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SF PAG Goals Mid-Year Review

By Buddy Combs posted 10-03-2013 08:00 AM

  

Since the Alliance 2013 Conference the Student Financials PAG members continue to work on the goals set out for 2013 - 2014.  Listed below are the SF Goals with the details of the activities and progress that have occrred since Alliance.  We welcome your input and feel free to make comments here on the SF PAG Blog, or share your thoughts on the SF Listserve to keep us all engaged. 

SF PAG GOALS 2013-2014

1.Provide a positive line of communication with Oracle on current issues specific to Student Financials, while considering future development opportunities and industry trends.

  • Held monthly conference calls with Oracle, discussing status of bundles and other Oracle development.
  • Developed an ‘SF PAG Priorities and Quick Fixes’ spreadsheet. The spreadsheet is reviewed monthly with Oracle for status updates.
  • Items from the list that Oracle delivered to date are:
    • Veteran’s Benefits functionality (result of the VA Benefits Whitepaper)
    • PET items:
    • 2204 - AP refunding Address line 2
    • 1849 - Void Receipt

 2.Facilitate conversations with Oracle to implement mandatory software updates to comply with regulations and deadlines impacting colleges and universities such as PCI compliance, 1098-T, HELP loans, and other global government regulations.

  • Provided business requirements/summary to Oracle of outstanding PET issues on 1098T reporting.
  • Worked with Oracle on ANZ legislative requirements for 2013-2014.
  • Facilitated discussion as needed during monthly conference calls.

3.Continue partnership with the Student Financials community and Oracle.

a.Engage the SF community to use the HEUG Product Enhancement Tracker to communicate their ideas for enhancements and new features needed in the product. Encourage users to vote and comment on submitted issues in order for the PAG to have timely information on which issues are most important. Teach the SF community how to use Enhancement Tracker.

    • Sent monthly Product Enhancement Tracker updates to the SF Forum listserv.
    • Presented an HEUG Webinar ‘Student Financials and the HEUG Product Enhancement Tracker’ in May, 2013.

b.Contribute to the development of the SF product through participation in customer guide/focus groups and other Oracle initiated teams, on topics such as the CS/HR split, self-service enhancements, and delegated access. 

  •  
    • Participation in a Customer Review for the CS Task Management feature and feasibility for our Enrollment and Financial Agreements priority enhancement.
    • Participation in Focus Group for CS Mobile Functionality. This was primarily targeted for student participation; however, PAG involvement was welcomed and appreciated. There has been one call to date

 c.Participate in developer/strategy questionnaires and design validation, for items in future releases, such as Billing and Veteran’s Benefits processing improvements.

  •  
    • Finalized and delivered the Student Billing Whitepaper to the HEUG board in Sept., 2013.
    • Reviewed Oracle's designs for Veteran's Benefits functionality  

4.Continue to work with cross-PAG teams to provide the best input to Oracle on cross-functional business processes.

  • Worked with the Student Records PAG and Oracle to agree on a solution for PET item 1497 – Tuition Calc on Term Withdrawal.
  • Worked with the General Ledger PAG to document/escalate a solution for PET item 1250 – New fields on SF_ACCTG_LN.

5.Offer educational opportunities for the SF community by presenting webinars. Seek out SF community experts to assist with compiling best practices and documenting business requirements for SF Issues list priorities. Provide information to the SF community related to new features and product issues.

  • Submitted bimonthly SF PAG updates to the SF Forum listserv with articles on HEUG activities, Alliance Updates, Oracle Updates and SF Community success stories.
  • Presented an HEUG Webinar ‘Student Financials and the HEUG Product Enhancement Tracker’ in May, 2013. Currently planning for two more webinars covering Related Content and Collections.
  • Blogged monthly on the HEUG SF Blog to highlight information relevant to SF community.
  • Monitored the SF listserv to make certain all questions received a response.
  • Participated in monthly Alliance 2014 planning conference calls.

6.Work with the HEUG Board as needed:

  • Provided volunteers to work with the HEUG Board on initiatives such as the improvements of the “Institutional Profile” pages.

 

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