UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — When SIMBA — Penn State’s System for Integrated Management, Budgeting and Accounting — launched in July 2020, the project that was expected to streamline and upgrade Penn State’s infrastructure also met standards set by University leadership, including being on time and on budget.
On day one of SIMBA deployment, users were able to log in and perform many of their job responsibilities. For the first time, ARL Purchasing and Penn State Purchasing successfully used a shared procurement solution. In addition, the SIMBA team adapted to changes and unexpected challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Most importantly, data was converted from Penn State’s old system, IBIS, to SIMBA, which included over 57,000 assets and more than 100,000 accounts.
“The initial deployment of SIMBA was a great success,” said Michael Büsges, senior director of enterprise projects. “The Penn State SIMBA team and our consultants performed exceedingly well under some very trying circumstances.”
While there have been many positives with SIMBA, University and SIMBA leadership acknowledge this changeover has not always been easy for an institution as complex as Penn State. The team’s ongoing work includes addressing challenges concerning research administration and procurement; and the development of additional and enhanced reporting capabilities.
“We understand that this transition has been challenging as we move to this new system and business processes,” said Mary Lou Ortiz, University budget officer and co-sponsor of the SIMBA project. “University leadership will continue to listen to feedback from all areas and is committed to our SIMBA users as we become more familiar with the system together. We will provide ample support and resources so that every SIMBA user is as comfortable as possible.”
To help soothe the growing pains in grants management and other areas, the SIMBA team, in collaboration with others from across the University, continue to offer training materials and support resources, many of which are housed in the Training & Resources section of the SIMBA website.
A Grants Management (GM) module has been built to incorporate a large amount of master data, which was previously maintained in business area shadow systems. The end result will be a system all research administrators can use uniformly across business areas. In addition, the SIMBA GM team is working on enhancements and adding details to reporting. The goal of the GM team is to begin making these enhancements in January, and a special GM reporting working group is being established to focus on report improvements. Additionally, a myFunds portal working group will begin meeting in mid- to late-January, consisting primarily of faculty who were heavy users of the financial section of the myResearch Portal.
Listening to SIMBA users will be the most important priority going forward as the transition continues. To that end, the SIMBA change management team continues to reach out to users to better understand their needs and their frustrations, and to develop resources to support users as they progress in their knowledge of the new system.
“Implementing SIMBA at our University has provided challenges as many try to learn the new system,” said Joe Doncsecz, associate vice president for finance and corporate controller for Penn State, and co-sponsor with Ortiz. “We recognize the frustrations expressed throughout this adjustment. The Controller’s Office and the SIMBA team are collaborating extensively with the research units to support and improve the transition process; however, we understand there is still much work to be done.”
The SIMBA project team continues to diligently support and improve the experience for end-users while implementing important requirements, including applying mandatory system support applications for optimal system performance and compliance with IRS regulations. Early next year, the SAP Budgeting Planning module will be rolled out, replete with training opportunities for end-users who have been assigned roles within that module.
Visit the SIMBA website to keep up-to-date with all the news, notes and updates from the team.