Among the many decisions necessary to implement
HopkinsOne — the multiyear project to modernize most
of Johns Hopkins' business systems — project leaders
had to take a hard look at existing software and decide
which systems to link to, retain or eliminate.
Now, after four years of study, the HopkinsOne
information technology team has determined that the new
software, known as SAP, will replace 37 existing systems
and will interface with more than 150 others, including
those of outside vendors, that are used for task-specific
purposes.
Cele DiGiacomo, HopkinsOne project director for
information technology, said that the team had decided
early on that the project would leave student and patient
information systems intact. But it still had to analyze the
myriad ad hoc systems that had developed at Johns Hopkins
over many years.
Among the 37 systems that SAP will replace are CUFS
(the JHU accounting system), Pathways (the JHHS supply
chain system) and GEAC (JHHS accounting), as well as human
resources and payroll systems. HopkinsOne will retain and
interface with ISIS, the student system; patient revenue
systems, such as IDX and Keane; and clinical systems, such
as Horizon (JH Home Care Clinical and Revenue) and ORMIS
(the operating room system).
The software they decided not to replace was very
specific and had unique features, DiGiacomo said. "For
example," she said, "Radiology uses some software that is
very specific to Radiology. Or, in the case of Student
Systems, they had just instituted a new system that was
very specific [to their needs]. But in most cases,
transitioning to SAP just made sense."
To explain the decision-making process, DiGiacomo drew
an analogy with remodeling, where the goal of installing
new wiring could clash with the prohibitive cost of a
teardown. In that case, she said, it might make sense to
use historical fixtures for the time being, or to patch
into existing wiring, especially if that wiring had been
recently updated. That analogy is oversimplified, she said,
but it helps to illustrate the challenge of modernizing a
massive system while working to keep costs down by not
rehabbing or completely ditching some still-functional
features.
Even when units will retain existing systems, as in
the case of the inventory distribution and finance system
used by the Johns Hopkins University Press, they will still
use SAP for institutionswide business functions such as
human resources and payroll.
Another major issue has been how to retain, store or
import historical data from existing systems, which will be
investigated on a case-by-case basis. "We'll consider how
long the system needs to be available for business, what
data we will still need and how to access it," DiGiacomo
said. That analysis is ongoing.
A timetable is now being developed for each system.
DiGiacomo said that after July 1, 2006, "most" will be shut
down for current transactions. Among the exceptions she
cited are CUFS and GEAC, where transactions will continue
through July and some of August in order to complete fiscal
year 2005.
More information appears in the September issue of
Momentum, the HopkinsOne newsletter. For a detailed list of
what systems will remain and which will not, go to the
HopkinsOne Web site at
www.jhu.edu/hopkinsone.
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