More than 350 members of the Rutgers community joined the Cornerstone Open Forum held on September 26.
The event included a recap of the accomplishments, status, and next steps for the major elements of the Cornerstone portfolio of projects: Human Resources/Payroll Transformation (HR/P); Chart of Accounts (Phase 2 or “COA2”); Scarlet Journey; Student Experience Improvement Initiative (SEII); and Concur Travel and Expense.
The Forum was hosted by Michele Norin, senior vice president and chief information officer, and John Fahey, vice president, University Finance and Administration operations and project executive.
The speakers addressed Cornerstone updates, including the six-month extension of the HR/P “go-live” date from January to July 2025. The extension was approved by university leadership after the project team identified several items that required additional design, configuration, and testing.
Other project updates included:
- HR/P: On the day of the Cornerstone Forum, the project team began the third round of systems integration testing, or SIT, on October 1, with about 45 systems to integrate. Future-state business process review will start on October 7.
- Concur Travel and Expense: From the July 2024 launch through September 13, a total of 6,522 expense reports were processed and 3,332 trips were booked by members of the university community using the new travel and expense management system.
- Scarlet Journey: From August 1 through September 16, Rutgers received nearly 14,400 first-year applicants via the Common App, on-par with applications from the previous academic year.
- SEII: The project charter and project management plan, which defines the vision, mission, and guiding principles for building the Student Information System and how the team will work with partners to accomplish project goals, are completed.
“These initiatives aren’t about project teams working in a bubble,” said Fahey. “They’re engaging the help of partners from across the university.”
The presentation slides and a recording of the Forum are available for review on the Cornerstone website. If you attended the Forum, please take a brief survey to share your feedback so we can improve future sessions.
The next Cornerstone Open Forum is tentatively planned for December, so stay tuned for more details. In the meantime, if you have any questions about Cornerstone projects, please contact us.