The year 2005 will be remembered as a time of new beginnings for North Dakota state government. North Dakota did what some nay-sayers said couldn’t be done—in just under four years, the state implemented the Financial and Human Resources components of PeopleSoft’s Enterprise software. The software implementation affected 58 state agencies and the eleven campuses of the North Dakota University System (NDUS). It’s estimated that, when fully implemented statewide, the new program will replace as many as 100 existing software systems and databases. And full implementation is not far off for Student Administration, the third component and the one containing Student Financials, Student Records and Student Financial Aid.

According to long time RMASFAA member Scott Mahar, Director of Student Administration for the NDUS Higher Education Computer Network, managing such a large undertaking in such a short period of time has only been possible because of great people. An amazing amount of effort has been expended by upwards of 50 people who have been dedicated to the project and by many more “Subject Matter Experts” who have traveled long roads, early in the morning and late at night, to offer their experience and expertise.

Of course, with Human Resources and Financial being new on some of our campuses, many employees were holding their breath when their first paychecks were printed on PeopleSoft. Fortunately, for most of us, there was no difference—except we had to learn to read a new earnings statement. But then, for the people who’ve been receiving statements generated by the same systems every month for more than the past twenty years, the change proved to an adjustment that brought many questions for Payroll to answer.

For Financial Aid offices at the largest campuses, January 22, 2005, was the day we’ve been waiting for—the day the last four schools started receiving ISIRs in PeopleSoft. The implementation plan for Financial Aid, Student Records and Student Financials is fairly simple—they finish out the current year in their existing legacy computer system, and do almost everything for the 05-06 school year in PeopleSoft. Because of that, many of the staff in these Financial Aid offices will see little difference until mid spring when award letters go out. But with “just in time” training, they should be ready for the challenges of a new aid year in a new financial aid program. While we know everything won’t go perfectly, seven schools have gone before to clear the way. The colleagues at these schools will be a valuable source of expertise for the PeopleSoft greenhorns!

With the implementation of the third component, Student Administration, a total of about 11,500 employees and 52,480 students will be using the system across state government and higher education. The system may not be done growing, however, as the contract with PeopleSoft allows its use by local governments and school districts without additional license fees. As a result, our unique state-wide Enterprise system may become even more inclusive…who said it couldn’t be done?