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Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Replacement Project

Overview
Northern Kentucky University will replace the current Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system that supports our core business, academic, and operational functions and processes. The new system will be a modern, scalable, and flexible Software as a Service (SaaS) cloud-based system that offer long term (5+ years) capabilities to adjust as the University's operational needs grow.

Replacing the ERP and reporting systems includes, but is not limited to:

  • Human Capital Management (HCM) and Human Resource (HR) functions
  • Financial (FI) functions
  • Student Information System (SIS) functions, including international student requirements
  • Financial Aid functions
  • Research, Grants, and Contracts functions
  • Reporting and Analytics functions
  • Auditing and compliance requirements and reporting for state and federal laws and regulations
  • Support of University accreditation requirements


Project Timeline
January 2025
RFP vendors determined
February 2025
Proposal presented to NKU Board of Regents
March 2025
Board of Regents approval to implement Phase 1
March 2025
Begin Phase 1: HR/FI
2025 - 2026
HR/FI activities
June 2026
HR/FI Go-Live - Complete Phase 1
April 2026
Begin Phase 2: SIS/Reporting
2026 - 2028
SIS/Reporting activities
2026 - 2028
SIS/Reporting activities
2026 - 2028
SIS/Reporting activities
December 2028
SIS/Reporting Go-Live - Complete Phase 2
January 2029
Begin Phase 3: Critical Care
January 2029
Critical care activities
March 2029
Critical care activities
April 2029
Final operational adjustments/tuning
June 2029
Complete Phase 3

Why this is important

 

Northern Kentucky University currently uses the on-premises SAP ECC Business Suite with HANA databases for Human Capital Management (HCM), Financials (FI), Student Lifecycle Management (SLCM), our student information system, Sigma to support Student Financial Aid, and reporting and analytics using SAP's Business Warehouse (BW), Business Intelligence (BI), BOBJ and SQL databases.

SAP ECC is scheduled to become end-of-life in December 2030, with a reduction in support starting in January 2028. Many interfaced systems must also be considered, which will take time to plan for migrations.

Large scale projects such as ERP migrations take at least 2-3 years to fully complete, and NKU is committed to migrating all systems before the current system is no longer supported.

Modernization
  • Be an easy, value-added net promoter for all students — remote, hybrid, on-campus, or in an accelerated program. The student experience should be first-class, complete, comprehensive, and interactive.
  • Provide a feature-complete, integrated system that provides financial management, human capital management, payroll, student information and reporting capabilities
  • Provide a scalable and flexible Software as a Service (SaaS) cloud-based system that offers capabilities that can evolving with the University's operational needs

Access
  • Be easy to navigate and accomplish tasks for faculty, staff, and students alike
  • System interfaces should be instinctive to the user, and align processes to business outcomes efficiently in support of the student experience
  • Promote self-service and self-management of activities and transactions for faculty, staff, and students

Security
  • Demonstrate an ongoing commitment to security, scalability, and modernization
  • Be highly flexible for integrated data sharing, while also being granular and easy to maintain security and compliance with state and federal regulations
  • Provide first-class services to faculty, staff, and students while simultaneously keeping pace with the ever-changing security and device landscape

What Success Looks Like

 

There are three guiding principles that measure the success of this project:

Software/Process fit

The new ERP should serve all important, necessary needs to serve business, support, and academic processes for the University. The software should have flexibility/configuration to account for specialization necessary for operational support with minimal overhead (i.e. low-code/no-code is preferred over full application development to achieve the same outcome)

Technical/Architectural fit
The system and service that the ERP and reporting software runs upon must have the capability to interface/integrate well with existing and future University technology and infrastructure, preferring but not excluding minimal use of integration platforms.

Philosophical fit
The ERP system and implementation partners used to implement must be deeply familiar with the specialized and complex nature of higher education operations and how to efficiently and effectively meet the needs of the University’s functions with technology and partnership that both compliments and guides the implementation to successful and cost-effective completion. Pricing should reflect exactly what the proposed solutions/services provide without added/hidden cost or bolt-on product requirements not already accounted for in the proposal pricing, or not resident in the proposed products or services natively.

Questions?

 

If you have any questions/concerns, please contact us.

Project Phases
Phase 1
Phase 2
Phase 3
March 2025 - June 2026

Phase 1: HR/FI

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Status: Green

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April 2026 - December 2028

Phase 2: SIS/Reporting

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Status: Green

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January 2029 - June 2029

Phase 3: Critical Care

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Status: Green

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