''The work of the Project ADAPT Process Design team comprises the heart of Phase II (9/97-1/99) of the project. Their drive to redesign the processes and core financial systems for Harvard is one of the most important administrative efforts ever undertaken by the university,'' says Executive Director Peter Segall.

The work of the Process Design team -- over 30 individuals -- with Harvard's schools and departments is the key effort of the next few months at ADAPT, and its four subteams are led by individuals who bring to the job great expertise and extensive experience with the Harvard community:

1) The Chart of Accounts team is led by Nicole Sears, who has worked at Harvard for six and a half years, most recently in the Finance and Accounting department of the Financial Administration. Nicole has been working at ADAPT since last April, and she is now managing a team of eight people who are redesigning Harvard's new financial coding structure. The new chart structure supports the work of the general ledger by providing the basis for the organization, summarization, reporting and control over all of Harvard's financial transactions.

2) Drusilla Pratt-Otto is leading the effort to redesign Harvard's general ledger, which incorporates the concepts of encumbering, inquiry and reporting into one on-line financial information system. Drusilla is a CPA who came to Harvard in 1997 after serving as Chief Financial Officer for a venture capital partnership located in Boston and Palo Alto, and she is working with a team of seven individuals on the general ledger design.

3) Harvard's new purchasing and accounts payable processes will enable schools to purchase, encumber funds and approve payment. For many purchases, on-line purchase order (PO) screens replace paper vouchers and provide status tracking from the point of initial PO entry up to and including the issuance of payment to the supplier. Team lead Kellie Lucy, who is managing a team of eight people, is a sixteen year veteran of Harvard who most recently was the Manager of Accounts Payable and Cash Management for the Central Administration. Bill Hoyt, Director of the Financial Administration's Procurement Department, says, ''The new system will nicely complement the new Purchasing Card program and offer great benefits to Harvard. Most of the work involved in purchasing (approvals, funds checking and encumbering) will be done up-front, resulting in fewer overspent accounts, better relations and more effective negotiation with vendors. Status tracking will become a welcome feature since it eliminates the 'black holes' in the accounts payable process.''

4) The ADAPT prototype effort, led by the entire Process Design team, is examining the processing and underlying accounting capability of the new Oracle financial system. The team is currently testing a version of the system that includes test data from a sample of schools and units, including Harvard Business School, Harvard School of Public Health, Faculty of Arts and Sciences Core, Harvard University Libraries and others. The Process Design team's goal is to have this ''limited'' version of the system ready by the end of April.

''Some weeks are real killers, with long hours and some weekend work as well.'' Nevertheless, Pratt-Otto expressed sentiments shared by all Process Design team members when she said recently, ''Working on this project at Harvard has been a great challenge, and it is providing a uniquely gratifying experience. We all feel proud of our effort to create a high-quality and cost-effective management information system that is both meeting the diverse needs of the Harvard community and also carrying us into the 21st century.''

 

---

Copyright 1998 President and Fellows of Harvard College