A modern system like SAP, designed from the start to offer maximum efficiency and integration, can’t easily weave together the labyrinth of antiquated, ad hoc systems that have developed over many years at Johns Hopkins. Figuring out what systems to eliminate and which to keep or link with is no easy process.
No one knows that better than Cele DiGiacomo, HopkinsOne project director for information technology. DiGiacomo’s involvement with the project stretches back to the beginning, she says, “when Hopkins- One was only a glimmer of an idea.”
As the senior director of information services for the Johns Hopkins Health System, DiGiacomo was one of the people responsible for analyzing how to improve business-related technology at Hopkins. And she was one of the people who helped to decide that an ERP, or enterprise resource planning system, was the way to go.
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Enter HopkinsOne, organized in 2003, to modernize Hopkins’ business systems and processes. Since then, a good deal of DiGiacomo’s time has been spent analyzing current systems and figuring out how to transition to SAP. There might be a valid comparison to remodeling, where the goal of installing new wiring could clash with the prohibitive cost of a tear-down. In some cases, DiGiacomo says, it might make sense to use historical fixtures for the time being, or to patch into existing wiring, especially if that wiring was recently updated. Like many analogies, that’s an over-simplification, she says, but it illustrates the challenge of modernizing a massive system, while working to keep costs down by not rehabbing or completely ditching some still-functional features.
“In some cases, the software we decided not to replace was very specific and had unique features,” says DiGiacomo. “For example, 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 that purpose. But in most cases, transitioning to SAP just made sense.”
Even when units retain existing systems, as in the case of the Johns Hopkins University Press, they will still use SAP for institutions-wide business functions such as human resources and payroll.
As it currently stands, the new software (SAP) will replace 37 existing systems, including 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 the student system (ISIS), patient revenue systems (like IDX and Keane), and clinical systems such as Horizon (JH Home Care Clinical and Revenue) and ORMIS (the operating room system). For a detailed list of what systems will remain and which will go, visit the HopkinsOne website at www.jhu.edu/hopkinsone.
Some people have expressed concern that incorporating a new system on top of some existing ones will require too much memory or cause computers to crash. “We have communicated our system requirements for those who will need to store some elements of SAP,” DiGiacomo says, “but for most users that’s not an issue because they will only have Web access.”
Another major issue has been how to retain, store, or import historical data from existing systems. “We will investigate each system on a case-by-case basis with the business owners and users to determine sun-setting (See “Learn the Lingo) and historical data plans,” DiGiacomo says. “We’ll consider how long the system needs to be available for business, what data we will still need, and how to access it.”
In a way, DiGiacomo says, signing up for HopkinsOne was an eye-opener. “It’s not like any other project I’ve ever worked on,” she says. “It’s so much larger in scope and different in methodology. Most IT projects focus on specific functionality for a business area. This one focuses on four major business areas which must integrate together to deliver a complete solution. That’s a real challenge.” |
