Client background

Creighton University is a Jesuit university in the Midwestern United States with more than 8,900 students. It is a forward-thinking organization with a highly effective and collaborative team of professionals and leaders who are committed to success and excellence.

The business challenge

Creighton University partnered with Baker Tilly to implement Oracle Talent Acquisition Cloud, Oracle HCM Cloud Talent Management and Workforce Compensation to supplement Oracle HCM Cloud Core HR and Payroll. In their internal governance and support processes of the implemented modules, Creighton noted gaps in:

• Clear definition of roles and responsibilities combined with processes to align internal capacity with the new cloud environment 
• Visibility into the HR team members’ workload, day to day tasks and capacity 
• Procedures to gather, measure and analyze common themes amongst service requests
• A formal infrastructure for reviewing and determining what enhancements should be accepted
• A need for standardization in lifecycle of Oracle upgrades and where to go for help on upgrade announcements

Creighton engaged Baker Tilly to develop a formal governance model.

The Baker Tilly approach

Questionnaire –The HR team completed a questionnaire of open ended questions, each relating to a key element of cloud governance and targeted the past, present and desired future processes.  This information was used to develop recommendations and to identify the processes and deliverables that would address Creighton’s concerns. 

On Site Workshop – Baker Tilly and Creighton conducted an onsite workshop to identify the most critical areas that presented risks and gaps in the operating model for HCM Cloud.  There were four key areas of focus:

1. Support – of the day to day operations of the solution.
2. Maintenance – to ensure the solution continues to operate as anticipated based on strategic direction from the business. 
3. Enhancements – for validation of change controls and effectively evaluating and rolling out new features and functionality. 
4. Portfolio Management – how projects are identified, evaluated and tracked.

Governance Model Development – Using outputs from the onsite workshop, Creighton and Baker Tilly reviewed and iterated the processes and deliverables designed to enhance Creighton’s governance practices. 

The business impact

Creighton defined an infrastructure that would position them to efficiently and effectively support their Oracle HCM Cloud solutions long-term. This included:

• New tools and processes clearly defining Creighton’s support structure, as well as align roles and responsibilities between IT and HR
• Comprehensive checklists and detailed upgrade plans with appropriate resources now positioned for ongoing system maintenance, releases and future enhancements
• Newly developed portfolio management tools, including a Project Intake Form and Project Benefit Analysis, helping Creighton identify priorities outlined in their HR Roadmap and take on projects that strategically align with and have the most benefit to the university

The comprehensive governance process accounts for ongoing support, regular maintenance, future enhancements and strategically identifies critical projects. 

For more information on this topic, or to learn how Baker Tilly specialists can help, contact our team.