Extending SAP to Manage University Policies Kathy Gates The University

Extending SAP to Manage University Policies Kathy Gates The University of Mississippi Extending SAP to Manage University Policies HERUG 2005

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. Extending SAP to Manage University Policies HERUG 2005

Agenda Background and Process Design Choices Demonstrations Future Work Extending SAP to Manage University Policies HERUG 2005

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 MBook. Extending SAP to Manage University Policies HERUG 2005

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. Extending SAP to Manage University Policies HERUG 2005

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 Some policies are out of date.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. Extending SAP to Manage University Policies HERUG 2005

Formation of Policy Task Force Extending SAP to Manage University Policies HERUG 2005

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. Extending SAP to Manage University Policies HERUG 2005

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. Extending SAP to Manage University Policies HERUG 2005

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. Extending SAP to Manage University Policies HERUG 2005

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. Extending SAP to Manage University Policies HERUG 2005

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 Extending SAP to Manage University Policies HERUG 2005

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 Extending SAP to Manage University Policies HERUG 2005

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 Extending SAP to Manage University Policies HERUG 2005

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 Extending SAP to Manage University Policies HERUG 2005

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Interfaces All - Policy Index Responsible Office Policy Agent Administrative Division Policy Agent Policy Manager Extending SAP to Manage University Policies HERUG 2005

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. Extending SAP to Manage University Policies HERUG 2005

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. Extending SAP to Manage University Policies HERUG 2005

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. Extending SAP to Manage University Policies HERUG 2005

Extending SAP to Manage University Policies HERUG 2005

Online Demonstrations Policy Directory Responsible Office Policy Agent Interface Administrative Division Policy Agent Interface Policy Manager Interface Extending SAP to Manage University Policies HERUG 2005

Extending SAP to Manage University Policies HERUG 2005

Extending SAP to Manage University Policies HERUG 2005

Extending SAP to Manage University Policies HERUG 2005

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 Extending SAP to Manage University Policies HERUG 2005

Future Work Integration with digital imaging system for storage of PDF documents Extending SAP to Manage University Policies HERUG 2005

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 Extending SAP to Manage University Policies HERUG 2005

Questions and Answers Extending SAP to Manage University Policies HERUG 2005

For More Information Kathy Gates – [email protected] Extending SAP to Manage University Policies HERUG 2005