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April 2006
SVU wraps up a month of RICEFW workshops
The SAP Version Update (SVU) team hasn’t lost their momentum this season. They continue to spring forward toward their fall release scheduled for October of 2006. The SVU Quality Assurance Team has been focusing their attention on holding RICEFW (Reports, Interfaces, Conversions, Extensions, Forms and Workflow) workshops with the Core and Extended team. The team conducted discussions surrounding functional and technical impacts to custom development objects in SAP, Activity Use Cases, and functional impacts on their list of activities. The SVU Process Team recently conducted Conference Room Pilot (CRP) 1 testing and, looking ahead, developed plans for CRP 2 testing.
Right now, the SVU team is focused on creating a detailed Communication Plans for the Realization Phase activities with Project and Center Change management teams. Part of that plan will likely continue to contain center change management teleconference calls on alternating weeks which serve as an important means for team sharing.
The SVU Project has been established to update NASA’s Core Financial software to mySAP ERP 2005. The SVU project will contribute to improvements in NASA’s financial recording and reporting, support the goal of achieving financial management integrity, and expand Core Financial functionality to better meet the needs of the project management community.
Specifically, SVU will enhance capabilities with a new Budgetary Ledger, new Budget Control System, new Payment Update, and new Year End processing. Targeted process reengineering will incorporate recommendations from both the Financial Integration Team (FIT) Program/Project Management Information Task Team and the FIT/One NASA Distribution Transfer Task Team, and will include improving program/project management information (without compromising sound financial management principles), as well as re-designing funds control and funds distribution processes.
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CMM project delayed
The Wave 1 Centers scheduled to implement the Integrated Enterprise Management Program (IEMP) Contract Management Module (CMM) has been delayed. The project announced earlier this month that the June 8th, 2006 go-live date will be pushed back to October to resolve a number of technical issues with the Compusearch software and SAP interfaces. The implementation date for the Wave 2 Centers will remain as originally scheduled, October, 2006.
Even though the implementation date has slipped, the CMM team has been working to thoroughly evaluate the system. Recently, the team has been heavily involved in systems integration and testing (SIT). SIT Pass 1 ran until early March, and SIT Pass 2 concluded in late April. All of NASA’s ten centers sent representatives to Huntsville to participate in the testing. Testing included a thorough examination of all CMM functionality.
Once implemented, CMM will provide a comprehensive tool to support contract/grant writing, contract/grant administration, procurement workload management, and data reporting/management for NASA. The functionality provided by CMM will provide added efficiency to procurement processes, and will be integrated with existing IEMP components.
For more information on the CMM visit http://procurement.nasa.gov/cmm.
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MdM is now on the i-View portal!
The Metadata Manager (MdM) is now on the IEMP portal, the i-View! The MdM team developed a new area on the portal which affords users the ability to view MdM related documents and presentations. Users can also now download the latest approved MdM Excel Import Template for NSM code requests. In support of this new MdM features, the MdM team prepared two WebEx training sessions on how to run the reports and use the new Excel import template.
The MdM team delivered their first maintenance release on January 13, 2006. The upgrade contained a few minor enhancements, defect fixes and one piece of exciting functionality. Early February saw the team launch the MdM to SAP interface. The enhancement provides a real time synchronous interface which updates SAP instantaneously as code requests are approved in MdM. This new process replaces the much antiquated and slower procedure of a two day turn around as codes were manually entered into SAP at the Competency Center. Later in the month, the MdM provided a structure rollover from the 2007 Formulation structure to the 2008 Formulation structure. Both releases help to streamline the speed and overall ease of the tool.
MdM is the new web-based tool which contains NASA’s official NSM data elements and associated codes. Lead by the Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO), the MdM project consisted of establishing a methodology and workflow for aligning the Agency’s technical work breakdown structure (WBS) with the finance coding structure.
MdM is the only tool on which NASA relies for identifying, creating, tracking, organizing and archiving of Appropriation, Mission, Theme, Program, Project and WBS 2 through WBS 7 NSM structural elements. MdM feeds NSM codes to budget formulation (N2), Core Financial accounting system (SAP), and project management systems that require coding structure data.
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eTravel completes Steering Committee review; 2nd BPR Workshop
The eTravel team recently wrapped up their 2nd Blueprint Kickoff and the Business Process Reengineering Workshop (BPR). The team held their first BPR workshop in February with the goal of developing a single, unified process for domestic and local travel. Moving forward, the same focus remained at the core of the 2nd workshop. All NASA Centers were represented within the BPR workshop. The team also concentrated their energies on major travel decisions.
The eTravel team also recently held a Steering Committee Review in mid-April. They were able to deliver an eTravel Project Plan, as well as the project’s Quality Assurance Plan. eTravel is set for NASA-wide implementation in March 2007.
eTravel is one of the original 24 eGovernment initiatives outlined by President Bush in July of 2001. The effort was designed to make better use of information technology and to eliminate billions of dollars in federal spending, reduce paperwork and improve government response time to citizens. As a result, FedTraveler.com, an integrated application, will be implemented to give NASA online booking, travel authorization, and travel vouchering capabilities.
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i-View knowledge continues to spread throughout NASA
The i-View tech team continues to spread the word on the IEMP portal! The team recently conducted user workshops with the NASA IV&V Fairmont facility, as well as Glenn Research Center and Goddard Space Flight Center. Currently more than four thousand users are accessing the system throughout all of NASA’s ten centers.
The i-View team is also gearing up for a large upgrade in June 2006, but the coming features are highly anticipated by many i-View users throughout the IEMP community. In the meantime, many users are thrilled with the newly implemented search capability and collaboration functionality.
i-View was also used by the IEM Program to support IEMP FY07 and FY08 Budget Submissions.
i-View allows the ease of single sign on access (SSO) to all IEM applications and many other applications employees need to use, such as Employee Express, WebTads, USA Jobs, and the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP.) SSO will simplify and reduce, but not totally eliminate, user ID and password management requirements. i-View also provides the means for the IEM Program Office to communicate effectively to all IEM users without relying on email. In the coming months, the i-View team will continue to focus on adding new users and additional functionality. Looking ahead, the team will lend added support to the Contract Management Module Project (CMM), and i-View plans to play host to the SMRT reports which will soon be moved to a production environment.
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