How many times do we read the same stories about PSFT major f***ups on big installations? And always the same response from the PR hacks: "We have 4,700 customers in 106 companies around the world," said Steve Swasey, a PeopleSoft spokesman. "The vast majority are highly satisfied with the applications they have purchased." I've read this exact line at least half a dozen times recently . . .
From today's Raleigh, NC News and Observer
NCSU audit details trouble
By DAN KANE, Staff Writer
After three months of facing long lines and endlessly ringing phones with more angry parents and students on the other end, Monica Thomason quit her job at N.C. State University's Cashier's Office. Before she left, she sent a memo to the chancellor describing how impossible conditions had become.
For three straight semesters, students had been billed incorrectly because of computer problems. The office director was never available, and employee turnover was constant.
"If any independent business ran as poorly as this university, that company would fold in months," Thomason said on June 23, 2000, in her memo to Chancellor Marye Anne Fox.
University officials never publicly acknowledged the turmoil in the cashier's office until recently, when an internal audit showed that for at least 18 months the office had such a hard time figuring out student accounts that it stopped chasing overdue bills. The office also spent $285,000 -- more than half its annual payroll -- on overtime and temporary workers to deal with the situation.
Today, NCSU officials say they have solved the computer and personnel problems that plagued the cashier's office. But the episode illustrates the concerns some in the university have had about the switch to PeopleSoft Inc. accounting software.
With the year 2000 looming, N.C. State University embarked in 1997 on a major upgrading of computer systems that process payrolls, bill students and pay vendors.
After reviewing bids, the university paid PeopleSoft $2.7 million to provide Y2K-compliant software to replace systems that had been in place for longer than 20 years. The software was supposed to be easy to use and provide expanded services over the Internet.
But an internal audit completed last June and university correspondence blame the PeopleSoft installation for erroneous bills, late refunds and late payments to vendors. In a separate audit last February, the State Auditor's Office also found that NCSU's PeopleSoft system had several security flaws that prevented it from keeping track of users and made it a possible target for hackers.
NCSU administrators say that they have fixed many of the problems and that their computer systems are running smoothly today. They also say that the costs associated with the transition aren't out of line. Those costs include another $5.5 million paid to PeopleSoft in consulting fees, and another $1.8 million paid to contractors to do work that NCSU's computing staff couldn't do because of vacant positions.
Problems called inevitable
"With any major package that you put in you are going to have some problems and you are going to have some adjustments that are going to be made," said George Worsley, NCSU's vice chancellor for finance and business. "The key is to manage those problems with the least amount of impact on your customers and your clients.
"We've made our payrolls, we've paid the vendors, we've billed our students, we've collected tuition."
Other universities have reported even more expensive difficulties with PeopleSoft systems, leading to cost overruns in the millions of dollars to fix problems such as incorrect bills and slow processing of financial aid information. In November 1999, seven of the eight Big Ten Conference universities that use PeopleSoft signed a joint letter that complained about the performance of its software.
Representatives of the software company, based in Pleasanton, Calif., said some of the problems were caused when NCSU and other universities altered the software to expand its functions. They said that other universities and private companies have installed the software with few problems.
Satisfied customers
"We have 4,700 customers in 106 companies around the world," said Steve Swasey, a PeopleSoft spokesman. "The vast majority are highly satisfied with the applications they have purchased."
NCSU's internal audit showed that from December 1998 to June 2000, the cashier's office stopped pursuing unpaid bills worth several million dollars. The university says it has since recovered about $5.3 million in overdue bills and expects to collect $1.3 million more from students still attending the university.
But the cashier's office estimates that $1.4 million in old, unpaid student bills will have to be turned over to bill collectors. Worsley and Internal Audit Director Ericka Kranitz said that sum represents two years of overdue bills and is typical of the amount of money that the cashier's office has had to refer to bill collectors in previous years. They also say it represents less than 1 percent of the cashier's annual billings.
George Burnette, the UNC General Administration's associate vice president for finance, was unaware of the problems at NCSU's cashier's office.
University system unaware
"What you have pointed out is certainly a situation where the controls were either in place and not followed or there was a shortcoming for the controls to not be in place," Burnette said in an interview. "We would view that as a problem, and we would want the school and would request the school to implement controls to ensure they do the proper diligence."
The problems with installing PeopleSoft also extended to students receiving refunds. Reba Brewington, a teacher at Lee County High School in Sanford, waited four months for NCSU to refund the $542 for a continuing education class that didn't have a seat for her. It wasn't until she sent e-mail to Fox in March 2000 that she got her money back.
"I sent payment in as requested, on time, and all I have gotten was the run-around," Brewington wrote. "Perhaps your university is too large for someone like me."
Other problems contributed to the poor performance of the cashier's office to keep track of student payments, the audit said. The office had constant turnover, and its workspace didn't allow enough space for one-on-one contact with students.
30,000 calls a month
Thomason, the cashier's office employee who quit, said in her e-mail to Fox that student accounts were incorrect for the fall 1999, spring and summer 2000 semesters. The office was receiving 30,000 calls a month, and lines of angry students and parents stretched into the lobby for several weeks.
Since then, the university has hired a new cashier, Bruce Forinash, who started in November and has filled every position. The office is moving to a larger home in two months, he said.
Modifications to the PeopleSoft software have corrected the problems, he said, resulting in few complaints.
Worsley described NCSU's history with PeopleSoft as mixed. He said he has not complained to the company about the problems associated with the installation.
"Some will say we had a great experience; others say we had a lousy experience," Worsley said. "I would say we're probably somewhere in the middle."
Burnette said NCSU is the only UNC school to purchase PeopleSoft systems. The 15 other universities, as well as UNC General Administration, use software made by SCT of Malvern, Pa. |
