When Colorado State University decided to adopt the latest release of the open-source Kuali Financial System (KFS), CSU leaders faced some tough questions. Would the system handle their data efficiently? Could the KFS really support their way of doing business? Exactly what would be involved in the data migration process? Lastly, what resources would they need to implement the system in the time available?
For CSU, the stakes were high. According to Troy Fluharty, Director, Financial Systems Services at CSU, "We were dealing with a completely new system that had never been implemented before, and we couldn't afford to fail."
To mitigate risk, the school asked rSmart to help them map their financial data to KFS. Through rSmart's Proof of Concept (POC) process, they were able to see their actual data in a preliminary version of KFS that had been installed in their IT environment.
rSmart's POC proved to be a big help to the university's decision makers. Says Fluharty, "The proof of concept we undertook with rSmart made all the difference. Working with rSmart, we developed tools and processes and gained a thorough understanding of the system. This has enabled us to identify implementation tasks and plan appropriately for the time and resources required to complete them."
Before long, the other three early Kuali adopters followed CSU's lead. After employing rSmart's Proof of Concept and working with our staff, each of these institutions determined how Kuali best fit their environments and developed sound implementation plans.
We look forward to sharing the experiences of these schools as they begin going live with KFS Version 3.0.
