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The Connection

Welcome to the start of another academic year!  We hope you had a great summer and enjoyed time with friends and family.  During the summer months, our Project Ensemble team has worked hard on designing new business processes, building and extracting data, testing, evaluating, and participating in training. We are thankful for the dedication and talent of all of those involved with this important work.  

Project Ensemble is a multi-pronged project as we implement software in three areas (Advancement, Finance and Human Resources) and across four distinct and separate organizations (Champlain, Middlebury, Saint Michael’s and GMHEC). Our efforts are leading the way for Higher Education, which means we are exploring new terrain, both for us and our vendors. We have spent this summer assessing where we are at, and what we have achieved thus far. We also reminded ourselves that we aspire:

  • to leverage modern day cloud technology
  • to implement innovative, better than best practices (and to document those new processes)
  • to learn with and from each other (and ensure stakeholders are properly engaged and trained)
  • to achieve operational efficiencies which will create better experiences for students, staff, faculty and donors

After a thorough review of our project plans, and recognizing the work still needed to be done, we have decided to move both the Advancement and the Finance go-live dates from the 4th quarter of 2018 to the 1st quarter of 2019.  At this point, Human Resources and Payroll are still working towards the April 1, 2019 go-live date. However, we are working through a detailed assessment of their work still to be done as well. Once we have ironed out all the details for all three modules, we will share further detail. 

I applaud all the hard work accomplished thus far and have no doubt that this investment into new technology will strengthen our member institutions and their long-term strategic goals.

Corinna Noelke

GMHEC Executive Director

Data Governance Update

Be honest: We’ve all been in meetings where the five people attending have 4-5 different values for a certain metric under discussion.  Even the simplest question – “how many students do we have?” – can be confounded by different definitions of a “student.” So if your eyes glazed over when you saw the term “Data Governance” read on . . . because despite its somewhat insipid name, picture instead a dynamic, user-centered process of continuous improvement that gives life to data and is designed to enrich its value to GMHEC members.

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Our Future Features

Punch-out to Commonly Used Vendors.   As we implement Oracle Procurement, part of the Finance system, we will be asking popular vendor websites to make it easier to purchase common items.  Vendors such as Amazon.com, Airgas and others will be directly linked to Oracle.  You will be able to "shop" at these vendors and have all the financial and payment transactions directly loaded into Oracle at checkout.  This will significantly simplify accounting and payment processes.

Single Sign-on.  One of the most frustrating aspects for users is managing multiple sets of credentials and passwords.  With Single Sign-on, using your email address and your password, you will be presented with a set of icons representing the systems you can access.  Click on the icon and you’ll be presented with the landing page without entering your ID and password again.

Thank you!

Mike Thomas, Middlebury, Andrew Dubuque, Champlain, Jami Black, Middlebury, Diana Matot, Champlain and Mary M. Lee, GMHEC.   Your leadership, experience and energy has been significant during the summer months and is greatly appreciated.

To understand more about the role our Leads play in the Project, and to find the Project Ensemble Governance Structure, visit us here

Well-Being Feature:

Emotional Intelligence, Antidote to Stress?

High levels of Emotional Intelligence (EI) will help us develop and maintain stronger relationships, receive more positive ratings from supervisors and coworkers, increase our likelihood of being promoted, protect us against depression, anxiety and stress and promote our physical well-being (Grewal & Salovey, 2006).  It’s a win-win.

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Well-Being Highlight:
Coaching Skills at Work



“This program was outstanding. Every week there were new lessons and takeaways to guide a healthy life. It will live on with me for the rest of my life. I want to do it all over again. I think each time you'd get a deeper understanding.” 

- Middlebury staff participant

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GMHEC Career Opportunities!

GMHEC is excited to be hiring for the following role to support our mission and member institutions:
 
Accounts Payable Specialist 
 
For more information about GMHEC and to apply for this position, please visit our website.  
What do you want to hear about in 'The Connection'?

Let us know! We'd love to hear your feedback, ideas, or suggestions for the GMHEC newsletter at info@gmhec.org

Green Mountain Higher Education Consortium
Mission

To create and foster collaborative opportunities by serving as an agent for economic and educational initiatives that bring value to all members. The power of each school working collaboratively on non-competitive matters will increase the quality of services and lower administrative costs.
Copyright © 2018 Green Mountain Higher Education Consortium, All rights reserved.


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