ext sap to sprt univ policies
TRANSCRIPT
HERUG 2005Extending SAP to Manage University Policies
Extending SAP to Manage University Policies
Kathy GatesThe University of Mississippi
HERUG 2005Extending SAP to Manage University Policies
Abstract
• Most universities have hundreds of policies in place. What are they, who has the authority to update and approve them, and when were they last reviewed? This presentation will demonstrate a new policy administration system at the University of Mississippi which is implemented using a customer extension to the SAP HR object model. Among the topics covered will be the project objectives, the design blueprint, routing and authorizations, the realization in SAP, and “go live” lessons learned.
HERUG 2005Extending SAP to Manage University Policies
Agenda
• Background and Process
• Design Choices• Demonstrations• Future Work
HERUG 2005Extending SAP to Manage University Policies
Policy Pop Quiz
• UM established “speech corners” to allow the public an opportunity to exercise their First Amendment Rights. How was this accomplished?– A. A task force of students, law faculty,
and staff met to outline the policy.– B. A vote was taken of the ASB Senate,
Faculty Senate, and Staff Council.– C. MIT’s policy was copied.– D. Two administrators decided it
needed to be done and rewrote the M-Book.
HERUG 2005Extending SAP to Manage University Policies
Policy Pop Quiz ~ continued
• What is UM’s policy regarding reading employee’s e-mail messages?– A. It’s ok to read them, but don’t
open the attachments.– B. E-mail is intellectual property
of the University of Mississippi.– C. We go by “If it’s olemiss.edu,
it don’t belong to you.”– D. We don’t have one.
HERUG 2005Extending SAP to Manage University Policies
The Problem
• Policies are difficult to find.• The process for instituting new
policies is unclear.• What constitutes official policies?• Who “owns” a particular policy?• How are policy questions and
suggestions addressed?• Some policies are out of date.• Policies overlap/conflict with one
another.• There are gaps in coverage.
HERUG 2005Extending SAP to Manage University Policies
Formation of Policy Task Force
HERUG 2005Extending SAP to Manage University Policies
Task Force Activities
• Many Meetings!• Review of Online Policy Presence by Other
Universities– University of Virginia
• http://www.virginia.edu/uvapolicies/– Arizona State University
• http://www.asu.edu/aad/manuals/
• Policy on Policy Management• Brainstorming on System Functionality• UM Policy Inventory
– About 500 policies identified.– Helped determine who needed to be
trained.
HERUG 2005Extending SAP to Manage University Policies
System Goals
• Provide an automated tool for managing the submission and approval of policies with appropriate access control.
• Provide a consolidated web repository of approved policies with good navigation and search capabilities.
• Standardize the presentation of policies, e.g., with the use of common templates.
• Should track policy revisions over time and allow for historical notes about policies.
• Should be easy to use.• Should not create substantial new work load for
any one department.• Should not interfere with existing protocols for
policy development.
HERUG 2005Extending SAP to Manage University Policies
Design Choice #1
• The body of the policy will be submitted and stored as a PDF document.
• Advantages– Some policies will be long and may
require specific lay-outs. This will allow the one developing the policy more control over the part of the policy that is “narrative.”
– The policy can be developed using any word processor and converted to PDF as the last step.
– The policy will be presented on the web as an unchangeable entity using a widely available format.
HERUG 2005Extending SAP to Manage University Policies
Design Choice #2
• Design will build on existing SAP system, specifically metadata about the policy will be stored in SAP.
• Advantages– Can store policy information by adding
a few user-defined objects and relationships.
– SAP already contains org and people relationships.
– SAP allows us to time-delimit data to track policy revisions.
– Should allow for easier integration with future projects such as facility reservation system.
HERUG 2005Extending SAP to Manage University Policies
Design Choice #3
• Every policy will have an associated “responsible office”.
• Related Details– Each office will be responsible for
uploading the policies for which it is responsible.
– Each office will have associated “policy agents.”
– There will be two approval steps:• Administrative Division• Policy Manager
HERUG 2005Extending SAP to Manage University Policies
New Entities in SAP
• Customer-Defined “Policy” Object– Time-delimited– Short (12 chars) and long (40
chars) names– Additional attributes via
customer infotypes– Use ISTAT = Planned for
policies in development
HERUG 2005Extending SAP to Manage University Policies
New Entities in SAP
• Customer-Defined Relationships– Person X is a policy agent for
Org Y• A priority of 1 on a
relationship indicates Administrative Division approval privileges.
– Policy X is related to Policy Y
HERUG 2005Extending SAP to Manage University Policies
Policy Attributes
• Effective Date*• Status*• Policy Code
– Free-form field used for indexing purposes, e.g., ADM.IT.100.001
• People Affected• Policy Summary /
Purpose
• Policy Notes• Related
Resources– Hyperlinks to
other web addresses
• Policy Approve By and Date*
• Next Review Date• Keywords• Other
* System generated
1.2.
3.
4.
5.
HERUG 2005Extending SAP to Manage University Policies
Interfaces
• All - Policy Index• Responsible Office Policy
Agent• Administrative Division Policy
Agent• Policy Manager
HERUG 2005Extending SAP to Manage University Policies
Related Processes
• Reminder Service– ABAP program that traverses all
policies looking for those that are within three months of review due date or are past due.
– Sends out e-mail alerts to org agents.– Runs weekly.– For policies that are more than one
month past due for review, also sends e-mail alert to Administrative Division agents.
– Allows for a report-only mode to view list of past due policies, policies that will be due for review in the next month, etc.
HERUG 2005Extending SAP to Manage University Policies
Technical Choices
• Web interfaces implemented using JSP and JavaBeans.– JavaBeans handle data retrieval from and
storage to SAP and PDF repository. • Basic set of RFCs created to access,
create, and maintain policy data in SAP.• Authorizations derived using people to org
to policy relationships in SAP. • Infotype 1002 stores narrative data about
the policy, e.g., summary and notes• Policies that have not been approved yet
are stored using the “Planned” status on the object and infotypes.
HERUG 2005Extending SAP to Manage University Policies
Examples of Other Issues
• How/whether to indicate that policies are past due in the public interface?– Task Force decision was to not indicate
them in any way. • How are policies classified?
– An attribute called “Policy Code” is available to allow for presentation/organization of policies based on a UM-defined coding scheme.
• Do we need a Policy Manager?– Ideally, yes. This person is the last step in
the routing process before a policy is added to the public repository. This person validates data and assigns codes to policies so that they can be presented/organized using a UM-defined coding scheme.
HERUG 2005Extending SAP to Manage University Policies
HERUG 2005Extending SAP to Manage University Policies
Online Demonstrations
• Policy Directory• Responsible Office Policy
Agent Interface• Administrative Division Policy
Agent Interface• Policy Manager Interface
HERUG 2005Extending SAP to Manage University Policies
HERUG 2005Extending SAP to Manage University Policies
HERUG 2005Extending SAP to Manage University Policies
HERUG 2005Extending SAP to Manage University Policies
Advantages
• Easily accessible• Clarity & ease of use
– What are our policies and how are they made?
• Takes personalities out of enforcement
• Assures regular review• Provides means to capture
innovative ideas• No longer limited by the constraints
of paper delivery
HERUG 2005Extending SAP to Manage University Policies
Future Work
• Integration with digital imaging system for storage of PDF documents
HERUG 2005Extending SAP to Manage University Policies
Acknowledgements
• IT Project Team– Jie Tang– Linda Bailey– Stephen Phillips– Eric Aitala
• UM Policy Task Force• KUL
– Concept influenced by KUL HERUG 2004 presentation on faculty research projects
HERUG 2005Extending SAP to Manage University Policies
Questions and Answers
HERUG 2005Extending SAP to Manage University Policies
For More Information
• Kathy Gates– [email protected]