Key Project Dates
Project Updates
14 February 2013
We are just over a week away from going live with timesheets and activity in the CASPA system is growing fast! More than 500 contracts have been created, approved, accepted and loaded into the HR system since CASPA went live for the first time in November 2012. Of these contracts, one third were accepted outside of the standard University hours of 8:30am-5:30pm. A significant number of contracts are also created or approved after hours, indicating that CASPA is providing flexibility that University staff are welcoming.
Much positive feedback has been received from Contract Coordinators and users across all Faculties and Divisions, some even publicly sharing their experience on Yammer! Information sessions targeted at casual staff members, their supervisors and Timesheet Validators have been well attended at all North Terrace, Roseworthy and Waite, with more North Terrace campus road shows scheduled in the coming weeks. Nearly 200 Contract Coordinators have undertaken system training and many have also attended workshops to explore impacts specific to their local areas. User List Coordinators from all areas have also received training and are now able to manage staffing changes
The project team have successfully resolved the most significant outstanding system issues and have also developed a few enhancements, including improvements to the the timesheet interface for casual staff which reflects the feedback from Phase 1 users. Five cycles of CASPA timesheets have all resulted in successful payments to casual staff and the University of Adelaide is eagerly anticipating the final step in the transition to fully automated, paperless casual contracts and timesheets!
10 January 2013
The Steering Committee have given the final green light to proceed with CASPA go-live on Monday 14 January. All significant defects have been resolved and while some remaining defects and enhancements addressing timesheet functionality and user interface continue to be addressed, it is expected that several of these will be resolved prior to the timesheet component going live on Saturday, 23 February.
Many Contract Coordinators have now received full training and are ready to commence entering contracts. The start date of CASPA contracts must not be earlier than 23 February 2013; all current paper-based casual contracts active at that date will be terminated in the HR System so only CASPA contracts will be active from 23 February.
Contract Coordinators who have not yet booked into sessions can still do so via the ITS training bookings website. User List Coordinators can also book into training here. Further to the Faculty/Divisional Road Shows, a series of general Road Shows are scheduled and will provide general information and a brief demonstration of the system. Schools and Branches are advised to encourage casual staff to attend, particularly those who will be expected to manage their own timesheets online. Supervisors and Timesheet Validators of casual staff are also encouraged to attend so that they can gain an awareness of the system. Click here for further details and road show registrations.
Congratulations to the CASPA team, HR and ITS branches, and the University of Adelaide on this significant milestone!
December 2012
Nearly 100 contracts have been successfully created as part of Phase 1 implementation of CASPA. The first round of timesheets have also been submitted and validated, with the pay now finalised in the HR system and awaiting transfer to casual staff bank accounts later this week. The user experience has been positive for the most part, with few issues being raised.
With many defects that existed at go-live now closed and several others soon to be resolved, the project team are on track to roll out CASPA to the wider University in early 2013. There is still a lot of work being undertaken to improve the system performance, particularly in the BPW Work list which is the key tool for Contract Approval and Timesheet Validation.
The CASPA Steering Group are due to convene on December 19 to make a decision on whether the system is sufficiently robust and ready to be implemented throughout the entire University on 14 January.
20 November 2012
On 7 November, the contract component of CASPA went live with the Phase 1 group. The Elder Conservatorium of Music, Professional and Continuing Education, Human Resources and the Infrastructure, Property and Technology branch all commenced entering contracts into CASPA for existing casuals. There were some minor teething issues, however for the most part the process of contract creation, approval, acceptance by the casual staff member, and data loading into the HR system all transpired smoothly.
A total of 79 contracts have so far been created and approved and most have been accepted by the casuals. On Saturday the 17th, the Timesheet component went live and for the first time in the University of Adelaide, we are seeing casual staff able to enter their hours online! Dentistry will soon commence entering contracts, and casual staff in Phase 1B will begin using timesheets on 29 December.
In the meantime, work is still progressing to improve the system functionality and performance in readiness for Phase 2. The project team identified a risk with the planned go-live date of 8 January coinciding with the peak week of online enrolments, which may put strain on system resources and potentially impact on performance across the board. The CASPA contract component go-live date has therefore been moved to Monday, 14 January. This still allows six full weeks for areas to transfer existing contracts and create new Semester 1 contracts in time for the Timesheet go-live date of 23 February.
From next week, Contract Coordinators can begin booking themselves into training sessions which will commence in December. Those who participated in User Acceptance Testing, and are more familiar with CASPA, are encouraged to take the first spots and undertake their training before the end of 2012. Please visit the course bookings page after 26 November to book a session.
November 2012
User Acceptance Testing commenced in late September and continued through until 25 October. Nearly 50 staff from around the University and Human Resources took part in testing, with a total number of 270 scripts being tested. Several issues and defects were raised, which were then categorised as requiring fixes by Phase 1 or Phase 2. Most of the Phase 1 fixes have now been deployed and retested, with only a handful of low level defects remaining.
As a result, the CASPA Steering Group met on 1 November and approved CASPA Phase 1 Go-live as scheduled for 7 November. As part of Phase 1, following Schools and Branches will begin using CASPA to create contracts:
- Elder Conservatorium of Music (excluding AMEB and CASM)
- Professional and Continuing Education
- Infrastructure, Property and Technology
- Human Resources
- School of Dentistry
All casual staff in these areas will be using CASPA online timesheet functionality from 17 November, with the exception of the School of Dentistry who will begin using timesheet from 29 December onwards. Almost all Contract Coordinators from Phase 1 Schools and Branches have now undertaken comprehensive training and are ready to begin entering contracts.
To prepare the University for Phase 2 roll-out, Road Shows and Transition Workshops will be held across Faculties and Divisions between November to January, and the next round of Contract Coordinator training sessions will commence in December. User Lists defining Contract Coordinators, Budget Approvers and Delegated Authorities will soon be sent to Faculty Finance Managers to disseminate amongst Schools and Branches for update/review, and these will be expected back in December.
September 2012
Middleware testing is running smoothly and the CASPA team are pleased to provide confirmation of the proposed schedule. Key dates from the schedule are highlighted above.
Faculty Finance Managers have now been asked to provide a list of nominees for User Acceptance Testing. We are seeking 2-3 testers from each Faculty and Division who will be able to commit to several full days of testing throughout the UAT period. The more involvement we can generate in the testing phase, the more confidence you can have in the CASPA system as we move towards implementation, so we hope to see many of you at UAT in September and October.
In the coming weeks, the CASPA team will also be working with Phase 1 schools and areas to firm up transition to go-live plans for these early adopters. The scheduling of roadshows, workshops and training for all areas will also be on the agenda; keep and eye on your inbox and the CASPA calendar as we will provide more details about these important events in the coming months.
The reference group can also expect an invitation shortly to the next group meeting, which is likely to be held soon after UAT.
July 2012
Over the past few months, the CASPA project team have been focusing their efforts on a number of critical tasks. Functional testing to ensure that the recent PeopleSoft upgrade has not had any negative impact on CASPA functionality is nearing completion. The University has meanwhile invested in a new middleware environment, which will provide the foundation for a number of applications including CASPA.
The task of applying the CASPA logic (code) to this new middleware environment is tracking well and is expected to be complete by August 10. This crucial milestone is being closely monitored. Testing will commence in mid August to confirm whether performance and stability are at an acceptable level to proceed with the planned project phases including User Acceptance Testing and deployment.
The Steering Group have approved a new project schedule and, upon achieving the August 10 milestone, the following key dates will be confirmed:
- User Acceptance Testing – scheduled to commence in the final week of September, 2012
- Phase 1 implementation (initial CASPA Go-live in two selected schools) - scheduled for November, 2012
- Phase 2 implementation (roll-out CASPA system to the entire University) - scheduled for January, 2013
The project team continue to engage with the CASPA reference group, with the next meeting planned for August 23. Once the middleware milestone is achieved and the new environment is tested, the team will be able to confirm the new project schedule and begin to work with areas to finalise plans for User Acceptance Testing, training and implementation.
February 2012
CASPA system testing is now underway and will continue through to mid-April. During this testing, members of the project team test the developed solution against the approved functional requirements. System testing will be followed by user acceptance testing (UAT), which we anticipate will take place from April 30th to June 4th. The purpose of UAT is to ensure that the system works from a business perspective according to the agreed requirements. It will be conducted by school and branch staff from across the University and is a great opportunity for staff to gain insight into the new system.
The types of training and support that will be available to assist staff in the transition to CASPA is currently being finalised and will be available from the CASPA home page shortly.
January 2012
Following the completion of the CASPA project review late last year, a new implementation schedule has been determined, which will see the deployment of the contract component occurring in mid-June, allowing time for schools and branches to use the new system to set up casual contracts for those staff due to commence in Semester 2.
The timesheet component is then expected to be deployed at the beginning of July 2012 and only timesheets submitted via the new system will be accepted from this time onwards. The project has made some really strong progress following the Christmas/New Year break and system testing is due to commence imminently.
November 2011
The CASPA project is currently undergoing a review to determine how best to move forward, considering the technical complexities that have been encountered through system testing to date and the impact that these are likely to have upon the resourcing levels required to complete the project.
This review will consider a range of relevant factors including confirming the overall cost of project completion, the day to day governance of the project, how best to support successful transition to ongoing support and the right blend of resources to support the objectives of the project and deliver a high quality system.
We anticipate that the review and subsequent advice to the project sponsor will be finalized within the next few weeks, and that further details concerning the next steps for CASPA will be available after this time. In the meantime, the project team continues to focus upon moving the project forward positively and have achieved some encouraging results in progressing functional testing.
October 2011
The CASPA team have been heavily involved in system testing these past few weeks. This phase of the project has required an extension of timelines due to technical challenges.
We are currently undertaking further detailed analysis to fully understand the impact that these technical challenges are likely to have upon the timing of the wider project schedule. At this stage we advise that user acceptance testing (UAT) will no longer be commencing on 3rd November, but will now be rescheduled to take place after the Christmas/New Year break.
Specific details concerning changes to the roll-out schedule, together with information regarding the training and support that will be available to assist staff in the transition to CASPA are currently being finalised and will be available from the CASPA home page shortly.
September 2011
The CASPA project team continues to work hard as we progress towards our planned go live dates of November 30, 2011 for the contract component and January 4, 2012 for the timesheet component.
CASPA system testing commenced September 16th and will continue through to late October. During this testing, members of the project team test the developed solution against the approved functional requirements. System testing will be followed by user acceptance testing (UAT) which will take place from November 3rd to 25th. The purpose of UAT is to ensure the system works from a business perspective according to the agreed requirements. It will be conducted by school and branch staff from across the University and is a great opportunity for staff to gain insight into the new system.
The types of training and support that will be available to assist staff in the transition to CASPA is currently being finalised and will be available from the CASPA home page shortly.
August 2011
Over the last month, good progress has been made with the CASPA development. The build phase of the project is expected to complete by mid-September and system testing will then commence. User acceptance testing by University staff will take place from early November and planning for this is well underway.
Project team members have been working with user representatives to determine how the University will transition from the current paper-based processes to CASPA when the solution is ready for deployment. To minimise the impact of the transition on University staff, we plan to deploy the contract component in late November. This will allow time for schools and branches to set up CASPA contracts for casuals working in January 2012 prior to the Christmas shutdown. The timesheet component is expected to be deployed at the beginning of January and only CASPA timesheets will be accepted from January 2012 onwards.
During August, the Faculty Finance Managers have been assisting the project in identifying staff who will perform the different CASPA functions after go-live. Project members have also attended a number of school meetings to provide overviews of the CASPA system.
July 2011
As the CASPA system takes shape, the project team have been assessing the impacts of the proposed solution on University staff and the improvements it will provide.
This information has been used to develop the CASPA Training and Support plan which will ensure that CASPA users have the skills and knowledge to use the new system and are adequately supported at go-live. The CASPA user reference group is providing input and feedback on the Training and Support Plan and further details of the training options will be available soon.
June 2011
More than 130 staff from across the university attended CASPA walkthrough sessions earlier this month. These sessions provided staff with an overview of the proposed contract generation and timesheet management processes. Overall the response to the sessions was positive with the majority of respondents agreeing that CASPA will significantly reduce end-to-end contract timeframes and bring substantial improvement to timesheet entry and casual payment processes. Feedback from these sessions is being used to develop the CASPA Training and Support Plan.
The CASPA system build is progressing well and is on schedule to complete in August. Planning for the testing phase of the project is underway with staff involvement in user acceptance testing expected to commence in mid-October.
May 2011
The CASPA system design was recently approved by the project steering committee and work has commenced on building the solution.
From May 30 to June 10, the project team will be conducting a number of 'CASPA Walkthrough' workshops with areas of the University that employ a large number of casuals. During these sessions we will be looking at some screen 'mock ups' and walking through the processes. Feedback from these sessions will assist in planning for roll out of the CASPA system.
April 2011
The design phase of the project is rapidly drawing to a close and it is anticipated that the CASPA solution design will be approved by the Project Board mid-May. Staff from representative schools and branches have been heavily involved in the design of the new system as members of project working groups and their contributions have been appreciated.
Planning for the technical build phase is now complete and development of the CASPA solution will commence shortly. This phase is expected to be completed towards the end of July, 2011.
'CASPA Project Contacts' have now been confirmed for all schools and branches that employ casual staff across the University. These people will act as initial contact and coordination points for the project team for all future project activities.
In late May, we plan to share the details of the proposed solution with a wider group of University staff by conducting 'CASPA Walkthrough' workshops. During these sessions we will look at some screen 'mock ups' and walk through the process flows. These sessions will help confirm that the proposed system will meet business needs and will also provide us with important feedback to assist in planning for training and roll out. CASPA Project Contacts will be asked to organise attendance at these workshops for their business area.
When development and testing of the new system is sufficiently progressed, we will be holding 'sneak peek' sessions for interested staff. Feedback from these sessions will assist in the final planning for transition to the new CASPA system.
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