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iStar: Unconventional In Every Way

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Session Number: 27362
Track: General Interest
Sub-Categorization: None
Session Type: Case Study
Presenter: Marian Burkhart (Lone Star College System)
Co-presenter: Shah Ardalan (Lone Star College System)
Co-presenter: Robert Tidwell (Lone Star College System)

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Target Audience: All
Audience Level: General
Level of Customization: None or N/A
Project Phase: N/A
Project Go Live: Q4 2009
Version Presenting: N/A
Product: PeopleSoft
CPE Eligible: No

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With almost 60,000 students and a near 15% increase in student population, Lone Star College System recognized that only an innovative and unconventional approach to replacing its ERP system would allow it to prosper, let alone survive, its phenomenal growth. Organizational and business drivers include a focused attention to student success and the goal of becoming the premier college system in the nation. In partnership with Gartner, Inc., Lone Star completed a comprehensive review, evaluation and selection of Oracle’s PeopleSoft as its new ERP system in just under 90 days. Aggressive contract negotiations and executive decisions were efficiently done in 4 weeks. A project plan to implement the full suite of applications in 18 months quickly followed. This innovative Lone Star (iStar) project is changing the paradigm of how colleges are focusing on operational excellence. Hear how “moving at the speed of Lone Star” allowed the college system to continue this momentum and implement PeopleSoft Financials in a mere 6 months. Campus involvement, Board and executive support, strategic budget and contract negotiations, change management, backfill and training strategies will be shared. The best and effective practices in a system-wide approach to run a fully clustered high-availability (99.999%) system for all five colleges will also be presented.