This project will therefore undertake analysis (viability and feasibility review) to identify the benefits, risks and issues relating to progressing a two way feed between Alma and E-Financials (or other potential future Finance system).

In addition the project will:

• Look at each of the actions required to negate current issues (what can we do now / what has to happen in the future finance system).
• Create a glossary of financial and equivalent library terminologies to support this and any future projects aligned to it.
• Continuations/partially receipted orders.

Out of Scope

• Foreign currency payments and sterling non-VAT.
• Technical options for delivery of the requirements.

It should also be noted this project is separate from the Implementation project which has funding (est. 150 days) identified within the 2018/19 budget.

Objectives and Deliverables

The deliverables are prioritised using the MoSCoW prioritisation method:

M=Must Have; S=Should Have; C=Could Have; W=Want

• (M= has to be satisfied for the final solution to be acceptable in terms of delivery dates, compliance, viability etc.
• S= high-priority requirement that should be included if possible -workarounds may be available
• C= a nice-to-have requirement
• W= want but will not be part of this project)

Benefits

• Support the digital transformation strategy by identifying areas of improvement aligned to available IT infrastructure and requirements for future infrastructure.
• Providing recommendations to improve:
  • Faster processing cycles
  • Reduction in discrepancies
  • Improved account reconciliation
  • Reduction in queries
  • Carbon footprint (reducing paper handling, photocopying, storage and mail handling)

Success Criteria

• Robust Viability and Feasibility reviews identifying the benefits, risks and issues relating to progressing a two way feed between Alma and E-Financials (or other potential future Finance system) enabling informed decisions to be made on potential integration project.
• Identified project requirement, scope, and budget which enables a smooth transfer from analysis to integration project.

Project Milestones

Target Date	Previous Date	Title	Stage	Complete
08-Jun-2018	02-Feb-2018	Planning	Plan	No	view
13-Jul-2018	11-May-2018	Business Analysis	Execute	No	view
10-Aug-2018	25-May-2018	Delivery	Deliver	No	view
01-Sep-2018	08-Jun-2018	Closure	Close	No	view