IFMP at Goddard

As part of the Integrated Financial Management Program's (IFMP) continuing effort to help employees better understand the benefits and changes associated with the Core Financial system, the Goddard IFMP team held a briefing on December 18th to share the latest information and field employee questions. Many affected employees have asked similar questions, and so the program would like to share the discussion of that Q/A session with the rest of Goddard below. The IFM Program has also posted these questions to their Goddard-specific Core Financial Website http://corefinancial.gsfc.nasa.gov.

For more information about the IFMP at Goddard, plan to attend the panel discussions, tutorials, and demonstrations at the IFMP Expo on January 16th from 12-4 in Building 1 Rooms E 100 B, D, and E.

Code 400 Questions and Answers about IFMP
(December 18, 2002)

Question: What is meant by "go-live", and how does IFMP's definition differ from other hardware or systems projects?

Answer: "Go-live" is the classic term used in software/hardware/systems implementations that describes the point at which the system is turned on and is ready for use. One distinction between of IFMP's definition of "go-live" is that it does not require the same degree of absolute perfection on day 1 that other NASA projects usually require because it is easier and more affordable for the IFMP to allow employees to grow into a good, live system rather than safeguard against every scenario beforehand. Another distinction of IFMP "go-live" is a phased approach where different users are slowly added to the system in waves, starting with budget employees.

Question: What is role-mapping and why is it important?

Answer: Role-mapping is the process that maps people doing jobs in today's business process to their role(s) in the new business process. It is important to do role-mapping accurately for two reasons: (1) training is based on the roles assigned to end users; and (2) access to SAP and the Core Financial system is based on the end users' roles.

Question: What will replace JON's (Job Order Numbers)?

Answer: JON's will be replaced by the Agency Financial Classification Structure (FCS).

Question: What do we need to do to prepare for JONs going away?

Answer: There will be a crosswalk to the Agency Financial Classification Structure (FCS). Since this is a very complex and labor-intensive activity, it is imperative that each organization understand what will be required of it to transition to the new business process.

Question: Will there be standardized reports across the Agency?

Answer: Yes, there are two types of reports which end users will have access to: SAP R/3 agency standard reports and the Business Warehouse (BW) reports.

Question: If you are changing jobs at or around the time of the Core Financial training and "go-live" period, how can you get the appropriate training to enable you to do your new job?

Answer: If a person's role changes prior to "go-live", their supervisor would notify the Role Mapping team and the person would be able to take the necessary training. The IFMP will deliver Goddard's Core Financial training through our own in-house personnel/subject matter experts. In this way, expertise for the business processes, the system, and training, itself, is kept in-house and readily available for "OJT" (on-the-job-training) in the event formal training is not offered in the short-term. If the person's role changes post "go-live", training will either be formal training or OJT.

Question: Data cleanup is an enormous job. Why can't "sampling" be used to meet this requirement?

Answer: All of GSFC's data needs to be verified and validated prior to "go-live". In order to obtain the required amount of data for System Integration Testing, the Core Financial project team is asking that the JONs be verified and validated prior to January 16, 2003.

Question: How can I find out more about the reports in the new Core Financial system now?

Answer: The best places to find information about Core Financial are:
Core Financial Website: http://corefinancial.gsfc.nasa.gov
On Line Quick Reference Guide (OLQR): http://olqr-cf.ifmp.nasa.gov

In large system implementations, it is very common for employees and customers expecting a new IT environment to have numerous questions about how their work and the organization's business processes will change. For this reasons, the GSFC IFM Projects center will continue to update its website to provide current information to the Center as the implementation of IFM modules proceeds. For more questions and answers about IFMP, as well as suggestions on how to improve our communications efforts, please log into our website at http://ifmpinfo.gsfc.nasa.gov