WHITE PAPER
ON
ENTERPRISE PROJECT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
FOR
MINNESOTA STATE COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICERS CONFERENCE
November 2012
Purpose: Provide Chief Financial Officers (CFO) an overview of enterprise project
management system (EPMS) replacement process.
Background: The system office is responsible for oversight, and in some cases the direct
management, of all facilities design and construction work that takes place on campuses of the
Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. Construction and repair contracts are funded
from a variety of sources, including but not limited to general obligation bonds, college and
university operating budgets, gifts, grants, the revenue fund and other authorized accounts.
In 2007, Minnesota State Colleges and Universities selected a project management software
system by Skire named Unifier and three pilot projects were rolled out. It grew to total of 100
projects in five years involving only one-half of the institutions. The application’s functionality
and costs have led system leadership to seek a replacement application.
Goal: This project is to select and implement a new software package to manage construction
projects across the MnSCU system. The goal of EPMS is to address requirements in System
Procedure 6.5.5:
“The system office shall develop necessary procedures and systems to administer,
monitor and report on all facilities construction projects funded by capital, HEAPR,
Revenue Fund or other major sources.”
The system office provides oversight on hundreds of design and construction projects with a
cumulative active project budget exceeding $200 million, necessitating collaboration between a
diverse group of stakeholders throughout the enterprise. The level of internal project
management capability varies from institution to institution, requiring a prospective EPMS to be
simple and adaptable to different working situations, to include users both internal and external
to the MnSCU system.
Process: A Steering Committee and Task Force were established to select and implement EPMS
through the following phases:


Project initiation
RFP creation
October-December 2012
January-March 2013



Vendor selection
Project implementation
Pilot projects rollout
April-July 2013
August-December 2013
January 2014
In the current phase, project initiation, the objective is to finalize charter, review lessons learned,
identify milestone dates, determine funding structure for implementation and ongoing
hosting/maintenance, and identify measurement criteria for project success.
College and university facilities and finance leadership participation will be actively sought
through the project. Because it is important for EPMS to address needs of all project members,
the EPMS Task Force will rely on feedback from sub-task force committees for finance, vendors,
program managers, IT and contract negotiation. The project has advanced through the
establishing charter, committees; reviewing lessons learned and is currently finalizing selection
steps and schedule. Details on the upcoming phases will be provided by the end of this year.
Submitted by Heidi Myers, System Director – Design and Construction
EPMS key milestone events
Sub task force
Project
phase
Milestone events
Task force
Kick off meeting
Review and finalize charter
Identify sub task force and members
Review lessons learned
Determine selection process steps and schedule
Identify measures of success
Review previous RFP
Determine funding structure
10/18/2012
11/15/2012
11/15/2012
11/15/2012
12/6/2012
12/6/2012
12/6/2012
RFP
creation
Identify deliverables
Determine rollout phasing
Determine IT interface
Finalize RFP
2/7/2013
2/21/2013
2/21/2013
3/21/2013
Vendor
selection
Issue RFP, info meeting, Q/A, proposals due (45d)
Review proposal and shortlist (15d)
Interviews and final selection (30d)
Negotiate contract and execute (30d)
5/15/2013
5/31/2013
6/28/2013
7/26/2013
Kick off meeting
Set up funding structure
Set up IT interface
Customize
Transfer data
Identify pilot projects
8/5/2013
11/4/2013
11/4/2013
12/3/2013
12/3/2013
11/4/2013
Rollout pilot projects
Test pilot projects (3m)
1/3/2014
4/1/2014
Project
initiation
Project
implementation
Pilot project
rollout
Finance
Vendor
12/14/2012
12/14/2012
11/16/2012
12/14/2012
12/14/2012
12/14/2012
12/14/2012
11/16/2012
12/14/2012
12/14/2012
12/14/2012
12/14/2012
12/14/2012
Program
managers
12/3/2012
Contract
negotiation
12/14/2012
11/16/2012
12/14/2012
12/14/2012
12/14/2012
12/14/2012
10/18/2012
12/14/2012
12/14/2012
12/14/2012
12/14/2012
12/14/2012
IT
12/14/2012
Steering
committee
12/4/2012
12/4/2012
12/4/2012
12/4/2012
1/13/2013
1/13/2013
1/13/2013
2/15/2013
2/15/2013
2/15/2013
2/15/2013
3/15/2013
5/31/2013
6/28/2013
8/5/2013
11/4/2013
2/15/2013
2/15/2013
3/15/2013
2/15/2013
2/15/2013
2/15/2013
3/15/2013
3/15/2013
3/15/2013
2/22/2013
2/22/2013
2/22/2013
3/29/2013
5/31/2013
6/28/2013
5/31/2013
6/28/2013
5/31/2013
6/28/2013
5/31/2013
6/28/2013
7/26/2013
7/26/2013
8/5/2013
8/5/2013
11/4/2013
12/3/2013
12/3/2013
12/3/2013
1/3/2014
4/1/2014
8/5/2013
11/4/2013
11/4/2013
12/3/2013
12/3/2013
11/4/2013
1/3/2014
4/1/2014
12/13/2013
11/15/2013
4/1/2014
Revised November 19, 2012
LEGEND
Meeting scheduled